The Rav, Tisha Be'av and Prophecy.

Rav Y.B.Soloveitchik in his fabulous classic Halakhic Man (translated by Lawrence Kaplan) states:

“The most exalted creation of all is the personality of the prophet. Each man is obligated to give new life to his own being by modeling his personality upon the image of the prophet; he must carry through his own self-creation until he actualizes the idea of prophecy – until he is worthy and fit to receive the divine overflow. “

The idea of prophecy in Jewish thought has two schools. R.Yehuda Halevi in his Kuzari believes that it is a miraculous act and God gives prophecy to whom he chooses. Manoach, who the Rabbis say was an ignoramus, had prophecy. That school of thought has been adopted by many great thinkers and is still the most prevalent nowadays. To me it is quite depressing because it takes away self-empowerment from man. Man is passive and has no control over his future. It also diminishes God and is the source of all the questions about God’s justice. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why the Holocaust? Man after all has no choice. God has refused to give them the insight that would have allowed changing their future and preventing the bad outcome. Yirmyahu the prophet of the destruction of the First Temple says it so eloquently:

מַלְכָּהּ וְשָׂרֶיהָ בַגּוֹיִם, אֵין תּוֹרָה--גַּם-נְבִיאֶיהָ, לֹא-מָצְאוּ חָזוֹן מֵיְהוָה. her king and her princes are among the nations, instruction is no more; yea, her prophets find no vision from the LORD. {S}

The other school spearheaded by Rambam understands that prophecy is a human ability. Man can access the universal knowledge through scientific inquiry and gain insights about his future. It is up to man to develop himself to the point that he develops this ability. That makes him into a man of God no longer completely dependent on nature and circumstances. He is responsible for his actions. God is not to blame for his mishaps as they are of his own making and could have been prevented had he used his abilities to the fullest. Yirmyahu was saying that we had screwed up so badly, our ancestors had mismanaged in such a way, that even men worthy of prophecy could not develop the necessary insight. The state of the nation was in such shambles that the required state of mind that comes with self- perfection was not reachable by even the best of us.

The Rav continues:

“The principle of prophecy, as an article of faith, like the fundamental of providence, has a twofold aspect: the belief in (1) prophecy as a reality – i.e. that God causes men to prophesy; (2) prophecy as a norm- i.e. that each person is obliged to aspire to this rank, that every man should make a supreme effort to scale the mountain of the Lord, until he reaches the pinnacle of the revelation of the Divine Presence… Prophecy is man’s ultimate goal, the end point of all his desires.” (Pages 128-129).

The fast of Tisha Be’av is meant to make us aware of the causes for the destruction of the Temple, the actions that brought about a state of affairs that prevents our great men, those who have tried to achieve more, from having the necessary insights to prevent the tragedies we face periodically. Introspection brings about awareness and hopefully will allow for actions that will help us bring peace to our war torn land and the return of the great insight known as prophecy.