[Avodah] Navi and Physical Defects

[Daniel Eidensohn]

dfinch847 at aol.com wrote:
> Marty Bluke writes:
>
> "How could the adon haneviim stutter? The Rambam (Mamrim 7:2) writes 
> that a Navi has to be shalem b'gufu, if Moshe had a phsyical defect he 
> should have been unable to become a Navi at all."
>
> I had always read Rambam as saying that a navi needs moral and 
> spiritual perfection. Did Rambam actually say that a navi cannot have a 
> physical defect?
>
>   

*Rashbam**[i]* <#_edn1>*(Shemos 4:10):* It is inconceivable that a 
prophet who spoke with G‑d face to face and received the Torah from Him 
should have a speech impediment. Such an assertion is not found in the 
words of the Tanayim and Amoraim. We don’t concern ourselves with what 
is written in books outside the canon [The assertion is found in Shemos 
Rabbah 1:26 that Moshe stuttered].


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[i] <#_ednref1> *רשב"ם (שמות ד:י)* "וכי אפשר נביא אשר ידעו השם פנים אל 
פנים וקיבל תורה מידו לידו היה מגמגם בלשונו. ואין דבר זה בדברי התנאים 
והאמוראים, ואין לחוש לספרים החיצונים. (אבל זה נמצא בשמות רבה (א:כו).

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