[Avodah] Chayav Livsumei

Micha Berger via Avodah avodah at lists.aishdas.org
Wed Apr 6 12:14:05 PDT 2016


On Tue, Mar 22, 2016 at 11:52:29AM +1100, Isaac Balbin via Avodah wrote:
: In the words of Mori V'Rabbi Rav Schachter in Torah Web on "Torah
: and Nevuah"

I found it at http://www.torahweb.org/torah/2004/parsha/rsch_tzav.html

: In his commentary to the mishnayos (end of Sanhedrin), Rambam lists what
: he considers are the thirteen principles of our faith. We believe in
: prophecy. It is possible for G-d to communicate with man. We also believe
: that the prophecy of Moshe Rabbeinu was on a higher level than that of
: any of the other prophets. What does this mean? Is Rambam grading the
: prophets? If Moshe Rabbeinu gets an A+, what does Micha get? And what
: grade does Chavakuk deserve?
: 
: No, this is not a matter of grading Moshe's prophecy. What Rambam means to
: say is that the only prophet who was ever given mitzvos (with a binding
: force for all future generations) was Moshe Rabbeinu. His was the only
: prophecy that was on the level of Torah.

I didn't get this paragraph. Because:

1- As it says further down:
:  Moshe Rabbeinu was the only prophet who was given what we technically
:  refer to as "mitzvos", commandments which are binding throughout all
:  the future generations, because they constitute the description of G-d's
:  essence, which is not subject to change. None of the prophets were ever
:  shown "the image of God", i.e., were never given "mitzvos". They were
:  only given a "hora'as sha'ah", of a temporary nature only...

Well, if Moshe alone was shown the tzelem E-lokim (which is necessary
to receive mitzvos), isn't that grading MRAH's above Micha or Chavaquq,
who did not?

Now if you're going to say that's the content of the nevu'ah, not the
quality of navi (pe'ula, not gavra), the pasuq itself says, "Lo qam navi
od beYisrael keMosheh, asher yeda'o H' Panim el panim." (Devarim 34:10)

2- The Rambam himself says that Moshe's nevu'ah was qualitatively unique.

In the 7th ikar, the Rambam describes the "peh el peh" (Bamidbar 12:8)
nevu'ah of Moshe as being unique in 4 ways:

a- no intermediary -- nevu'ah direct from HQBH
b- he didn't need to be asleep or in a trance
c- it didn't cause him to weaken and shudder (c.f. Daniel 8:8-9, 16)
d- Moshe could choose when he got nevu'ah; other nevi'im received when and
   if Hashem chose.

In the Moreh 2:35, we find:
    ... For I must tell you that whatever I say here of prophecy refers
    exclusively to the form of the prophecy of all prophets before and
    after Moses. But as to the prophecy of Moses I will not discuss it
    in this work with one single word, whether directly or indirectly,
    because, in my opinion, the term prophet is applied to Moses and
    other men homonymously. A similar distinction, I think, must be made
    between the miracles wrought by Moses and those wrought by other
    prophets, for his signs are not of the same class as the miracles
    of other prophets...

The word "nev'uah" is only used as a homonym -- it has a different meaning
when used WRT Moshe than when we call anyone else a navi / nev'uah.
This goes beyond grading Moshe an A+ and some other navi an A or less.
That would be saying they are at different gradations on the same scale.
What Moshe did wasn't nevu'ah as all in the same sense of the word. It
was a different type of perception.

See also Moreh 2:45, where he lists 11 gradations of nevu'ah -- all of
which in the usual sense of the word. (Moshe's being to different to
even be listed as a 12th.)

The Rambam was far from afraid of ranking prophecy, if not prophets.
But he does make a distinction between Moshe and the other nevi'im beyond
who received mitzvos and who not.

As I said, I don't think that's RHS's intent either, as can bee seen
in the second snippet I left in this post. I just don't know what his
intent is.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             The mind is a wonderful organ
micha at aishdas.org        for justifying decisions
http://www.aishdas.org   the heart already reached.
Fax: (270) 514-1507



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