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<font size=3>At 10:42 PM 2/2/2016, Ben Waxman wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">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.<br><br>
Ben<br><br>
<br>
On 2/2/2016 11:30 PM, Zev Sero via Avodah wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">The most basic requirement to be
capable of prophecy is to be a chacham,<br>
gadol bechochma [...] baal deah rechava nechona ad me'od [...]
yikanes<br>
lapardes [...]<br><br>
There's no specific mention of Torah, but since Torah is Hashem's
chochma<br>
how can one be a chacham without
it?</font></blockquote></blockquote><br>
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.<br><br>
However, let me add what RSRH wrote about prophecy.<br><br>
<font size=3>From the Commentary of RSRH on Parshas Vayera<br><br>
</font><font size=4><b>18: 2 </font><font size=3><i>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<br>
to meet them, and bowed down to the ground;<br><br>
</i></b>Many confuse prophecy <i>Jewish </i>prophecy with delirium
and<br>
divination, ecstasy and clairvoyance. As a result, ecstasy is
thought<br>
to lead to prophecy, and prophecy is considered merely a higher<br>
stage of ecstasy.<br><br>
Even Jewish philosophers are not free of the notion that prophecy<br>
requires <i>Hisbodidus</i> spatial and spiritual abstraction, physical
and<br>
mental isolation. Yet a vast gulf separates all these from true
prophecy.<br>
What leads to God’s nearness is not abstract contemplation, but,
rather,<br>
a life of vitality, flowing from the Source of life. Jewish prophecy is
not<br>
the product of a morbid imagination, of an agitated abnormal
condition;<br>
rather, it is part of healthy life, a product of wakefulness and<br>
joyful creativity. As our Sages say: “Prophecy does not come when
there<br>
is sorrow or sloth, frivolity or levity, chatter or foolishness; it
comes<br>
as a result of joy in the performance of a mitzvah” (<i>Shabbos
</i>30b).<br><br>
</font>I see no mention of mastery of Torah in the above. <br><br>
YL <br><br>
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