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Dear Rebbetzin Chana Bracha,
I have a quick question.
We learned that the age of prophecy came to an end. I don’t remember when that
was said to be. I have friends who say there can still be prophets today. I
understand there are different levels of prophecy and there is a difference
between the prophecy of Moshe and the prophecy of the other prophets in the
Bible. I also am aware that there is still Ruach HaKodesh (Divine
Inspiration) today. What exactly is the different and when did true prophecy
end? I meant this to be a simple question but I guess it is not.
Hannah Furie
Dear Hannah,
It’s so nice hearing from
you, thank you for your excellent question. You are right that according to the
Talmud the era of prophecy has come to an end, yet we are awaiting its return
now at the Messianic era. Since the glorious Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed,
we have lost not just a building, but a more direct connection with Hashem
through prophecy. We find ourselves in a time when we are starving to hear the
word of G-d. The following prophecy applies perfectly to our time:
הִנֵּה יָמִים בָּאִים נְאֻם הָשֵׁם
אֶלֹקיִם וְהִשְׁלַחְתִּי רָעָב בָּאָרֶץ לֹא רָעָב לַלֶּחֶם וְלֹא צָמָא לַמַּיִם
כִּי אִם לִשְׁמֹעַ אֵת דִּבְרֵי הָשֵׁם:
(יב)
וְנָעוּ מִיָּם עַד יָם וּמִצָּפוֹן וְעַד מִזְרָח יְשׁוֹטְטוּ לְבַקֵּשׁ אֶת
דְּבַר הָשֵׁם וְלֹא יִמְצָאוּ:
(עמוס פרק ח פסוק יא-יב)
(עמוס פרק ח פסוק יא-יב)
“A time is coming, declares Hashem my G-d,
when I will send a famine upon the land: not a hunger for bread or a thirst for
water, but for hearing the words of Hashem. People shall wander from sea to sea
and from north to east to seek the word of Hashem, but they shall not find it”
(Amos 8:11-12).
(Amos 8:11-12).
This thirst, which we
experience today, for the return of prophecy is reflected in your question and
in the attempts of numerous people to tune into the word of G-d, in various
ways. I believe that prophecy will gradually return to Israel level by level
from increased intuition until once again our relationship with Hashem will be
expressed through full-fledged prophecy with the rebuilding of the Temple.
The Temple is the
Circuit for Prophecy
Hashem commanded us to
build a holy abode for Him in order that He would dwell within us. He didn’t
say, “I will dwell within it,” but “within them.” From this we learn that G-d’s presence dwells
within Israel to a much higher degree when the holy Temple is built. Until that
time, when our Temple in Jerusalem is rebuilt, Hashem’s presence is hidden and
we live in spiritual darkness (hester panim). The rebuilding of the
Temple will ignite our spiritual light of prophecy, in the same way that
plugging a light into the electric outlet will illuminate a dark room.
According to most Torah authorities, Malachi was the last prophet (see, for
example, Tosefta Sotah 3:3; Yoma 9b; Sanhedrin 11a). Although
Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi prophesied after the destruction of the First
Temple, a number of sources consider the destruction of the First Temple as
having dealt a fatal blow to prophecy. Even when the Second Temple was built,
prophecy never returned full force:
The First Temple differed
from the second in regards to five things: The ark, the ark-cover, the
Cherubim, the fire, the Shechinah, the Holy Spirit [of Prophecy], and the Urim
v’Tumim
(Babylonian Talmud Yoma 21b).
(Babylonian Talmud Yoma 21b).
The Transition from
Prophecy to Wisdom
The
destruction of both Temples caused a transition in Israel from the era of נבואה/Nevuah –
Prophecy to the period of חכמה/Chachma –
Wisdom. This was the time when the Oral Law was written down.
“…the day when the Temple
was destroyed, prophecy was taken from the prophets and given to the wise. Is
then a wise man not also a prophet? The meaning is: Although it has been taken
from the prophets, it has not been taken from the wise. Amimar said: A wise man
is even superior to a prophet, as it says, “A prophet has a heart of wisdom” (Tehillim
90:12). Who is compared with whom? Is not the smaller compared with the
greater?”
(Babylonian Talmud, Baba Batra 12a).
(Babylonian Talmud, Baba Batra 12a).
The Talmud attributes
a superior level to the chacham (wise) because a person who has
acquired Torah by means of his own wisdom, through Arousal from Below, is
superior to one who has received prophecy as a free gift of Arousal from Above.
Although the prophet’s connection to Divine knowledge is greater, his
relationship to his prophecy overwhelms his free will. The wise does not
share such intense spiritual experience, yet, because he has gained his
knowledge through his own efforts, it is broader and more grounded. Ever since
the destruction of the Temples, we no longer have prophecy that emanates from
Arousal from Above. Rather, Israel was now to rediscover Hashem’s will through
their own effort, engaging in the wisdom of Torah study and logical inferences
through Arousal from Below. This transition was also reflected in the general
world with the emergence of Greek Philosophy, and in the pursuit of logic that
replaced interest in mysticism and the occult. Likewise, the temptation for
idolatry had vanished (Yoma 69b), and there was no longer a need for
prophecy to counterbalance magic (The Vilna Gaon, commentary on Seder Olam
Rabbah 30; Rabbi Tzadok, Divrei Sofrim 21b).
Halachic Petition Through
Arousal from Below
The antecedent of this
transition- from having a relationship with Hashem through Arousal from Above
to relating to the Divine through Arousal from Below, which eventually led to
the metamorphosis from Prophecy to Wisdom, begins in this week’s parasha. The
daughters of Tzelafchad brought down a new law in Israel through Arousal from
Below. Their story takes place at the end of the 40-year wandering in the
wilderness, on the verge of entering into the Land of Israel. The land was to be
divided into portions according to tribes and families. Until then, the law of
land inheritance dictated that family plots would be passed down from father to
son. Yet, Tzelafchad had passed away leaving five daughters but no sons. This
is when his daughters rose to face Moshe, Elazar and the entire congregation
stating their petition:
במדבר פרק כז פסוק ד-ז לָמָּה יִגָּרַע שֵׁם אָבִינוּ מִתּוֹךְ
מִשְׁפַּחְתּוֹ כִּי אֵין לוֹ בֵּן
תְּנָה לָּנוּ אֲחֻזָּה בְּתוֹךְ אֲחֵי
אָבִינוּ: וַיַּקְרֵב משֶׁה אֶת מִשְׁפָּטָן לִפְנֵי יְהֹוָה: וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה
אֶל משֶׁה לֵּאמֹר: (ז) כֵּן בְּנוֹת צְלָפְחָד דֹּבְרֹת נָתֹן תִּתֵּן לָהֶם
אֲחֻזַּת נַחֲלָה בְּתוֹךְ אֲחֵי אֲבִיהֶם וְהַעֲבַרְתָּ אֶת נַחֲלַת אֲבִיהֶן
לָהֶן:
“Why
should our father’s name be eliminated from his family because he had no son?
Give us a portion along with our father’s brothers So Moshe brought their case
before Hashem. Hashem spoke to Moses, saying: Tzelafchad’s daughters speak
justly. You shall certainly give them a portion of inheritance along with their
father’s brothers, and you shall transfer their father’s inheritance to them”
(Bamidbar 27:1-7).
(Bamidbar 27:1-7).
The Wisdom of the
Daughters of Tzelafchad Pulled Down a New Torah Law
Although Moshe’s prophecy
was superior to all other prophets in several ways, (see Rambam, Hilchot
Yesodei HaTorah 7:6), now, as the Israelites were about to enter the Land
and Moshe’s life was coming to an end, his level of prophecy was waning.
Therefore, he didn’t have a ready answer to the daughters, but needed to bring
their case before Hashem. Thus, it was the daughters, through their wisdom,
learnedness and righteousness (Baba Batra 119b), who had the merit to
pull down a new Torah law into the world. As Rashi states, their eye saw
what Moshe’s eye did not see (cf. Tanch.). Through the daughter’s arousal from
below in wisdom, they were credited with an even finer perception of this part
of the Torah than Moshe himself.
This chapter ought to have
been written by Moshe, but for the fact that the daughters of Tzelafchad had so
much merit. It was therefore written through them (Baba Batra 119a; Sanhedrin
8a).
A Tzaddik May Possibly
Receive Prophecy Even Today
According to Rabbi
Menachem Mendel of Lubawitz, the belief that prophecy ceased after the
destruction of the First Temple is a misconception. He holds that,
although The Talmud states that the era of prophecy ceased,
it only means that prophets are no longer as common as they used to be. Yet,
prophecy itself continues to exist (Likkutei Sichos, vol. 14, p.
72ff; Sefer HaSichos, 5751, p. 788; p. 790, fn. 101). Even
today, we may still find exceptionally righteous people endowed with special
spiritual gifts. A tzaddik possesses the ability to see and perceive
spiritual realities concealed from the ordinary eye and mind. Although we don’t
find many prophets today, a tzaddik possessing ruach
hakodesh is much more common in our time. Just as people have
different levels of intelligence, there are many different levels of prophecy.
Since the destruction of the First Temple, the higher level of spiritual
perception (prophecy) is found in only a select few exceptional individuals in
each generation. Ruach hakodesh, which is a lesser level of spiritual
perception than prophecy, is much more commonly found. Those with the
divine gift of ruach hakodesh are able to perceive reality on a much higher
spiritual level than the average person. Many Torah authorities attest to the
existence of ruach hakodesh in our current era, particularly the
writings of the Arizal – one of Jewish history’s greatest authorities on
the Kabbalah (Shloma
Majeski, The Rebbe-Chassid Relationship, chapter 5).
The Return of Prophecy
to Sons and Daughters
Since Arizal’s time in the
sixteenth century, a new shift has been happening in the world at large as well
as in the Jewish world. While Reason had been dominant for generations, we have
gradually been moving into an era with more interest and attraction towards the
mystical and spiritual realms. The popularity of various neo-Chassidic
movements is an expression of the yearning for spirituality and Divine
inspiration, so prominent today. As we come closer to the rebuilding of the
Temple and the return of prophecy, the search for the inner dimension of the
Torah, spiritual healing, mystical experience, and divine inspiration is
rapidly growing. Through various meditative practices, people are beginning to
open their intuition to experience a deeper level of reality. Even without such
practices, there are those who receive prophetic messages in their dreams or
just intuitively know hidden things about others. Redemption is like a sunrise.
It starts with a small ray, which gradually increases until the Divine Presence
is revealed like the bright daylight (Yerushalmi, Yoma chapter 3). As
the clouds of exile evaporate one by one, the dawn of redemption returns
flashes of prophetic spirit to Israel. I truly believe we are entering the era
described so beautifully by the prophet Yoel:
וְהָיָה אַחֲרֵי כֵן אֶשְׁפּוֹךְ אֶת
רוּחִי עַל כָּל בָּשָׂר וְנִבְּאוּ בְּנֵיכֶם וּבְנֹתֵיכֶם זִקְנֵיכֶם חֲלֹמוֹת
יַחֲלֹמוּן בַּחוּרֵיכֶם חֶזְיֹנוֹת יִרְאוּ:
(יואל פרק ג פסוק א)
(יואל פרק ג פסוק א)
“It shall come to pass afterwards that I will
pour out My spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy;
your elders shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions”
(Yoel 3:1).
(Yoel 3:1).
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