Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Revelation Part 1 - Talking or Listening?

Who ever said that there is no Revelation even nowadays and even on the blogosphere ? Witness Godol's post this Sunday and tell me that is not revelation! 564 comments as of now - and that is not a miracle? On a subject that deals only with our psyche, minds and conscience - not with physical needs? And the timing! Parshas Yissro ! What a preparation for Kabolas Hatora! and I am not kidding - this was me'ein nevuah!

On a more serious note. As children, at least in my case, my rebbes in cheder said vayedaber hashem el moshe," in gott hot gerett tzi moishe", and I had a vision of this old man with a white beard talking to this other old man (80 years + old approx). We learned Rashi and my rebbes never pointed out to me that Rashi had a totally different picture in his mind. Yes Rashi not Rambam or some other such "skeptic". He repeats it several times to make sure we don't miss the point. In fact it is not Rashi who started this idea it was Onkelos, and probably the Masora followed him when they set the vowels. In Shmos 33:9 on the verse Vediber Hashem el Moshe, Onkelos translates Umismalel - God was spoken to Moshe and Rashi cryptically quotes him without any further elaboration. (BTW some girsaos in Onkelos were tampered with and read Umemalel - rashi thus dissuades us as we will see). In Bamidbar 7:89 Vayshma es hakol midaber eilov - instead of medaber which would be normative - he heard the voice talking - the Masora reads Midaber - the voice was spoken - a difficult construct further confirmed by Onkelos - demismalel. Rashi again picks up on this and here a little less cryptically adds - it is God's glory for one to say that - in other words God is not physical and does not talk to people, even to Moshe - He talks to himself and Moshe hears on his own. Rashi already told us a little earlier that this "voice" is the same that Moshe experienced at Sinai. We are told here two things - first that the voice is a kind of "emanation" that is out there all the time ( remember God is not subject to time) - and second, Moshe or any prophet has to "listen" - in other words prepare himself and make a conscious effort to "hear" this "voice". ( see Sforno here who elaborates - cryptically as usual - and explains Rashi).

Exactly what prophecy is was debated by the Rishonim. The Kuzari et al. saw that as a miraculous event where God allowed certain people for certain reasons to "hear" the prophecy (proof is Monoach, Shimshon's father). Rambam and others held that prophecy is an ability that all men have if properly prepared. He based it on Aristoteleian understanding of how humans are inspired and grasp abstract ideas. They connect with the Active Intellect(in a future post I hope to adddress this difficult issue and try to translate it into contemporary language) which sounds strikingly like Rashi's understanding. Rambam however adds that we, Jews, accept that basic premise but also believe that even the most prepared person can be stopped by God from prophesyzing. (Proof Boruch ben Neryah, Yirmyahu's pupil). Here again Rambam turns our normal understanding on its head. Prophecy is normal for anyone that can attain it through self improvement, proper philosophic insight and meditation. The suppression, or not allowing the person that is ready to hear it, is what requires Divine intervention.

So clearly this business of Moshe and God speaking with each other, this idea of "Peh elPeh" and "Ponim el Ponim", the word "Kol" which permeates our Parsha is not what it seems at first blush. And the idea that it is not can be dated to at least Onkelos, a pupil of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua, (generation of the Churban), pupils of R. Yochanan ben Zakai, the "smallest" pupil of Hillel Hazoken, who lived at the time of Herod who ruled a 100 years before the destruction of the temple. ( For you history buffs who question Jewish sophistication 2000 years ago).

I hope to post some more on the subject in coming days and weeks taking advantage of the parshios where each one of them, Yssro, mishpatim, ki tiso all give us little snippets of Revelatiuon. Maybe if we piece them together we will get a little better understanding.

11 comments:

  1. Sorry to soud boorish, but in your view, is the state of prophesy the actual transfer of information from God to Man? Or is it something else?
    I just want to know where you stand on this before you get into the abstract nitty-gritty.

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  2. It is man learning all about how Hashem runs His world and feeling an insurmountable urge to share it with his fellow humans. In that sense it is the transfer of God's information to man.

    Why are you so apologetic? Lo habayshan lomed - that is not boorish. As for the abstract part, I thought I was too concrete.

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  3. >It is man learning all about how Hashem runs His world and feeling an insurmountable urge to share it with his fellow humans.

    That's an interestin definition of prophecy. But what's the difference between a wise man and a prophet? Was Rambam a prophet in your view?

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  4. >But what's the difference between a wise man and a prophet? Was Rambam a prophet in your view?

    That is a very interesting question. There apparently is a leap that a prophet makes beyond the concrete physical in a state of inspiration where he can deduce things without following logical steps. That ability can be thwarted by circumstances sucha as depression (Yaakov), political and social unrest (Boruch ben Neryiah), feeling of abandonment (probably what the Rabbis mean that Moshe lost his nevuah during the 40 years in midbar). Re Rambam I believe he believed that he did not have prophecy although some modern scholars think otherwise.

    There is a good book by R.Jose Faur, Homo Mysticus, that tries to explain all this in contemporary language.

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  5. Let me rephrase: Why are you willing to die or execute another (given the proper halachic circumstances) based on Jewish law?
    What is the source of the Mitzvah that arbitrates over life and death?
    Is it "man learning all about how Hashem runs His world."?
    What do you mean by learning?

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  6. >Is it "man learning all about how Hashem runs His world."?
    What do you mean by learning?

    Rambam in Moreh explains when Moshe asked hashem Hreinu na es derachecha he asked Him to show Him how he runs the world so that from that he will know how to deal with the people. Hashem said "OAnochi a'avir kol tuvi ... Tuvi refers to "vyar elokim es kol asher osoh vehineh tov meod" which means it had permanence. Tov is permanence Ra is He'eder which is non existence. God taught Moshe all there was to know about how the physical world operates and from that he knew how to deal with the people. That is the meaning of the 13 Midos. I hope that answers your question .

    Re killing murderers I do not understand what that has to do with faith? What has that got to do with trust? It is a convention that people have agreed to maintain society in its proper balance. The torah just legislates within its system just like other cultures legislate in their system. Where the Torah is unique is that legislates in deos too, shmiras shabbos to reflect Creation and Yetzias Mitzraim which make one think about Rotzon and hashgacha as it relates to hashem.

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  7. I am sorry it is Hodienu na es derachecha.

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  8. david,

    do you think it's right to kill a person for violating shabbos? Is that the will of your God? because it is, I don't want to have anything to do with your God

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  9. BS that is one of the toughest questions that contemporary Jews are confronted with. The same applies to malkus although it being not so final. I know of many arguments and they come across very apologetic. Rambam explains that the rationale for these extreme punishments is to make sure that society is not corrupted and to eliminate these dissenters who would disrupt it. At the same time I also understand that the Torah was a document that was written with eternity in mind. That being the case, the punishment is really a method to get to the result which is eliminate disruptions in society. That is why in practice, the application of the punishment was given so many caveats that if the Beth Din so wishes,it has total freedom when it comes to implement it. In other words if the goal that the punishment was meant to accomplish was attained without it, Beth Din need not apply it. That is how I understand the Gemoro about a beth din katlonis being one that appplied the death penalty once in 70 years (which means any Beth Din that did) and the opposite case of Shimon ben Shotach killing 70 sorceresses in Ashkelon ( if I recall the case correctly).

    I would add that with the Gedolim we currently have, I would be very afraid to be dependent on a beth din composed of their peers. A sanhedrin that dealt with capital punishment needed to be composed of Rabbis who in addition to Torah were erudite in secular studies, languages, sciences etc... who therefore had the capacity to be judicious and attuned to society. That does not exist nowadays and probably why Moshiach has not arrived yet.

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  10. "God taught Moshe all there was to know about how the physical world operates and from that he knew how to deal with the people. That is the meaning of the 13 Midos. I hope that answers your question ."

    I was asking simply how Moshe "learned" that God wants us to perform certain acts and refrain from performing other ones.
    Were the Mitzvos also 'gleaned' (not your term, but is it what you mean?) by Moshe from the overall prophetic experience? Inspired?
    Or were the specific actions specified by God "directly"?
    To you agree with GH's description of Divine Inspiration?

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  11. >Were the Mitzvos also 'gleaned' (not your term, but is it what you mean?) by Moshe from the overall prophetic experience? Inspired?

    Correct more or less. See my article in Hakirah http://hakirah.org/Vol%201%20Guttman.pdf

    GH has done a great job putting into Loshon bnei odom Rambam's nevuah. As i said in my post there are details to nquibble with but generally it is good.

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