Prophecy – the interface and means through which information is conveyed from the divine to the human realm – lies at the very heart of Judaism and many other religions. As a phenomenon which is understood not to have existed for thousands of years, it nevertheless has remained a source of fascination and debate for religious scholars throughout the ages.
Monday 24 June 2024
Moshe's prophecy and a Maimonidean fascination
Laws, narratives and post-Mosaic additions to the Torah
The concluding chapter of Judaism Reclaimed explores a controversial yet fascinating subject – whether later prophets or other figures might have been authorised to amend or add to passages of the Torah.
Unusually, our analysis of this delicate subject begins with
a remarkable passage written by the Maharal, who analyses a statement of
Rashi’s commentary to the first verse of parashat Mattot. Rashi teaches that
Moshe prophesied on two distinct levels: the exclusive and precise "peh el
peh" type mentioned above, as well as the more general "koh amar
Hashem" prophecy – the level at which other prophets received their
transmissions from God. Thus, while Moshe received the passages of the Torah
which contained the permanent mitzvot in the unique, unparalleled manner of
“peh el peh”, other parts of the Torah – those which contained narratives or
specific one-time-only instructions—were transmitted through the standard form
of prophecy.
Maharal offers a possible explanation for the discrepancy that exists between the levels of prophecy granted by God to Moshe in order to transmit different parts of the Torah. He suggests that, in order for a commandment from God to become eternal law, irrespective of the context of the time and place in which it was taught, it must be clearly and unambiguously identified as being God's explicit and exact word. The permanent mitzvot in the Torah, which were delivered through the precision and accuracy of the “pel el peh” process, can thereby withstand the force of claims that the applicability of those mitzvot was limited to ancient times or subject to adjustment when framed within the context of disparate social, political or cultural settings.
With regard to the Torah’s broader teachings as well as its
narrative sections, however, there was no need for such a precise “word for
word” medium of communication. Therefore these messages were relayed to Moshe
in the regular prophetic manner – which required the prophet to contribute his
or her own interpretation and could be influenced by their personality.
We noted how Maharal’s distinction between the Torah’s legal
and narrative passages dovetails with Ibn Ezra’s stated methodologies for
interpreting different parts of the Torah. Towards the end of the introduction
to his Torah commentary, Ibn Ezra distinguishes between the approaches for
interpreting verses with legal content, which often bear a single specific and
immutable meaning transmitted to us via the oral law, and the narrative
passages of the Torah which are capable of bearing multiple understandings—"shivim
panim latorah".
This connection between Maharal’s theory regarding different
levels of prophecy and Ibn Ezra’s distinction between narrative and legal
passages of the Torah may allow us to resolve another difficult issue. Ibn Ezra
writes that the final 12 verses of the Torah were a prophecy received and
recorded by Yehoshua. Elsewhere in his commentary, Ibn Ezra cites other verses
which are troubling, in that they permit the suggestion that they are the
product of later, non-Mosaic, authorship. Referring to the “secret of the 12” –
a phrase which is widely understood to refer to Yehoshua’s authorship of the
final 12 verses of the Torah — Ibn Ezra mysteriously informs his reader that
one who understands these verses will “recognise the truth”.
Manuscripts which appear to contain Torah commentary of
distinguished earlier commentators such as Rabbi Yehudah HaChassid make similar
suggestions regarding later prophetic authorship of certain verses in the
Torah. Without wishing to enter the debate as to the authenticity of these
manuscripts or the proper interpretation of Ibn Ezra’s secret, we can maintain
on the basis of our analysis that, even if they do involve the suggestion that
certain verses were added through the medium of a later prophecy, we can
distinguish these verses, which all pertain solely to the Torah’s narrative,
from verses which impart permanent mitzvot. In a similar vein, suggestions that
some of the Torah’s earlier passages were incorporated into the Torah by Moshe
on the basis of previous (prophetic) works are limited to narrative and do not
pertain to any legislative sections.
Following Maharal’s suggestion that narrative portions of
the Torah’s text were transmitted by means of regular prophecy, it may be
possible to accept that another prophet was divinely authorised to contribute
to them (a Tannaic opinion suggests that this was the case for the Torah’s
final verses). The Torah’s permanent mitzvot, however, were transmitted through
Moshe’s unique prophecy of “peh el peh”, making them immune to any form of
supplementing or interference–even by a later prophet.
Notably none of this appears to be accepted by Rambam–at
least in the way his principles of faith are expressed in the list contained in
the introduction to Chelek. Rambam’s understanding of prophecy as a relatively
natural result of a person’s development implies that Moshe's prophecy, through
which the entire Torah was transmitted, was constantly on this supreme
"peh el peh" level, and did not fluctuate between different biblical
passages. Consistent with Rambam’s understanding of Moshe’s constantly supreme
level of prophecy with which the entire Torah was relayed, Rambam also insists
that it is entirely illegitimate to claim that any additions or amendments were
made following Moshe’s death.
This represents the conclusions reached at the end of
Judaism Reclaimed. God-willing the final chapter of my upcoming book will
reopen this question and probe further approaches to reconciling this difficult
topic.
Rashi in a Maimonidean vision
My previous post discussed Rambam’s position on prophecy, an approach which is often regarded as radical. While the simple reading of the biblical text creates the impression that God is initiating a form of communication with prophets, Rambam interprets this process to be significantly more passive. The mind of the prophet is able to gain an insight into God’s will regarding necessary matters (Ralbag explains that the prophet can choose to concentrate on certain topics in order for the prophetic inspiration to address them).
“Rashi lived two generations before Maimonides, but in these few words Rashi gives Maimonides’ entire view on prophecy…”.“We are not surprised at Maimonides, for this view of prophecy is in keeping with his entire system of faith. But Rashi, who is always considered to be of naive faith and far from philosophic thought and analysis, says the exact same thing”.
“All the prophets looked through a dark glass –and thought they saw, and our teacher Moshe looked through a clear glass and knew that he had not seen Him to His face”.
Friday 7 June 2024
How accurate are biblical predictions for the Jewish people?
By Daniel Abraham and Shmuli Phillips
When it comes to assessing the veracity of revealed religions, the accuracy of any prophetic predictions and statements are likely to feature pretty high on one’s checklist. It is most surprising therefore how distinguished biblical commentators, such as Malbim in his introduction to the book of Chaggai, openly note and grapple with the problem of apparently unfulfilled or incorrect prophecies. Judaism Reclaimed explores this subject in detail, noting the approaches of various rabbinic thinkers as well as identifying distinct categories of prophecy.
One prominent prophetic theme, however, which features regularly throughout both the Torah and other prophetic books, is astoundingly historically accurate: the unique status of the Jewish people.
We read yesterday of Bila’am foretelling that “it is a nation that will dwell alone, and will not be reckoned among the nations”. Furthermore, we are to anticipate that the unique standing of our nation will be beneficial to humanity as a whole since Avraham was told at the start of Lech Lecha: “and all families of the world will be blessed through you”. Perhaps most astonishingly, the Jewish people do not achieve their accomplishments from a position of strength. Rather, as the Torah repeatedly predicts, they will go into exile for their sins and be scattered and weak among the nations. Yet they will survive and continue to contribute to and elevate humanity. And ultimately, as we have been privileged to witness only in the last century, they will be returned to nationhood and flourish back in their homeland.
It is worth sitting back and taking stock of Jewish accomplishments – foretold thousands of years ago:
You have a small tribe around 3000 years ago. They are going to go on to:
1. Give the world its all-time best selling book.
2. Survive not just those ancient times up until modern times, outliving literally thousands of other groups, tribes and nations that will die out over the ages. They will do this under some of the most horrendous circumstances imaginable. This by itself is not inexplicable, but it is truly remarkable.
3. The teachings in their holy book will revolutionize much of the world’s understanding and practice of morality. A point noted darkly by Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf.
4. These people in their exile will end up establishing communities across the entire world among all the nations in a way that no other people on earth has accomplished. This is predicted in detail in the Torah – (Devarim 28:64 “And God shall scatter you among all the peoples from one end of the earth to the other…” and many later biblical prophecies).
5. This people will not only survive as a people, but will also maintain their cultural and religious identity, again in very hostile environments that would grant them many benefits if they would only convert.
6. While this people is exiled from their land, the land will remain largely empty and desolate, with only a handful of cities maintaining any significant population. The land will become a barren wasteland. This is predicted by the Torah in a number of places. This fact is rather strange given the importance of Israel as a land bridge between Asia Africa and Europe, as well as its importance to Christianity and Islam. The fact remains that there were only three times Israel was a sovereign nation. Israel before the Babylonians, Israel after the Babylonians, and Israel in 1948
7. This tiny ancient tribe will become one of the most persecuted groups on earth. Their very name “Jew!” will become a bad word. They will face more attempted genocides than arguably almost any other group on earth. The hatred of them will unite neo-Nazis and radical Islamists. Every generation someone will try to destroy them. And even up until modern times this theme will continue.
8. This small group will continue revolutionizing the world with their accomplishments. They will achieve more per capita than any other group on earth. Though they are a mere .2% of the world’s population they will receive 22% of Nobel Prizes, 51% of Pulitzer Prizes. They will be the founders of all Hollywood studios. Three of the greatest four thinkers of the 20th century it will turn out are Jews – Freud, Marx, and Einstein. Jews will be in the leadership of almost every major “ism” to arise in the 20th century. The Communists, Anarchists, Feminists, Hippie movement, civil rights movements, and Jews were also in all socialist movements, whether revolutionary or reformist, universalist or nationalist, etc. Jewish accomplishments, inventions, innovations, are simply off the chart for this tiny people.
9. The Jewish people will also find a small opportunity in which to return to their rather desolate land and try to make it into a state. This will be done largely by secular Jews who do not believe that the prophecies of the bible are from God, nor do they believe there is any divine connection between the Jews and the land of Israel. This entire founding of the state will require the confluence of so many unlikely factors, each of which will have to happen or the entire enterprise could collapse and lead to total slaughter:
a) It just so happens that the land is open for large scale immigration, and the Jews have the ability to leave their lands.
b) their numbers are small and they are facing a hostile Arab population some of whose influential leaders are plotting the eventual genocide of the Jews, such as the mufti of Jerusalem.
c) at just this time, the antisemitism of the Nazis rears its head followed by the holocaust which will lead to the necessary emigration of large numbers of people who would otherwise had stayed in Europe. These numbers will be an indispensable factor in winning the 1948 war.
d) The Jews will win the 1948 war with minimal forces and weapons. The Jews had just lost 1/3 of their numbers and now they have a state. Losing this war would likely have ended in a second holocaust.
e) There is a very brief window in which the US, Soviet Union, and other nations supported the founding of the state. Within just a couple of years the Soviets had completely changed their mind. Abba Eban has pointed out that without the arms given to Israel by the Soviets, and without the Soviet vote in favor of partition (along with the votes of four satellite nations) “we couldn’t have made it, either diplomatically or militarily.””
f) The Arabs forcibly evict around 1 million Jews, most of whom move to Israel. These numbers are once again indispensable to the country and to the future engagement in 1967. In an almost miraculous fashion, factors in a very short span of time lead to hundreds of thousands of Jews being practically forced to move to Israel from so many from European and Moslem lands.
g) The 1967 saw predictions of total destruction of Israel by Russian intelligence estimates, as well as predictions of very high casualties from US estimates. This could have been it. Yet Israel achieved one of the most stunning victories they could have imagined. How do the Jews in Israel get lucky every single time?
h) The 1973 war also could have easily lead to destruction. After the counter attack of June 8th failed, reports say Moshe Dayan was depressed and truly feared this would be the first and last war that Israel would lose. The major battle fought in Valley of Tears is about as close to a miracle as you can get.
10) The Torah predicts very clearly that once the Jewish people return to their land, the nations of the world will join together and try to destroy the state of Israel. It is interesting that in today’s world, there is no other country on earth whose very existence is called into question by groups and nations from across the globe. People may hate North Korea’s leadership or the Iranian ayatollahs, but they don’t want to destroy these nations and/or exile their people. Israel is the one country on earth that receives this distinction. Israel is arguably one of the most hated countries on earth, and polls and public protests have consistently shown that.
Taking a step back it is astounding to note the numerous pages of Jewish and human history which appear to attest to the predictions of Bila’am and his fellow biblical prophets concerning the fate of the people of Israel. While a one-off prophecy or prediction concerning an individual may be considered a fluke, this becomes highly unlikely when the predictions pertain to an entire nation over the course of its national history.
First posted to Facebook 2 July 2023, here.
Monday 3 June 2024
Sinai: what happened -- and what was the point?
Yesterday’s Torah reading featured Moshe revisiting the Sinai revelation as he continues recounting major desert events on the Plains of Moav. While Sinai is widely associated with Lawgiving, Rabbi S. R. Hirsch points out that many laws and instructions had already been received by the nation before this event, and that laws continued to be revealed afterwards throughout the desert years. What, then, was the particular significance of this national revelation?
Two important functions are mentioned explicitly here by Moshe himself.
The first relates to Israel’s eternal unique status as a chosen nation. Even though Israel was destined to sin and suffer severe exile as a consequence, Moshe maintains that they can be assured that God will never abandon them; the eternal covenant will never be broken: “He will not forget the covenant of your fathers, which He swore to them.” After all “Did ever a people hear God's voice speaking out of the midst of the fire as you have heard, and live?”. As Rabbi Yehuda Halevi emphasises, this mass revelation represents a theological foundation for Christianity and Islam too. While these subsequent religions argue that Israel’s sins led it to be abandoned by God, Moshe – a prophet whose legitimacy they all accept – makes it unambiguously clear that the Jewish nation will never be replaced.
A second fundamental function of the Sinai revelation is also hammered home by Moshe in his introduction to the Ten Commandments: “And you shall guard yourselves very carefully, for you did not see any image on the day that God spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire”. The human imagination has long dreamed up creative speculations as to the image of God and how He can be physically represented. As Moshe describes at length, humans are prone to “lift their eyes up to heaven” and attribute divinity to the celestial bodies, or consider that impressive “beasts of the earth” must be endowed with supernatural powers. The point emphasised by Moshe is that even in the nation’s most direct and intimate encounter with the Divine, no image was seen. God can most accurately be depicted in the negative – what could NOT be seen. The Sinai revelation thereby condemns any subsequent attempt to attribute a form of divinity to any physical image, object or even great sage as a product of human imagination – not the God who revealed Himself to the nation at Sinai.
A third vital function of the Sinai revelation is not mentioned here in Moshe’s recounting, but is stated by God before the initial account of the Ten Commandments in Shemot (19:9): "I am coming to you in the thickness of the cloud, in order that the people hear when I speak to you, and they will also believe in you forever". As analysed in Judaism Reclaimed, the primary purpose of the Sinai revelation was not the Ten Commandments themselves, but rather that – as explained by Rambam – the nation participated in a direct prophetic encounter between God and Moshe. Having witnessed such an extraordinary phenomenon they became aware of their own inability to maintain such a level of proximity with the divine and implored God to communicate with them instead through Moshe. This represented the ultimate authentication and vindication of Moshe’s prophecy through which the Torah was received.
Various questions have been raised over the ambiguity of the Torah’s accounts of the Sinai revelation. Which words, if any, were heard directly by the nation and what was conveyed instead by Moshe? If the collective national memory did not preserve such details, does this not undermine the force and significance of such a revelation?
Bearing in mind the functions of the Sinai revelation that we have identified explicitly within the Torah’s text, we can argue that the content of the Commandments – while obviously important – is not what makes this event so highly-emphasised and unique. Rather it is the implications that this revelation had for the relationship between God and His chosen people. First, we gained actual knowledge that His divinity cannot be represented by anything within the physical world and secondly that our relationship with Him is eternal and non-revocable.
Once the nation had been granted third-party participatory status and thereby witnessed Moshe receiving prophecy, his authenticity as an instrument of God’s word was now beyond doubt. The question of which parts of the Ten Commandments were heard directly from God and which via Moshe’s agency becomes far less significant.
First posted to Facebook 30 July 2023, here.
Tuesday 28 May 2024
Moshe: unwilling interlocutor to fearless superhero
This lack of confidence continues into parashat Va’eira until God discloses using the past-tense: “I have placed you as a Master over Pharaoh” [netaticha]. With this prophetic statement of pre-ordained fact, Moshe’s worries evaporate since the success of the mission is no longer contingent upon his own personal merit, and he henceforth fearlessly confronts Pharaoh and his courtiers without a hint of concern or protest.
First posted on Facebook 14 January 2024, here.
Circumcision: divine duties and human morality
The command of circumcision, which features in this week’s Torah portion, has become an important battleground in recent years for those see...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil2y4JNsl4XgdoCT8Kw7TxcTHWH1uOnP56P36yYd0TpTFn0hWbiP3vek4wkTUp_oMHp6yTXTnJeiPjhhSXIiigA2ZWADZ23Pzrs3vunYU5Yd4twkilEySB1krIJDYIDEonA1-uy-S8CLpzdD7RwydYTC17Y8b8Nt2BBwicS9MMZybhK0PqfF4Buy1o/s320/poo12.jpg)
-
By Daniel Abraham and Shmuel Phillips The historicity surrounding the birth of Moses, his being placed in a basket in the Nile, and his subs...
-
“I’m ok with coming to shul. But I don’t understand why nothing in the Siddur actually says anything I want to tell God!” These words uttere...
-
One of the essays which ultimately did not make the final cut of Judaism Reclaimed related to a troubling biblical instruction that firs...