[Avodah] Prophet - mashgiach or godol hador?

[David Riceman]

From: "Daniel Eidensohn" <yadmoshe at 012.net.il>

> At first glance the Rambam's introduction does seem to support your point. 
> However, beis din here is not necessarily Sanhedrin. For example Dovid can 
> not be head of Sanhedrin because he was king.

It's true that the Rambam says this in H. Melachim 2:5 about malchei beith 
david, but the Kessef Mishna here says unapologetically that David was a 
Rosh Sanhedrin.  See Hasdei David on Tosefta Sanhedrin 2:8 for a possible 
solution.

> The prophets listed were part of the mesorah of the Oral Law. Thus these 
> are the links of receiving and teaching the Oral Law. It is not referring 
> to a judiciary or legislative body.

The Rambam has two lists.  I was citing the first list, and everyone I 
mentioned is accompanied by the phrase "ubeith dino".

> The Rambam states later "In each generation the head of the then existing 
> court or the prophet wrote down for his private use a memorandum of the 
> traditions which he had heard from his teachers and which he taught orally 
> in public."

But that is later; it may not be relevant to this point.

> At the end he says "All the sages here mentioned were the great men of the 
> successive generations: some of them were presidents of colleges, some 
> exilarchs and some were members of the great Sanhedria... According to 
> your reading he should have said they were all heads of Sanhedrin - when 
> there was a Sanhedrin.

No.  Later in the list he also includes colleagues.  My claim is that when 
he says "X ubeith dino" then X is a Rsoh Sanhedrin.   Even if he was only a 
haver beith din, however, that's enough to cast doubt on your claim that a 
prophet has no political office.

David Riceman