Hi, good evening. I apologize for the delay, a little bit of technical difficulties. Okay, so I think we're up to Hayesod Hashishi. Hayesod Hashishi Hanevuah, the sixth of the thirteen fundamental principles of belief is prophecy. Vehoo, so that's the quintessential statement or formulation of the fundamental principle: the existence of prophecy. Now comes the elaboration. Vehoo leida to know שיש במין האנושי הזה in humankind, Efshar it's possible sheyimatzu bnei adam that there will be people שיש להם תכונות מעלות מאוד who in terms of character traits are very noble, Ushlemut raba and a high degree of perfection. Vekonenu nafsham and they have primed, they have prepared or primed their soul, haskalit their intellectual soul, עד כדי קבלת צורת השכל so that they are ready for this metaphysical experience. Ve'oto hasechel ha'enoshi their human intellect, mitdabek it clings, during the moment or span of prophecy it's mitdabek it clings be'sechel hapoel with the angelic intelligence. Venetzal mimenu aleihem and from that angelic intelligence emanates atzilut nichbada. It's something is there's an emanation, there's a transfer from that angelic intelligence to the human intellect in this metaphysical experience. Ve'eleh hem hanevi'im such individuals are the prophets, vezo hi hanevuah and what I have just sketched for you, says the Rambam, is what constitutes prophecy, vezehu inyanah and this is its content, its substance. וביאור יסוד זה על בוריו יאריך מאוד to explain this adequately would require tremendous elaboration. Moreover, ve'ein bekavanatenu within this listing of the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim of the thirteen principles of faith, it's not our intention, says the Rambam, להביא מופת על כל יסוד מהם to provide the logical proof or demonstration, for instance in yesod number one, the Rambam didn't prove to us the existence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu despite the fact that the Rambam elsewhere does walk us through, guide us through those proofs, because what he intends in the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim is a formulation of the principles of faith, not a demonstration of the principles of faith. So the Rambam says I'm not providing that dimension here either because that's not my goal here in presenting the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim. Uviur ofanei hasagato, לפי שזהו כלל החכמות כולן that basically requires to encompass. encompass all branches of wisdom. Ella Azkirem, what I'm setting out to do in the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim is to mention them, to list them derech hoda’at emunah. Again, to formulate the principle of belief, but it's not my intention presently today to demonstrate the principle of belief. And then as the Rambam does with each of the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim in terms of telling us where we find this in the Chumash, so the Rambam says I don't have to identify one or two solitary pesukim here or there because וכתבי התורה מעידים על נבואת נביאים רבים. There are so many pesukim in the Chumash which attest, which describe the prophetic experience and encounter of so many different nevi’im, of Avraham, of Yitzchak, of Yaakov, etc. Okay, let's try to discuss a little bit and try to understand. The Rambam's one word encapsulation of the Yesod haShishi, haNevuah, is crucial. Meaning that is the core of the sixth principle of belief. And on that, as with the other Yud Gimmel Ikkarim, there's a consensus omnium amongst all the chachmei hamasorah throughout the generations. For instance, just to mention one representative source, the Ramban in his famous comments at the end of Parshas Bo where the Ramban is explaining why there are so many mitzvos in the Torah which are zecher liyetziat Mitzrayim. Why is recalling the process of the Exodus with all its miraculousness, why is that so central to Torah mitzvos that there are so many mitzvos in the Torah which are zecher liyetziat Mitzrayim? So the Ramban says ka’asher yatz’u haElohim, he says that there were three groups of heretics and three types of heresy that from the days of Enosh on had emerged. One Rachmana litzlan, were those who were atheists. There were others who were theists in that they acknowledged the existence of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, but they denied any connection between him and the world. That HaKadosh Baruch Hu isn't even aware of what happens in our world. He's too exalted in their opinion to know what's happening in our world. So that type of theism of deism was the second type of heresy that emerged. And the third one acknowledged not only the existence of HaKadosh Baruch Hu and not only HaKadosh Baruch Hu's omniscience and knowledge of everything that happens in our world, but they denied any providence. They said it's beneath HaKadosh Baruch Hu's dignity to care kavyachol, as it were, about what's happening in the world. So those were the three groups of heretics, the three types of heresy that had emerged from the generation of Enosh and that were pervasive at the time of Yetziat Mitzrayim. Says the Ramban, when HaKadosh Baruch Hu chooses whether it's a particular individual or a particular group or nation and he performs miracles on their behalf, clearly targeted miracles to save them, for their benefit, for their welfare, so the Ramban says this dispels all three of those forms of heresy. Ki hamofes hanifla, a miracle, something that happens that defies natural law, attests to the fact sheyesh lo eloha. sheyesh l’olam Eloka that there’s a God who created the world, who knows, who can therefore since he created the world he can override natural law. From the fact that the miracle targets, benefits his people who are in need of that miracle, it clearly attests to the fact that he knows what’s happening in our world and that he exercises a divine providence. Then the Ramban adds וכאשר יהיה המופת ההוא נגזר תחלה מפי נביא and when that miracle or that series of miracles is predicted beforehand by a prophet, so then in addition to these yesodos ha’emunah, יתפרסם ממנו עוד אמתת הנבואה. How could Moshe Rabbeinu know that the water in the Nile is going to turn to blood? How could Moshe Rabbeinu be able to predict that there was going to be a swarm of frogs, or maybe the miracle was initially it was one frog? How could Moshe Rabbeinu know that to tell Paroh and how could he tell him about the lice, etc.? So clearly, clearly Moshe Rabbeinu had inside information. Clearly, clearly Hakadosh Baruch Hu communicates. Clearly, clearly there is prophecy. וכאשר יהיה המופת ההוא נגזר תחלה מפי נביא יתפרסם ממנו עוד אמתת הנבואה.
So then the veracity of prophecy, that there is such a thing as prophetic communication, is also established, is also proven. And now listen to this phrase in the Ramban: ותקיים עם זה התורה כולה. And now we’ve provided the firm basis for belief in Torah. So that nevuah is one of the principles of belief, that there is nevuah, and that recognizing that is one of the principles of belief, that there’s a consensus omnium. Where there isn’t a consensus omnium is what comes later when the Rambam is elaborating and he’s also sharing elements which are not indispensable to belief in the ikar where the Rambam explains how nevuah happens. And specifically the Rambam's opinion is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that a person who is unworthy of nevuah never receives nevuah. Hakadosh Baruch Hu only bestows nevuah on a person who's worthy of nevuah. What is worthiness for nevuah entail? So that’s what we read before, that A: there are techunos me'ulos me'od, character perfection, character refinement to the level of degrees of perfection. Number two, intellectual perfection, that the person studies and that the person attains, again, degrees of perfection in terms of his intellectual understanding of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, of Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s world, of Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s Torah, etc. When it comes to that, here, again, in this non-essential element, in terms of is there such a thing as a miracle of someone unworthy of nevuah receiving nevuah, so here there is definitely a difference of opinion. And there are those who don’t agree on this respect and think no, that there are times, there are moments when Hakadosh Baruch Hu grants nevuah even to someone who’s unworthy of nevuah. According to the Rambam's approach, what does it mean when we have psukim in Chumash such as ויבא אלהים אל לבן, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the literal translation of the pasuk is that Hashem comes to Lavan? Lavan HaArami didn’t exactly achieve character perfection nor did Lavan HaArami spend invest too much effort in terms of developing cultivating intellectual perfection either. What does it mean? Given how corrupt an individual Bilam was, so what does it mean seemingly that the Torah describes Bilam having nevuah? So the Rambam says that the words Vayavo Elokim or Vayera Elokim can connote nevuah but don't always connote nevuah. And what Vayavo Elokim just means is that a message comes from Hakadosh Baruch Hu to a recipient. That message may be delivered via prophetic experience, or it may be that Hakadosh Baruch Hu causes the person to have a dream, but not that he's having a prophetic experience in the dream but that instead of his dreaming ich veis whatever, I don't know, Lavan probably, I don't know what Lavan used to dream about, getting rich or whatever, I don't know what Lavan usually dreamed about, but instead of Lavan having his normal dream, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu as it were puts inserts content into the dream. And in that sense it's Vayavo Elokim, but not in the sense of prophetic experience. משל למה הדבר דומה, let's say two people can communicate either, let's say we can have a conversation and we can engage in face-to-face or computer-to-computer communication as the case may be, right, so that's one form of communication. Or we can exchange emails or if anyone has a really good memory we can write letters and we can communicate that way. So both would be correctly and accurately described as communication but obviously they're two very different experiences, right? One experience is a personal interaction. If two people are sitting across a table and talking, so there's a personal interaction, as opposed to if they're exchanging emails or they're exchanging letters, you don't have that dimension of personal interaction but there's still communication. So that's maybe a little bit of a mashal for what the Rambam is telling us, that not everything that we find described in the Chumash as Vayavo Elokim means prophetic encounter. It means communication, but the communication might be the analog, returning to our mashal, it might be the analog of a letter, of an email, as opposed to the analog of a personal encounter, of a personal face-to-face communication. So that's the opinion of the Rambam that Hakadosh Baruch Hu grants nevuah only to individuals who are worthy, a, by dint of a high degree of character perfection, having refined and purified their character traits, and b, by dint of intellectual attainment and intellectual perfection. The Malbim is of the opinion that even the Rambam will concede an exception to this rule, the Malbim in the beginning of Sefer Yirmiyahu and maybe says it elsewhere as well, but this is certainly one place where he suggests that he thinks that the Rambam would concede that Hakadosh Baruch Hu makes an exception if at a moment in history Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to send a navi to Klal Yisrael and at that moment in history there's no one worthy of nevuah, so the Malbim says what Hakadosh Baruch Hu will do is Hakadosh Baruch Hu for the sake of the klal, for the sake of the Jewish people, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu will elevate this person. The norm when it comes to nevuah is that the person has to attain that worthiness of nevuah on his own and for a person to ever merit nevuah just for the individual. perfection that it offers, so then the Rambam has no exception. A person will only merit Nevuah if he's proved himself worthy of Nevuah. If, however, Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants at that moment in history to send a message to the Jewish people and at that moment in history there's no one worthy of Nevuah, so then Hakadosh Baruch Hu even then it's the person still has to be worthy, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu will will as it were give him a boost. Hakadosh Baruch Hu will help the person refine his character. Hakadosh Baruch Hu won't rely on this person attaining it on on his own. So the Malbim again has this sort of partial exception that that he thinks that that the Rambam would allow for and that would answer he says most of the questions people ask on the Rambam. There's no indication in Sefer Shoftim that Manoach is someone who's worthy of of Nevuah or there's no indication that Gidon is someone worthy is is a persona who's worthy of Nevuah, says says the Malbim, the Rambam would agree that when there's communal need that Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to address, so then he will elevate the individual to that level of worthiness. Okay. I'd like to to read you now just a a couple of lines from from my grandfather's essay Ish HaHalacha, towards the end of Ish HaHalacha, initially to read and and then to try to get a little bit of of a handle on on the the insight which which he's offering. The belief in prophecy, writes the Rav, has an ethical and practical dimension. Skipping half a sentence. Prophecy is man's ultimate goal, the end point of all his desires. But let's especially focus on that first half of the sentence. The belief in prophecy has again this is the English translation. Ish HaHalacha was written in in Hebrew. The belief in prophecy has an ethical and practical dimension. What what does that mean? When the Rambam is describing and defining Nevuah for us and he describes and defines that Nevuah is only experienced by people worthy of Nevuah, so in the course of doing so the Rambam is also identifying for us what human potential is. When the Rambam tells us about the yesod of techiyas hameisim, that in the end of days there's going to be physical resurrection and and those who have already died, so body and and soul will be reunited and there will be physical resurrection, there's no ethical and practical dimension to that. There's no mandate for us that emerges from that. It's a principle of belief, a fundamental principle of belief. But the yesod hashishi, says the Rav, has has contains an ethical and practical dimension. What what does he mean? Because when the Rambam is describing and defining for us what Nevuah is, so both here in the Peirush HaMishnayos which we just read together, לדעת שבמין האנושי אפשר שימצאו בני אדם, in describing and defining who's worthy of Nevuah, who experiences Nevuah, the Rambam reveals to us how exalted human potential is and in so doing there emerges a mandate that that we should realize just how much a person can elevate himself. We can realize from the yesod hashishi just how much a person can sanctify himself. We should realize from the yesod hashishi to what heights a person can attain the incredible Potential latent in in a human being. Not to encourage megalomania, not to encourage delusions of having prophecy, but to know what our potential is, to know how incredible that potential is. Efshar, Efshar means it's possible. This potential, the potential exists for people to cultivate such Tshunos mu'ulos me'od, to so refine their characters, to so ennoble themselves, וכוננו נפשם עד כדי קבלת צורת השכל, and to so purify and elevate their intellect and their intellectual attainment that they position themselves to receive Hakadosh Boruch Hu's Nevua. So that again, that's what the Rav is telling us. That's not only the statement of a fundamental belief, which it is, but latent within that is also a mandate, a mandate of what we aspire to, to realize what we can attain. And that same, the Rav points out, the same is true when the Rambam revisits this again in the Rambam's literary career. So he wrote the Peirush Hamishnayos before he authored his magnum opus of the Mishneh Torah. So he's now revisiting this in the Mishneh Torah in Perek Zayin of Yesodei HaTorah. Let's read a few lines together. מיסודי הדת לידע שהאל מנבא את בני האדם, it's one of the fundamentals of belief, of religion, to know that Hakadosh Boruch Hu grants prophecy to people. And then the Rambam says, and the Rambam is following up on what he's told us here in the Peirush Hamishnayos, that Nevua is given to individuals who are worthy of such. אין הנבואה חלה אלא על חכם גדול בחכמה, he has to be a tremendous, tremendously erudite, learned person. Gibor bemidosov, he has to be someone who's a towering figure in terms of his character, in terms of his character traits. ולא יהיה יצרו מתגבר עליו בדבר בעולם, the self-control and the self-discipline that this individual exhibits is such that the self-control and self-discipline always prevail. He never succumbs just to an urge. אלא הוא מתגבר בדעתו על יצרו תמיד, but with that self-control, self-discipline, he prevails over again just base or basic instincts and urges. בעל דעה רחבה נכונה עד מאוד, a person with again, tremendous sweep to his knowledge, to his understanding. But now, just to read a couple of more points and then to juxtapose an observation, an observation that we mentioned from the Rav. When you have such an individual, V'hu miskadesh v'holeich, he's becoming increasingly sanctified. ופורש מדרכי כלל העם, you see that he's different from most people, Haholchim bemachashakei hazman, who spend their lives walking in the darkness of ephemeral life. But he, on the contrary, Holeich u'mezarez etzmo, he's constantly exhorting himself, U'melamed nafsho, and he's training himself, שלא תהיה לו מחשבה כלל באחד מדברים בטלים, he doesn't focus on idle matters. to this next phrase please rabosai, ולא מהבלי הזמן ותחבולותיו. The prospective navi, the one who ultimately attains nevuah, what characterizes him? That his mind does not wander. He doesn’t entertain thoughts about havlei ha-zman, about the futilities of transient existence. He’s not interested in physical pleasure for its own sake. He’s not interested in amassing wealth for the sake of amassing wealth. All these transient, ephemeral, unredeemed olam ha-zeh-dike involvements, they don’t interest him. He’s not focused on havlei ha-zman, on the futilities and the vanities of what’s only transient. He’s not interested in the glory of olam ha-zeh. He’s not interested in the pleasures of olam ha-zeh. He’s not looking for the riches of olam ha-zeh. But remember please that phrase havlei ha-zman. And the context of that phrase was the depiction of the person who ultimately became worthy of nevuah and is the navi. The Rambam is describing for us the persona of the navi. So remember that phrase havlei ha-zman, and then let’s listen and let’s review to another halacha in the Rambam, a very, very famous halacha. It’s ot-ot in yamei de-yoma. It’s imminently seasonal, this halacha. אף על פי שתקיעת שופר בראש השנה גזירת הכתוב. Even though we can’t establish definitively a cause for a particular mitzvah, remez yesh bo. We can’t affix a definitive cause for the mitzvah of tkias shofar, but we can glean something about the religious experiential content to the mitzvah. Klomar, what’s the message that we hear in the kol shofar? עורו עורו ישנים משנתכם. Those of you who are asleep, awaken from your sleep, ve-hakitzu nirdamim mitardamaschem, and be aroused from your slumber. ve-chapsu be-ma'asechem, scrutinize your actions, take inventory, ve-chizru bi-teshuva, repent, ve-zichru borachem, remember your creator. So to whom is the kol shofar addressed? So we know the kol shofar is addressed to all of us, right? So now look at the Rambam's description. אלו השוכחים את האמת. The kol shofar is a wake-up call to all of those, all of us, ha-shochechim es ha-emes, who forget truth. Why? What distracts us from the truth? Listen to the next two words: be-havlei ha-zman. Because we’re so immersed in the havlei ha-zman, right? That same phrase that we saw the Rambam employed in describing what the navi avoids. So what’s so remarkable and this is the insight which my father zichrono livracha offered, is that when the Rambam describes what tkiat shofar should inspire within us, when the Rambam describes what tkiat shofar should trigger within us, he speaks in the same categories as he does in describing the navi. What’s the significance of that? It means there’s a continuum. It means that the navi isn’t someone who’s just totally a different creature than the rest of us. No, it’s someone who did to perfection what all of us should be involved in. It’s someone who accomplished to perfection the work, the task, the challenge that’s given to all of us. That challenge of living a life focused on what's meaningful, what's enduring, on Hakadosh Baruch Hu, on his Torah, on his Mitzvos, on his people. That challenge at which the Navi excels and not being sidetracked and not being weighed down by the havlei hazman, by the vanities of passing, ephemeral, transient vanities, that's a challenge given to each and every one of us. The Kol Shofar is not just addressed to Nevi'im, the Kol Shofar is addressed to all of us. The Navi, yes, the Navi does end up very different than the rest of us, but the path was he travels the same road that we're all supposed to travel. And that dovetails so beautifully with my grandfather's observation that the Yesod Hashishi validates as well because it identifies for us just how exalted human potential is, and in so doing, the Yesod Hashishi serves not only as a formulation of a principle of belief but also as a challenge, as an exhortation to all of us to rise above the trivialities and pettiness of all that is transient, to be focused on what's enduring, what's ultimately meaningful. Any involvement with the mundane, with the mundane, should be framed, contextualized, and necessitated by higher, more exalted end goals. That should never be the goal unto itself. So the Yesod Hashishi, it's a formulation of a principle of belief but it's also a challenge, it's also a roadmap for how to live meaningfully, how to transcend just the havlei hazman, the emptiness or the vanities which we can, if we're conscious of it, not become weighed down by, not become entangled within, and to try to achieve as much of that exalted human potential which lies within each and every one of us. I think tonight was the end of our series. I thank you very much for the opportunity to learn together. We didn't quite make it through all the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim, but I hope at least our understanding and appreciation of the first six has been a little bit enhanced, and I wish everyone well. Everyone should be well and be safe, and we should try to respond to that challenge and that mandate of the Yesod Hashishi. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Rabbi. Thank you so much. Use it or refine it. Does Hashem, Hashem therefore, does he hold him accountable for this totally when he's judged? I think generally our understanding is that opportunity and responsibility go hand in hand. That when we're given opportunity, so then we're, you know, blessing and responsibility go together. I think, I don't remember, maybe my grandfather points out in one point, but the Torah has two accounts of creation of Adam in Perek Aleph of Bereishis, again in Perek Bais of Bereishis. Two supplementary accounts. So in one we're told ויברך אלוקים את האדם לאמור and in the other we're told ויצו השם אלוקים על האדם לאמור. So which was it? So the answer is that beracha, blessing, and tzivui, command, opportunity. Opportunity and responsibility are two sides of a coin, they go together. So yes, I think we're supposed to take advantage of opportunity and we have a responsibility to do so.