A thought on פרשת בהעלתך
"...v'atzalti min ha'ruach asher alecha...""...and I will spread some of the spirit which is upon you..." (11:17)
HaShem refers to His bestowing prophetic experience upon the elder sages as diverting or extending the spirit of Moshe and channeling it to others. Surely there were more direct means of granting these elders the spirit of prophecy! We would expect HaShem to avail this powerful experience of nevu'a through revelation or other levels of making the Divine Presence known and His words received. What does this verse teach us, in introducing the word, and concept, of atzilus - the emanation of prophetic spirit from one to another?
The Recanati offers that the Torah teaches us here that all of the prophetic visions and messages attained by every one of the nevi'im were already contained within Toras Moshe. Not only was Moshe the greatest of our prophets - av ha'nevi'im - ; he was the source for all of the prophetic activity which followed him. The spirit of Torah which HaShem sent down to us by way of our teachers, the nevi'im, served to amplify and extend the supreme teachings of the Torah which was given to Moshe on Har Sinai.
The Recanati reminds us of the Chazal (Ta'anis 9a) which asserts that "nothing is found in the Prophets which is without allusion or reference in the Torah of Moshe." We have always understood this assertion as "you can always find a hint somewhere in the Torah about information learned elsewhere." The Recanati refines our understanding. "You can always find a reference in the Torah to all other Torah matters, for all that is Torah is introduced in the Torah." The Torah Sh'b'al Peh - the Oral Torah itself is an emanation of the Scripture.
Thus, the bestowing of prophecy to other sages was always a matter of revealing to them the messages and lessons awaiting discovery within the pure and infinite Torah Temima.
This is why HaShem declares that He will "take from the spirit of Moshe" and "extend it to others."
Good Shabbos. D Fox
HaShem refers to His bestowing prophetic experience upon the elder sages as diverting or extending the spirit of Moshe and channeling it to others. Surely there were more direct means of granting these elders the spirit of prophecy! We would expect HaShem to avail this powerful experience of nevu'a through revelation or other levels of making the Divine Presence known and His words received. What does this verse teach us, in introducing the word, and concept, of atzilus - the emanation of prophetic spirit from one to another?
The Recanati offers that the Torah teaches us here that all of the prophetic visions and messages attained by every one of the nevi'im were already contained within Toras Moshe. Not only was Moshe the greatest of our prophets - av ha'nevi'im - ; he was the source for all of the prophetic activity which followed him. The spirit of Torah which HaShem sent down to us by way of our teachers, the nevi'im, served to amplify and extend the supreme teachings of the Torah which was given to Moshe on Har Sinai.
The Recanati reminds us of the Chazal (Ta'anis 9a) which asserts that "nothing is found in the Prophets which is without allusion or reference in the Torah of Moshe." We have always understood this assertion as "you can always find a hint somewhere in the Torah about information learned elsewhere." The Recanati refines our understanding. "You can always find a reference in the Torah to all other Torah matters, for all that is Torah is introduced in the Torah." The Torah Sh'b'al Peh - the Oral Torah itself is an emanation of the Scripture.
Thus, the bestowing of prophecy to other sages was always a matter of revealing to them the messages and lessons awaiting discovery within the pure and infinite Torah Temima.
This is why HaShem declares that He will "take from the spirit of Moshe" and "extend it to others."
Good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 9:36 PM
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