[Avodah] Rav Shimon Schwab on Women Learning Torah

[Prof. Levine via Avodah]

At 10:42 PM 2/2/2016, Ben Waxman wrote:
>In addition to everything that Reb Sero wrote 
>(with which I agree), the Rambam writes that a 
>navi has to have mastered his middot and 
>overcome his desires. Does Rav Schwab believe 
>that a woman can do these without learning 
>Torah? That would be a huge chiddush.
>
>Ben
>
>
>On 2/2/2016 11:30 PM, Zev Sero via Avodah wrote:
>>The most basic requirement to be capable of prophecy is to be a chacham,
>>gadol bechochma [...] baal deah rechava nechona ad me'od [...] yikanes
>>lapardes [...]
>>
>>There's no specific mention of Torah, but since Torah is Hashem's chochma
>>how can one be a chacham without it?

First of all, I must say that I find it somewhat 
bizarre that you think that I have to defend or 
am capable of defending  anything that Rav Shimon 
Schwab, ZT"L, wrote. He was a first rate talmud 
chacham and surely knew what he was writing and 
had a firm basis in Torah hashkafa for what he 
wrote.  If he were alive today,  then you could 
ask him about what he wrote,  but, sadly, he is not.

However,  let me add what RSRH wrote about prophecy.

 From the Commentary of RSRH on Parshas Vayera

18: 2 He looked up and saw that three men were 
standing there, turned toward him. When he saw 
this, he ran from the door of the tent
to meet them, and bowed down to the ground;

Many confuse prophecy ­ Jewish prophecy ­ with delirium and
divination, ecstasy and clairvoyance. As a result, ecstasy is thought
to lead to prophecy, and prophecy is considered merely a higher
stage of ecstasy.

Even Jewish philosophers are not free of the notion that prophecy
requires Hisbodidus ­ spatial and spiritual abstraction, physical and
mental isolation. Yet a vast gulf separates all these from true prophecy.
What leads to God’s nearness is not abstract contemplation, but, rather,
a life of vitality, flowing from the Source of life. Jewish prophecy is not
the product of a morbid imagination, of an agitated abnormal condition;
rather, it is part of healthy life, a product of wakefulness and
joyful creativity. As our Sages say: “Prophecy does not come when there
is sorrow or sloth, frivolity or levity, chatter or foolishness; it comes
as a result of joy in the performance of a mitzvah” (Shabbos 30b).

I see no mention of mastery of Torah in the above.

YL


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