Chasidut su Gioele 3:1
וְהָיָ֣ה אַֽחֲרֵי־כֵ֗ן אֶשְׁפּ֤וֹךְ אֶת־רוּחִי֙ עַל־כָּל־בָּשָׂ֔ר וְנִבְּא֖וּ בְּנֵיכֶ֣ם וּבְנֽוֹתֵיכֶ֑ם זִקְנֵיכֶם֙ חֲלֹמ֣וֹת יַחֲלֹמ֔וּן בַּח֣וּרֵיכֶ֔ם חֶזְיֹנ֖וֹת יִרְאֽוּ׃
E dopo avverrà che spanderò il mio spirito su tutta la carne; E i tuoi figli e le tue figlie profetizzeranno, i tuoi vecchi sogneranno sogni, i tuoi giovani vedranno visioni;
Mevo HaShearim
God wants and desires to be connected in complete dveykut with all of Israel, “the people close to Him”205Psalms 148.—that is, not just with the prophets, but with all of them. God’s ultimate desire is that all of Israel be prophets, as it says “The Holy One says, in this world there are individual prophets, but in the world to come all of Israel will be prophets, as it says ‘And it will be that I will pour My spirit on all flesh and your sons and daughters will prophesy.” 206Joel 3:1. Interestingly, this verse speaks of all flesh, not just Israel, prophesying. [Bamidbar Rabbah 15]
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Kedushat Levi
Exodus 11,1. Hashem spoke to Moses and Aaron to say to them: speak to the Children of Israel; saying: “this is the category of living creature that you are allowed to eat, etc.;” we must first concentrate on the meaning of the words לאמר אלהם, a combination not found elsewhere in the Torah.
In order to get a better understanding of the legislation that follows it is worthwhile to look at Rashi on Exodus 2,27 where Moses’ sister Miriam asks the daughter of Pharaoh if she should call for her a Hebrew wet nurse to suckle the infant Moses. Rashi explains that Moses had refused to be nursed by any of the Egyptian wet nurses, the reason being that in light of his destiny of communicating closely with G’d in the future, it was not appropriate that his body should have absorbed life-sustaining milk from a ritually impure wet nurse.
Nachmanides adds that what the Torah forbade the Jewish people to eat are those creatures that are cruel and insensitive by nature, and if we were to absorb their meat some of it would leave such tendencies behind in our bodies. The Jewish people being a holy nation must preserve this status and display love and compassion rather than cruelty or insensitivity to the needs of other creatures. We have it on the authority of the prophet Joel (Joel 3,1) that there will come a time when all members of the Jewish people will become endowed with prophetic powers and in order for G’d to communicate with them directly their bodies must retain the capacity to at all times respond lovingly to the needs of others. It would be most inappropriate for the mouth that has been fed ritually unclean and therefore abhorrent creatures, to be addressed by the Divine Presence. An allusion to this future state of affairs is contained in the words לאמר אלהם, “to speak to them,” at this point before the Torah lists the living creatures that are repeatedly referred to as abhorrent, and therefore not fit as food for the Jewish nation, [although, after the deluge all of them had become permitted for the descendants of Noach. Ed.]
In order to get a better understanding of the legislation that follows it is worthwhile to look at Rashi on Exodus 2,27 where Moses’ sister Miriam asks the daughter of Pharaoh if she should call for her a Hebrew wet nurse to suckle the infant Moses. Rashi explains that Moses had refused to be nursed by any of the Egyptian wet nurses, the reason being that in light of his destiny of communicating closely with G’d in the future, it was not appropriate that his body should have absorbed life-sustaining milk from a ritually impure wet nurse.
Nachmanides adds that what the Torah forbade the Jewish people to eat are those creatures that are cruel and insensitive by nature, and if we were to absorb their meat some of it would leave such tendencies behind in our bodies. The Jewish people being a holy nation must preserve this status and display love and compassion rather than cruelty or insensitivity to the needs of other creatures. We have it on the authority of the prophet Joel (Joel 3,1) that there will come a time when all members of the Jewish people will become endowed with prophetic powers and in order for G’d to communicate with them directly their bodies must retain the capacity to at all times respond lovingly to the needs of others. It would be most inappropriate for the mouth that has been fed ritually unclean and therefore abhorrent creatures, to be addressed by the Divine Presence. An allusion to this future state of affairs is contained in the words לאמר אלהם, “to speak to them,” at this point before the Torah lists the living creatures that are repeatedly referred to as abhorrent, and therefore not fit as food for the Jewish nation, [although, after the deluge all of them had become permitted for the descendants of Noach. Ed.]
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Kedushat Levi
Numbers 11,28. he said: “my lord Moses lock them up!” To this Moses responded by saying: (11,29), “I wish that the entire people of G’d would be filled with prophetic insights!”,
Whereas we know that the righteous are able to bring about a cancellation of Divine decrees that would negatively affect our people, this rule holds true only as long as the decrees in question have not been written down by the prophet who had announced them. Once the decree has been committed to writing, it is beyond the ability of the righteous to bring about its reversal.
If this is so, surely we must ask ourselves how it is possible to cancel the prophecies about the disasters that will befall us during the period described in the Talmud as the חבלי משיח, “the birth pangs of the messianic age?” If you would question why in light of this the prophets committed these decrees to writing in the first place, the answer is that unless they had been written down people would deny that such prophecies had existed and would claim that had they known of them they surely would have taken them to heart and would have done teshuvah, repentance. Not only that, but people would have claimed that the fact that these dire prophecies did not come true was not due to repentance, but that they were the words of false prophets in the first place.
Maimonides in the sefer Hamadda as well as in hilchot melachim (chapter 12,2) writes that what the prophets wrote does not describe the period immediately preceding the coming of the messiah; from this it follows that we cannot pray for cancellation of decrees of which we have no knowledge. When the messiah will come he will also explain to us writings of the prophets which we were unable to understand until then.
Even if it were true that the prophets’ writings did describe the period preceding the coming of the messiah, seeing that when the messiah comes all of the Jewish people will possess intimate knowledge of G’d, just as did the prophets of old, as we know from Joel 3,1ונבאו בניכם ובנותיכם זקניכם חלומות יחלמו בחוריכם חזיונות יראו, “your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your elders will dream dreams, and your youngsters will experience visions.” At that time, when all the Jewish people are on the level of prophets, no one will accuse the prophets of having prophesied falsely, so that there is no need to record their visions in writing. They will then realize that the righteous that lived shortly before the advent of the messiah had been able to cancel these decrees so that their non occurrence is no proof of their having been falsehoods.
When Joshua told Moses to lock up Eldod and Meydod for having prophesied his death and Joshua’s becoming his successor, this prophecy could no longer have been cancelled as it has been recorded in the Torah. [actually it was not spelled out. Ed.] Moses, by saying that he wished that all the Jews could prophesy already meant, that if that were the case the prophecy of Eldod and Meydod could become void then without their being called false prophets. The righteous of his time would then be able to override that decree although it had been recorded in writing. In other words, even when prophets have been told of certain decrees G’d has issued Himself, it is within the power of the righteous to bring about an annulment. This is the meaning of Devarim Rabbah 3,11 stating when explaining the meaning of Deuteronomy 9,1 when Moses commences to describe Israel as crossing the Jordan with the words: אתה עובר היום את הירדן וגו', “you are about to cross the river Jordan today, etc,” that Moses implied that he himself was not allowed to cross the Jordan, but that he hoped that the intercession of the righteous on his behalf might result in G’d revoking His decree concerning this. To his dismay, the people did not understand the hint Moses gave them in that verse. He had hoped that although he had told them that he was about to die (on the east bank of the Jordan) they would pray for a remission of G’d’s decree. Moses, according to that Midrash was clearly not afraid that if as a result of Israel’s prayers he would be allowed to cross the Jordan, that they would consider him a false prophet, seeing he had told them himself that he would not.
Whereas we know that the righteous are able to bring about a cancellation of Divine decrees that would negatively affect our people, this rule holds true only as long as the decrees in question have not been written down by the prophet who had announced them. Once the decree has been committed to writing, it is beyond the ability of the righteous to bring about its reversal.
If this is so, surely we must ask ourselves how it is possible to cancel the prophecies about the disasters that will befall us during the period described in the Talmud as the חבלי משיח, “the birth pangs of the messianic age?” If you would question why in light of this the prophets committed these decrees to writing in the first place, the answer is that unless they had been written down people would deny that such prophecies had existed and would claim that had they known of them they surely would have taken them to heart and would have done teshuvah, repentance. Not only that, but people would have claimed that the fact that these dire prophecies did not come true was not due to repentance, but that they were the words of false prophets in the first place.
Maimonides in the sefer Hamadda as well as in hilchot melachim (chapter 12,2) writes that what the prophets wrote does not describe the period immediately preceding the coming of the messiah; from this it follows that we cannot pray for cancellation of decrees of which we have no knowledge. When the messiah will come he will also explain to us writings of the prophets which we were unable to understand until then.
Even if it were true that the prophets’ writings did describe the period preceding the coming of the messiah, seeing that when the messiah comes all of the Jewish people will possess intimate knowledge of G’d, just as did the prophets of old, as we know from Joel 3,1ונבאו בניכם ובנותיכם זקניכם חלומות יחלמו בחוריכם חזיונות יראו, “your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your elders will dream dreams, and your youngsters will experience visions.” At that time, when all the Jewish people are on the level of prophets, no one will accuse the prophets of having prophesied falsely, so that there is no need to record their visions in writing. They will then realize that the righteous that lived shortly before the advent of the messiah had been able to cancel these decrees so that their non occurrence is no proof of their having been falsehoods.
When Joshua told Moses to lock up Eldod and Meydod for having prophesied his death and Joshua’s becoming his successor, this prophecy could no longer have been cancelled as it has been recorded in the Torah. [actually it was not spelled out. Ed.] Moses, by saying that he wished that all the Jews could prophesy already meant, that if that were the case the prophecy of Eldod and Meydod could become void then without their being called false prophets. The righteous of his time would then be able to override that decree although it had been recorded in writing. In other words, even when prophets have been told of certain decrees G’d has issued Himself, it is within the power of the righteous to bring about an annulment. This is the meaning of Devarim Rabbah 3,11 stating when explaining the meaning of Deuteronomy 9,1 when Moses commences to describe Israel as crossing the Jordan with the words: אתה עובר היום את הירדן וגו', “you are about to cross the river Jordan today, etc,” that Moses implied that he himself was not allowed to cross the Jordan, but that he hoped that the intercession of the righteous on his behalf might result in G’d revoking His decree concerning this. To his dismay, the people did not understand the hint Moses gave them in that verse. He had hoped that although he had told them that he was about to die (on the east bank of the Jordan) they would pray for a remission of G’d’s decree. Moses, according to that Midrash was clearly not afraid that if as a result of Israel’s prayers he would be allowed to cross the Jordan, that they would consider him a false prophet, seeing he had told them himself that he would not.
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Chovat HaTalmidim
This is to say that the Mishnah says (Avot 5:21), "Forty [is the age] for understanding, Fifty [is the age] for [giving] counsel." That means that the life of a person is divided into seasons - when he is forty, his mind will be fit for understanding; and when ten more years are added to him, he will reach a different season, that of counsel. And this is not only the case with the seasons of forty and fifty. Rather every number of five or ten years of a person's life differs with regard to their season. For that which the season of young adulthood is fit, later seasons - and even the season of old age - will not be fit. And for that which the seasons of old age and hoary-headedness are fit, the seasons before them will not be fit. And please note this wonder: That when the prophet announced the word of God (Joel 3:1), "After that, I will pour out My spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters shall prophesy" - he then also distinguished and said, "your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." The sight of the old men will be in a dream, but that of the young men will be in a vision. It is not that we are coming now to explain the difference between the sight of a dream and the sight of a vision. Nevertheless, there is a difference, and the prophet divided them according to their seasons - the young men in their season and the old men in their season. It should be understood that this verse is not relating to God's prophets, who were above their bodies; above time and all of the world. So the level that a prophet would reach in his prophecy, he would reach during any of his seasons, nor was it subject to any season. Rather this verse is speaking about the whole Jewish people, as it is stated (Joel 3:2), "Even upon the slaves and the maidservants, etc., will I pour out My spirit." And the entire people - even in their greatness - is subject to the seasons. This means to say that a person is divided into seasons also in his service of God, and that he is fit for something different in each one of them. For example, there are the seasons of youth, in which a person is more fit to enthuse; and there are the seasons of older age, in which a person is more fit to delight in the pleasantness of the Supernal One. There are seasons when if one does not enthuse, he feels nothing; and there are seasons that even at the time when he is not enthusing, he feels the delightfulness and sweetness from even every simple thing, and even from every letter in the Torah or prayer which he says. There are seasons in which his enthusiasm - like any part of his divine service - begins in his brain, by his delving with his mind; and there are those in which it is more fit to begin in the heart, etc. Hence if a man rises in his youth to serve God through the ways of Chassidut and to bring out all that for which his spirit is fit [in the various seasons] for divine service, he will fix all of them in himself. And at the time of his old age, his service will be a type of crowning glory within which all the shades and faces of the various seasons will be seen. However if he delays getting used to it - even if he toils at it [later] - he will be lacking his seasons that he missed.
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