Laws of the Foundations of the Torah, Chapter 10 (Auto Translated)

Rambam, Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah, Chapter 11 – How One Tests a Prophet: The Sign and Wonder

Introduction: The Laws of Testing Prophecy

The holy Rambam says, and we continue in Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah, Chapter 11, the last chapter about the mitzvot of prophecy. Here there will be a practical halakha (halakha l’ma’aseh) of how one tests a prophet.

A Jew comes and says that he is a prophet. We learned there that first of all, one needs to know that he is indeed a righteous Jew, as the Rambam stated all the conditions – meaning that he is a great sage (chakham gadol) and so forth. But afterward, he still needs to also bring a sign and wonder (os u’mofes), he needs to show wondrous things, and this should serve as proof that the Almighty sent him. So the Rambam is going to go into the laws: How does one perform the sign and wonder?

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Halakha 1: The Prophet Does Not Need to Change the Natural Order of the World

The Language of the Rambam

The Rambam says: “Any prophet who arises for us and says that God sent him, does not need to perform a sign like one of the signs of Moshe Rabbeinu, or like the signs of Eliyahu and Elisha, which involved a change in the natural order of the world. Rather, his sign is that he says things that will happen in the future in the world, and his words are verified, as it says: ‘And if you say in your heart, how shall we know the matter,’ etc.”

Novel Point: “Who Arises for Us” – Prophecy Has Not Ended

Any prophet who stands up for us Jews – from here one can actually see that the Rambam holds that prophecy has not yet ended, that prophecy can exist forever, because he already says “who arises for us.” “And says that God sent him” – and he says that the Almighty sent him to speak to Jews.

This is a reminder that the Rambam is writing laws – it’s not an absolute proof, because the Rambam also writes laws about Mashiach. Yes, the Rambam writes the laws as they are. The Rambam gives the Torah, the Torah that the Almighty gave, says the Rambam. For us it is a practical guide, this is already Shulchan Arukh.

Distinction: A Prophet for Himself Versus a Prophet as an Emissary

Yes, it’s also interesting, because in the eighth chapter we learned that there are also many prophets who communicate with the Almighty not for the public, but simply they have spiritual perceptions (hasagos). And such a person, it’s no trouble to believe him – one doesn’t need to give him an aliyah, one just needs to say to him “yes, very good.” Let’s say he clarifies matters of character traits and beliefs (midos v’deos) because he is a prophet – very important. As long as he doesn’t come to say that he is an emissary from the Almighty to transmit something to the Jewish people (Klal Yisrael), one doesn’t need to test him. It’s enough with the simple understanding that he is fit to be a prophet, one sees that he is a righteous person (tzaddik), and the Rambam says that there is a sort of presumption (chazakah) that such a person won’t tell lies. One sees that you speak to the point, you don’t say any contradictions with anything – very good.

But the minute he says “God sent me” – that is already the key word – he says that the Almighty sent him, and consequently he wants to have some authority that people must obey him. He says, we learned that he needs to perform certain signs and wonders.

The Leniency: It’s Enough to Predict the Future

First the Rambam makes a leniency. First there is a leniency in this halakha, afterward we will find perhaps stringencies or distinctions. First there is a leniency.

The Rambam says: one needs to perform a sign – this means that he needs to make a sign and wonder. This means that he needs to stop the sun in the middle of the sky like Yehoshua did, I don’t know what. The Rambam says: “He does not need to perform a sign like one of the signs of Moshe Rabbeinu” – meaning, which is truly a change in the natural order of the world, which he is about to say – “or like the signs of Eliyahu and Elisha” – that Eliyahu the Prophet revived the dead, Elisha revived the dead. Eliyahu the Prophet brought down fire from heaven, or Elisha made jugs refill themselves – it’s all a change in the natural order of the world.

“Rather, his sign” – even a much weaker one, it’s enough that he does a much weaker sign – “that he says things that will happen in the future in the world, and his words are verified.” It’s enough that he predicts the future, he says something that will happen in the world, and his words are confirmed – one sees that he was right, that it indeed happened.

This means, even if it’s not truly a change in the natural order of the world – let’s say that statistically it’s still within odds, it’s not truly a wonder – but this is enough for prophecy.

As it says, so it states in the verse: “And if you say in your heart, how shall we know the matter” – this is the matter of whether he is a prophet. There it says in the verses, what comes afterward – it says that if he is going to make a… that the thing shall not come to pass. That is what it says. It says there further: if it doesn’t happen, if he says something in the name of God and it didn’t happen, then one knows that he is not a prophet. But if it did happen, then one knows that he is a prophet.

The simple meaning: the sign he needs to make, the indication he needs to provide, is predicting the future.

Novel Point: What Kind of Predictions – Not Just a “Lucky Guess”

This means, he doesn’t need to say any miracle – he can plainly say that tomorrow it will rain. Okay, let’s understand – not if he understands the effects of the weather. No, I’m talking about him saying it with wisdom. I’m talking about him saying something that he couldn’t have known just like that, but the knowledge shows that he…

I just want to bring out that it’s not what one might think that “something that is not a change in the natural order of the world” – it doesn’t even have to be a rare thing, it can be a plain thing, that America is going to attack Iran, I don’t know. No, but apparently it still needs to be something that statistically it would have been very difficult for a person to know. But not that it’s merely a sign of wisdom.

It’s understood, if he says that tomorrow the sun will rise – we’re not talking about that. But things that could be – I’m not saying statistically it won’t happen. No, but the fact that he got lucky, that it was something that was 50/50 and he got lucky – I don’t believe that would count as a sign.

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Halakha 2: The Procedure for Testing the Prophet

The Language of the Rambam

“Therefore, when a person who is fit for prophecy comes on God’s mission” – on God’s mission, yes, in the language of being sent. Chaggai: “And Chaggai the prophet prophesied on God’s mission.”

Someone who is a fit person (adam ha’raui), as we learned in the eighth chapter – what does a fit person mean? That he is a great person in knowledge, his heart is free, his heart is proper, all those great things.

And he comes to say that he had a prophecy, “and he does not come to add or subtract” – his prophecy does not add to or subtract from the mitzvot. Rather the opposite, he comes to arouse people to the service of God and the mitzvot of the Torah, he comes to strengthen a certain mitzvah.

Then “we do not say to him” – one does not say to him – “split the sea for us, or revive a dead person for us, or things like these.” One doesn’t say to him: “Do for us some kind of wonder that is a marvel against the natural order of the world.” “And afterward we will believe in you” – only then will we believe him – as per the law that a prophet needs to perform a wonder.

“Rather, we say to him: if you are a prophet, tell us things that will happen in the future” – tell us something that will happen. “And he says” – and he says it. “And we wait for him to see whether his words come true or not” – we wait it out.

Discussion: The Prophet Needs to Say It with a Timeframe

Study partner A: Why does he need to say it with a certain date though?

Study partner B: No, I don’t know. It can’t be forever, one will never know. It needs to come with knowledge. Meaning, one is not going to be in limbo with some half-prophet for a year. It shouldn’t be in limbo. Until he has come with the sign, he is not a prophet, he is not a doubtful prophet, he has no presumption of being a prophet (chazkas navi).

Novel Point: There Is No Such Thing as “Chazkas Navi” Before the Sign

The Rambam has a concept of “chezkas Mashiach” (presumptive Mashiach) – he does not have such a concept as “chezkas navi.” He is nothing until he has performed his sign.

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Halakha 3: “Even If One Small Detail Falls” – Absolute Precision

The Language of the Rambam

“And even if one small detail fell through” – even if just a little bit of what he said did not happen – “it is known that he is a false prophet.” One knows that he is a false prophet, because it did not happen exactly as he said.

“And if all his words came true” – if everything he said was fulfilled – “he shall be trustworthy in our eyes” – he is trustworthy in our eyes that he is indeed a prophet.

Novel Point: It Must Happen According to the Plain Meaning

The simple meaning is that it must also happen according to the plain meaning (al derekh ha’pshat). If he says it’s going to rain, and later it doesn’t rain, but he says “I meant to say that there will be a terrible storm which is an aspect of rain” – apparently that’s also not good. It must happen according to the plain meaning.

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Discussion: Is One Sign and Wonder Enough, or Must One Test Multiple Times

Study partner A: Perhaps then one will only believe his prophecy based on…

Study partner B: I meant to say that I follow it. But he does write “he shall be trustworthy in our eyes” – it looks here that even before he has a presumption, even before he has performed multiple signs and wonders, for that prophecy alone, one sign and wonder is enough. And one already believes him that he is a prophet.

Study partner A: No, that is according to the conditions he stated earlier.

Study partner B: No – “And if all his words came true, he shall be trustworthy in our eyes.” It looks like “and if all his words came true, he shall be trustworthy in our eyes” applies to the first prophecy. He comes with his prophecy, and he performs the sign and wonder, “all of them” – one accepts the prophecy.

Study partner A: No, I disagree. Clearly there is in the Rambam such a concept of a presumption of prophecy (chazkas nevuah). All prophets are only a presumption, as we learned earlier. Because “he shall be trustworthy in our eyes” I simply mean as we learned earlier. The Rambam doesn’t say that he is trustworthy – the Rambam says as halakha who is the one about whom “he shall be trustworthy in our eyes.” But the certainty, the “we test him many times” was always there. I don’t see that he makes steps. It’s written in steps because one can’t write everything at once, but I don’t see that the Rambam has such a step.

Proof from the Rambam’s Introduction

One needs to know – perhaps yes, there is such a passage in Rashi. That regarding the first prophecy, since it turned out to be a true thing, the “testing him” can take time, right? So once he came with the first prophecy and he brought a sign and wonder…

Study partner B: Those words aren’t written there.

Study partner A: We don’t yet know that he is a prophet.

Study partner B: Once he has performed one sign and wonder, one believes him regarding what he already said.

Study partner A: No.

Study partner B: And now, to know in general that he is a prophet and from now on to believe everything, that’s already a next step.

Study partner A: I disagree. Look, I’ll bring you a passage from the introduction. And he says that he remembered that he is in the introduction to Parshas… The page states the laws a bit more clearly. Look here on my screen, and see that the righteous one on that side brings the language from the introduction, and it states clearly: according to this it goes as words of – according to this one can see – it is read as “we suspend it” (talui). “Suspended” doesn’t mean that one must obey, it only means that they already have a doubt, until it happens many times.

“We Test Him Many Times” – One Tests Him Multiple Times

Study partner A: Very well. He “tests him many times.” One sees – one tests multiple times. Certain commentators say so, that the “many times” means three times, in accordance with the concept of presumption (chazakah). Yes, but that is only an answer. They specifically – I don’t know. It doesn’t say that the “many times” is a specific number of times. So, many times.

Study partner B: With the plain meaning – now we come to a question of principle. We hold again to say: someone says that tomorrow it will rain, and many days it rains – that’s still not proof. He repeated, today it will rain, and tomorrow it won’t rain. After twenty, fifty, thirty times – you already know that he knows when it will rain.

Study partner A: But I swear, because one is testing him – the more one tests, the clearer it becomes. One must not jump to conclusions. One minute – one doesn’t know yet, soon one will see. Each thing is different. Ten or eight – I mean, there’s no number. At a certain number of times you’re already confident. It’s – one needs to understand.

Proof from Shmuel the Prophet

Study partner A: The Rambam is going to mention the word “chazakah” (presumption). No – chazakah he mentioned regarding him being a type of prophet, that he has the qualities of a prophet. But regarding accepting his words – if one has tested him multiple times, and one sees that he is always trustworthy, every time he was tested – “this one is a true prophet, as it says regarding Shmuel.”

Yes, one time wrong – he loses the entire presumption.

“This one is a true prophet, as it says regarding Shmuel” – that this is stated in a verse about the prophet Shmuel. What does the verse refer to? One needs to think about the context, right?

“And all of Israel knew, from Dan to Be’er Sheva” – all the Jews, from one end to the other, knew – “that Shmuel was trustworthy as a prophet of God.” After he was tested, very well. After he showed wonders several times, right?

That’s not exactly what it says. It says “and he did not let any of his words fall to the ground” – this is understood before coming down to… even without Onkelos, “and he did not let fall” is first understood.

Summary: It Took Time Until the Public Accepted Shmuel

It says in the verse – in other words, what the Rambam takes here from this verse is that there is such a concept that one doesn’t believe a prophet so quickly. Shmuel – the Almighty made him a prophet already when he was a young man there by the story of “lying down in the Temple of God.” And the verse says that it took time until the public knew this.

Rambam, Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah Chapter 10 (continued) – The Difference Between a Prophet and a Diviner

“And all of Israel knew that Shmuel was trustworthy” – this means, it could be that in the beginning, as you say, in the beginning he had a few devoted followers (chassidim) who believed him, or a few people believed him somewhat, but for him to become trustworthy as a prophet, for him to become a prophet, indeed took a long time. And this is the Rambam’s source that one doesn’t become a prophet in one instance.

It’s very interesting that earlier the Rambam said the language “even if one small detail fell through” – it’s simply that he meant the language, or it could be that the Rambam had simply studied through all those verses from the Prophets, and now it was fluent on his tongue.

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Halakha 4: The Distinction Between a Prophet and a Diviner

The Question

The Rambam asks a question, a very important question, and it will bring out what he means to say with the “one detail.” We are saying now that once he performs signs and wonders a few times, one must accept him as a prophet. How does this work? But – we know that there are sorcerers, there are soothsayers (me’onenim), people who can predict things according to the time, and diviners (kosmim), and other types of sorcery. They predict the future – they tell the future. And what is the difference between a prophet and a charlatan? How do we know? What is the distinction between a prophet and an ordinary person who can make predictions?

Why the Question Is Particularly Strong According to the Rambam

Let’s first make a point. He indeed brings this language in the introduction to Pirkei Avos, he explains the question a bit. The question is a question on what the Rambam had innovated or clarified, that a prophet doesn’t need to perform an actual wonder that changes the natural order of the world. When he needs to perform a splitting of the sea, then it’s obvious, that anyone can say – a diviner doesn’t split the sea. If he were to do that, then the problem we learned about earlier would arise.

But usually, diviners do small things that everyone knows – you go to a sorcerer, he tells you now, you have one baby now, you have two babies now. Such things are common for diviners to do. Great miracles, one can always say, one needs a prophet to perform a greater miracle. But if the Rambam said that all a prophet needs to do is say what will happen tomorrow, and we should believe him – everyone asks the question: What do you mean? The radio tells me it’s going to rain tomorrow, do I need a prophet for that?

The Answer: “Some But Not All”

To this the Rambam says: No, I will show you that there is a distinction here.

Rather, the soothsayers and diviners and the like – the soothsayers and diviners – some of their words come true – many times they succeed, sometimes they succeed – and some of them do not come true – many times the blizzard he warned about doesn’t arrive.

As it is stated: “Let them stand now and save you, the astrologers, the stargazers” – the prophet says to those who believe in false things, he says: let’s see, let them come and help you, the astrologers, those who look at things in the sky, the stargazers – “who announce monthly what will come upon you” – they announce new things about what will happen to you.

The Rambam interprets the words “from what will come upon you” – that the astrologers, the stargazers, they can only tell about some of what will happen. They can sometimes predict events correctly, they can sometimes get things right. “But it is possible that their words will not be fulfilled at all” – “from what” (me’asher) and not “all that” (kol asher).

The Rambam makes a big point: “me’asher” and not “kol asher”. This is the way of the soothsayer (me’onen) and diviner (kosem) – that they predict correctly from time to time.

Discussion: The Sage Argument

By the way, what you said that there is a distinction that the prophet is a sage – it could also be that a sage is a diviner. I don’t understand what you’re saying.

The Rambam’s Position on Sorcery – A Nuanced Position

[Chiddush:] And not only that – “And it is possible that their words will not be fulfilled at all, but they will err in everything, as it is stated: ‘He frustrates the signs of imposters and makes diviners mad.'”

What does this mean with this verse? He is speaking about an unsuccessful soothsayer, and that wasn’t even the question. The question began with the successful soothsayers. Let us understand. The Rambam wants to bring verses – again, he brings a verse, he brings verses that soothsayers are indeed a real thing.

It’s very interesting – everyone knows that the Rambam held that all sorcery, as he says in his Commentary on the Mishnah on Avodah Zarah, and we will get to it soon, is falsehood, not a single thing is true. Here we see clearly that the Rambam holds that nevertheless – it’s not entirely accurate to say that everything is simply fantasy. Many times they do predict correctly. Whether there is indeed some method, some segulah that works, some power, or for some other way – they do sometimes predict correctly.

But the Rambam brings out that they don’t always predict correctly. That is the problem with them. It’s not a precise thing, it’s a fuzzy thing. And he says, sometimes the verse that mocks them says “me’asher” – we see that they don’t always predict correctly, only sometimes. And not only that, there are also verses that speak about how the Almighty completely “frustrates the signs of imposters” – the Almighty destroys what they say.

The Distinction Between the Rambam and the Ramban on “He Frustrates the Signs of Imposters”

[Chiddush:] The Rambam, one can interpret – the Ramban I think interprets it this way – that in truth the stars do know, only sometimes the Almighty overpowers the stars, overrides that. The Rambam interprets it differently. The Rambam interprets that sometimes they don’t know at all what they’re talking about, and consequently the Almighty – meaning the truth – destroys them entirely.

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Halachah 5: The Prophet – All His Words Are Fulfilled

Very good. That is regarding the soothsayers and diviners.

But the prophet – all his words are fulfilled, as it is stated: “For nothing of the word of God shall fall to the ground.” There, where it states that one saw the true prophecies of Shmuel the Prophet, it states that not a single thing he said fell down and didn’t… “shall not fall” means it didn’t fall down.

The point is that this is a principle. “The word of God” – this means to bring out that this is a prophet, a matter of faith. He stated as a matter of faith that “the word of God,” or the verse, I mean, that this writes… Who writes this? Do you know who? Someone says it there in the Prophets. In any case, the Prophets state a principle that the word of God – not a single word. This is the distinction from a diviner (menachesh). A diviner is someone who predicts correctly. A diviner perhaps has a certain sense for guessing, but the prophet has access to the Almighty who governs nature, and when he says something it must be exactly as it happened. That is the meaning of “the word of God.”

The Parable of Straw and Grain

And so he brings a verse: “The prophet who has a dream, let him tell the dream, and he who has My word, let him speak My word of truth – what has straw to do with grain, says God.”

And the Rambam explains this: That is to say, the words of the diviners and dreams are like straw in which a little grain is mixed – it is like straw in which a little bit of good produce is mixed in. Meaning, sometimes they say – just as the Gemara says that even a good dream has idle matters mixed in. But the word of God – is like grain that has no straw in it at all – this is the distinction, that the word of God is entirely like pure produce without any waste.

Meaning, what the prophet says is not that part of what he says will happen and part won’t, but rather everything he says will happen.

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Halachah 6: “Tamim Tihyeh” – The Prophet Instead of the Diviner

And regarding this matter the Scripture promised and said – and this is what the Torah promised when it said that one should not listen to those who claim to be fortune-tellers, soothsayers and diviners and sorcerers. The things that the soothsayers and diviners say, things that you should believe in them – they speak falsehood. “The prophet will inform you of words of truth, and you do not need soothsayers and diviners and the like.”

This is what the Almighty… He reads the verses so beautifully. The Almighty tells us that the Almighty prohibited false prophets or soothsayers and diviners and sorcerers. A person might think: Oh, I’m going to be left deprived, I won’t have what the nations have – access to information that I don’t have and the Jews don’t have.

No, the opposite – you don’t need that foolishness, because you have something much better, you have a direct line to the truth itself. That the things the soothsayers and diviners say are false, they speak lies. But the prophet will tell you the truth.

As it states in the verse: “There shall not be found among you one who passes his son or daughter through fire” – and further in the verses it lists all the “one who practices divination, a soothsayer and an enchanter.” The verses speak about different types of sorcery, all these things you shall not do. And what then instead? You shall be “tamim tihyeh im Hashem Elokecha” – “wholehearted shall you be with the Lord your God.”

It’s like – am I going to be left like a sinner remembered, and I’ll be left without access to information about the future? He says: No, you have something much better, you have a prophet. “For these nations” – will have false… they will have soothsayers and diviners, it’s not false, but it’s often false. “But you, not so has the Lord your God given you” – rather you will have a prophet, “a prophet from your midst, from your brothers” – you will have something much better.

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Summary: The Rambam’s Distinction – Prophet and Diviner

Very good. This is the Rambam’s distinction. Very interesting how the Rambam explains that on one hand the prophet does the same thing the diviner does. It’s not – the signs that a prophet performs are not his changing the celestial systems, it’s only that he says what will be. On the other hand, the great distinction is only that the prophet tells the truth.

In other words: all kinds of – what do you call it? – all kinds of magic and all kinds of mystical things that people say, the Rambam says it’s all very cute, he doesn’t say it’s not true. He only says it’s not always true. A prophet is one who always tells the truth.

The Sharp Definition: A Leniency That Becomes a Stringency

[Chiddush:] Once he made a mistake, he says – even if he says one wrong thing, he is already a false prophet. “The word of God” is like grain without straw, it’s only pure produce. This is the entire distinction between a true prophet and a false prophet.

But this is a certain great stringency regarding a prophet, right? Someone would say to him – a prophet also had some prophecy in which good and bad are mixed, he’s not a prophet, he’s a soothsayer. It’s a very sharp definition that a prophet is one hundred percent true. One percent… Someone says: No, I saw, but I didn’t see so well. Just as Rashi says about the cows – they erred, yes? They thought it was one blood, it was something else. The Rambam says: That’s not a prophet. A prophet – what he sees, exactly so, or what he says, exactly so must happen.

One must understand why the Rambam does this, why it is so important to him that a prophet must not make a… The leniency creates a great leniency. It’s a leniency that becomes a stringency, right? From the leniency that says a prophet doesn’t need to perform a splitting of the sea, a great stringency emerged – that the entire worth of a prophet is that he must be one hundred percent precise. Apparently the Rambam understood that this is the great distinction of the prophets of Israel, of the true prophets.

Rambam, Laws of Foundations of the Torah, Chapter 10 (continued) – The Prophet as One Who Informs of the Future, Not One Who Innovates Religion

The Rambam’s Deeper Logic: Why Precision Is the Test

Speaker 1: Very interesting what the Rambam does. Let me make a small introduction. This is what we’ve had until now — one must understand why the Rambam does this. Why is it so important to him that a prophet doesn’t need to make the community… He makes here a great leniency — it’s a leniency that becomes a stringency, right? From the leniency that says a prophet doesn’t need to perform a splitting of the sea, which resulted in a great stringency, that the entire worth of a prophet is that he must be one hundred percent precise.

Apparently the Rambam understood that this is the great distinction of the prophet of Israel, of the true prophet, from a false prophet — from all the waves of people that one confuses under the category of prophet, just as one struggles to take in percentages of people. The Rambam understood that if he would make the distinction a greater miracle — always where one can, one person performs a greater miracle, another performs a lesser miracle… The Rambam found the one thing that only the truth can be: saying precisely, the eternality. That is eternal.

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Halachah 7 – The Prophet Does Not Innovate Religion, Only Informs of the Future

The Verse “A Prophet from Your Midst” – An Everyday Occurrence

Speaker 1: Now, the Rambam also wants to bring out with this, somehow, to go back to his earlier point that he had in earlier halachot. The Rambam wants to bring out that a prophet is not someone — it states “a prophet from your midst, from your brothers, like me, He will raise up for you” — and it asks him a very simple thing. It shows, a prophet who tells you that you should go to war, or that the war will succeed, those kinds of things. A prophet is an everyday occurrence. A prophet is not — except for the prophecy of Moshe — it’s not something that comes to create a new religion. It doesn’t come to reveal the truth to the world — the truth we already know, it’s written in the Torah. A prophet simply comes to say: today you need to be like this, tomorrow you should do like that.

And he derives this from the fact that it is constantly mentioned here that the test of the prophet is also regarding simple things, not regarding great things. And not overturning the world. Rather one sees small things, one sees that such things — that is the job of a prophet. Although besides the fact that a prophet comes to strengthen the Torah, as is already stated, that he will not come to warn about something from the Torah of Moshe. No, that’s the simple meaning, that’s it.

Speaker 2: But the Rambam didn’t want to say that this is from the Torah?

Speaker 1: Of course it is in the capacity of a mission, but what he wants to say — everything a prophet says to the public is his mission. I think what he wants to say is, the Torah source is from the verse he brought, that “for these nations” are like that.

The Distinction Between the Prophet and the Gentile Diviners

Speaker 1: What is the distinction? The prophet is better than the nations, in that he tells better than the diviners. And that is another… And he tells about wars. That the prophet, the verse, the passage, is not speaking about a new religion, God forbid, it’s speaking about those kinds of things.

Speaker 2: Now I get the proof. I thought you were going to say something not according to the simple meaning, but…

Discussion: The Prophet – Does He Perform Miracles or Does He Know What Will Happen?

Speaker 2: The prophet must — there’s a mitzvah to obey the prophet, and also nature must obey the prophet. The soothsayer and diviner, when one doesn’t have — nature doesn’t have a mitzvah to obey, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But the prophet, if he says there will be a war, there must be a war.

Speaker 1: The Rambam says exactly not that, because the Rambam says that a prophet doesn’t need to perform miracles. It doesn’t state — the war happens because the prophet said so. The natural course of the world is that there are wars. The prophet says there will be a war, or who will win — not because nature must conform to him.

Speaker 2: But you see what he says from the Rishonim —

Speaker 1: A prophet, I told you, a prophet must say according to the simple meaning, and you may offer homiletical interpretations. But the Rambam doesn’t understand it that way. The Rambam understands that the prophet stands outside of nature — he says what will happen, not that he makes the miracles. He can perform miracles, perhaps that’s a different topic — whether a prophet can perform miracles. But the point is, he doesn’t need to perform miracles in order to be a prophet.

The Language of the Rambam – Halachah 7

Speaker 1: But he derives from the verse, I understand, “I will raise up a prophet for them” — “only to inform us of future events in the world,” not that he will change the natural course of things, but rather he informs us of the things that will happen: “plenty and famine” — he will tell when there will be plenty, when there will be famine.

Speaker 2: It’s interesting how Yosef was something of a matter of prophecy, you know? A dream?

Speaker 1: Yes. With war…

Speaker 2: No, he interpreted, but Yosef was — the prophecy in half, the parable and the meaning. That is the distinction we learned, the distinction between a prophet and a dream. A dream is — the parable and the meaning are two people. A prophet knows both.

Speaker 1: “Plenty and famine, war and peace, and the like. Moreover, even for the needs of an individual he informs him, such as when someone lost a lost object and goes to the prophet so that he will inform him of its location, and similarly the donkeys that were lost by Shaul, and regarding such matters the prophet speaks. Not to innovate a religion or add a mitzvah or subtract.”

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The Baal HaTanya vs. the Rambam – Shaul’s Donkeys

The Contrast: How Small or How Great Is the Prophet?

Speaker 1: Good, when we understand this, there is a reversal — the interpretation of the verse “a prophet from your midst He will raise up for you,” which is seemingly a new thing. It’s the idea that there was a dispute among the Rebbes and other people about how to understand the passage about Shaul HaMelech’s donkeys.

The Baal HaTanya wrote a letter to his chassidim that they should stop coming to ask the Rebbes for advice in material matters and business, and he says that one needs to be a prophet for that, and only a prophet can say things like Shaul with the donkeys, but not a Rebbe. Because a Rebbe, however, does do what the prophet must primarily do, which is to warn regarding the Torah.

Speaker 2: Yes, it’s a bit funny. The Rambam uses the verse to warn that the prophet — to diminish the prophet, so that the prophet is not, God forbid, an innovator of religion. The prophet is simply — a donkey got lost, sometimes the prophet knows. How does he know? The Almighty tells him. But sometimes a prophet knows.

And the Baal HaTanya, for him this is a virtue of the prophet. An ordinary Jew can only say what the Torah states. A prophet, because he can know advice in business.

Discussion: Is This a Virtue or a Diminishment?

Speaker 1: When he says what is already written in the Torah, he’s not innovating anything. It’s simply the greatness of the Torah. He’s not saying something… Informing a person of something is indeed something that isn’t written anywhere.

Speaker 2: Yes, but you get what I’m saying? The Baal HaTanya complained that I am a great rabbi, it doesn’t befit me to take care of donkeys. Go to someone — I also don’t know, I have no way of knowing. Am I some kind of prophet who knows which business will succeed for you? A prophet would have known.

But the Rambam says no — a prophet is one who knows such things. Of course, the distinction is true, that a prophet knows because the Almighty told him — if the Master of the Universe didn’t tell you, you don’t know.

But he says it’s interesting that the Rambam uses this not as a proof of how great a prophet is — he even knows where your donkeys are — but rather how small a prophet is, that he simply deals with such matters.

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Shaul’s Donkeys – Whether This Was a Need of an Individual

Discussion: Is This a Proof for Individual Needs?

Speaker 1: So look, he actually brings a proof from something that was said to a king. It doesn’t mean that every individual came to ask where his lost object was. Shaul HaMelech came to ask the prophet.

Speaker 2: He wasn’t yet the king at that time.

Speaker 1: There’s a Gemara in Shabbos regarding prophets.

Speaker 2: On the contrary, Shaul was not yet the king, he was just an ordinary person, and we see that this was the custom. But in practice it was actually a very great thing, because thanks to this he came to receive the kingship. He had lost the donkeys.

Speaker 1: What I mean to say is, one could argue that this isn’t a matter of individual needs (tzorchei yachid) at all, because it was the way of Hashem for Shaul to arrive at the prophets.

Speaker 2: No, you’re right that the story isn’t a story that we would know about — it’s a matter of individual needs. Because if it weren’t for Shaul HaMelech, who became the king, we wouldn’t have known the story. But we see from this that Shaul spoke with his servants and so on — we see that it was the custom to ask the prophet such things, because otherwise he wouldn’t have gone.

The Custom of Going to the Prophet

Speaker 1: Shaul was looking for his donkeys, and they told him that there was a seer there, and they would go ask him where the donkeys were. The seer told him that he would find the donkeys on the way. In any case, the point is that we see from this story that it was an accepted practice — when you’re looking for donkeys, you go to the prophet.

Individuals Going to Prophets — Not Only Kings

Speaker 2: Okay, we also see that the Shunamite woman came to ask Elisha. We see that individuals came to the prophets. Prophets weren’t only… Many times people assume that only the king spoke to the prophets. But in many other places we do see that Elisha spoke with the Shunamite woman, and that individuals spoke to the prophets, as we see here.

Speaker 1: But most prophets, he says, he speaks to the king. Jeremiah the prophet, Isaiah — he speaks to the king. Those are the prophets, the stories that we know. Because who is recording it? And the Torah generally doesn’t tell stories about ordinary Jews.

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Bnei HaNevi’im as Educators

Speaker 2: It also says so, I believe in the Piaseczner, regarding this, that the role of the bnei hanevi’im (disciples of the prophets) was as educators. The bnei hanevi’im, even before they became the great prophets, gave a path in serving Hashem (avodas Hashem) for the public.

Speaker 1: But that’s not a law regarding prophecy, that’s simply a law because they were close to knowledge (karov lada’as), because they were…

Speaker 2: Yes, that’s not the same thing.

Speaker 1: The Rambam didn’t mention here earlier, when he spoke about the abundance of influence to broaden knowledge — that has nothing to do with lineage (yichus), that has to do with mission (shlichus).

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The Prophet’s Contemplation and His Involvement with People — Is There a Contradiction?

Discussion: How Does Seclusion Fit with Individual Needs?

Speaker 2: But that’s a catch — after a person has already reached that level, already at the level of a man of stature, being busy with people — that’s certainly not a contradiction. Part of serving Hashem is being busy with people, with their existence, with their being, with their small matters. It’s another Jew’s material needs.

The Torah says so — I don’t even need to say that one must do so much, it’s been said so many times about a prophet. An individual can only unload from a donkey, but the prophet can do more than that — he can tell you where the donkey is. Why shouldn’t he do it?

Speaker 1: Right, right, true.

Speaker 2: No, I mean that you said it with a slight tone of contrast. If it disturbs the prophet from his service of Hashem, it’s against the purpose, and they did say that he should seclude himself from people (bnei adam).

Speaker 1: But that could have to do with what the Rambam said earlier — the inheritance of the secrets of Torah (nachalas sodos haTorah), and also later the inheritance of knowledge (nachalas da’as), how much a Torah scholar (talmid chacham) should mingle with people, and how much he should not associate with the company of ignorant people (am ha’aretz).

Speaker 2: No, I was thinking that it has to do with what we learned, that the prophet contemplates only the holy and pure matters, the lowliness of the throne, and he looks at future events. But it also said there that “yeda chochmaso l’hashiv” — “he knows his wisdom to respond” — perhaps when he looks at future events, he also deals with practical matters. That’s an important principle.

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Introduction to the Next Topic: Words of Calamity That the Prophet Says

Halacha 8 — An Exception: When the Prophet’s Words Are Not Fulfilled

Speaker 1: What we learned, that the primary test of the prophet is to know precisely what will happen, we need to find a very interesting exception. One could go on at great length about the details of this, because it makes things very complicated.

Until now it was very clear and very simple: a prophet, everything he says is true. But we will go on to see that there are rules that it’s not always so, and there is a way to understand why it is very important, very foundational in the topic of prophecy that it is so. And that is the next two or three chapters.

The Language of the Rambam — Halacha 8

Speaker 1: “Divrei hapuraniyos shehanavi omer, k’gon sheyomar ploni yamus, o sheshana plonis tihyeh ra’av o milchama, v’chayotza b’dvarim eilu” — “Words of calamity that the prophet says, for example, he says so-and-so will die, or such-and-such year there will be famine or war, and similar matters” — until now he spoke about the prophet saying things that will happen in the future. But what happens when he says something of calamity? For example, he says so-and-so will die, or he can say something about war or peace, or abundance or famine. What happens when he says “such-and-such year there will be famine or war” and similar matters?

We learned that everything the prophet says must be fulfilled. What happens if his words are not fulfilled? That person didn’t die — he said that person won’t survive the year, and he survived the year just fine, and no war happened.

Rambam, Laws of the Foundations of the Torah, Chapter 10 (continued) — The Distinction Between Prophecy of Evil and Prophecy of Good, and a Prophet Attested to by Another Prophet

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Until now he said that the prophet says things that will happen in the future. But what happens when he says something of calamity? For example, he says so-and-so will die — the Rambam said earlier that he can say something about war or peace, or abundance or famine. What happens when he says “such-and-such year will be a year of famine and war, and similar matters,” and we learned that everything the prophet says must be fulfilled?

What happens if his words did not stand? That person didn’t die — he said that person won’t survive the year, and he survived the year just fine. No war happened to us. “Ein b’zeh hachcasha linvu’aso” — this, that a calamity didn’t happen, does not contradict his prophecy. And one does not say — about this one does not say “behold, he spoke and it did not come,” and therefore it’s proof that he’s a false prophet.

The Reason: “Slow to Anger and Abundant in Kindness and Relents Concerning Evil”

Why? Here indeed is a new condition: Because the Holy One, blessed be He, is slow to anger and abundant in kindness and relents concerning evil (erech apayim v’rav chesed v’nicham al hara’ah). I said earlier that the Almighty is “not a man that He should lie” (lo ish El vichazev) — the Almighty will not retract or falsify His words. That applies to an ordinary matter, to something that will happen in the future that is not a calamity. But when it comes to calamity, the Almighty does relent concerning evil. The Almighty can — not only can He, but we beseech the Almighty, it is an attribute of the Almighty — the Almighty does have the concept of relenting concerning evil, He can retract a calamity that He said, that was decreed so to speak, that was a decree, and He can annul it.

Repentance or Suspension — Two Possibilities

Why indeed? The Rambam continues here: Because perhaps they repented and were forgiven, like the people of Nineveh, or it was suspended for them. Yes, He suspended it. Sometimes repentance helps so that the sins are completely erased, that the calamity is completely annulled, and sometimes He only pushes it off.

Just as Hezekiah (Chizkiyahu) repented — it says that the Almighty pushed off the calamity so that it wouldn’t happen in his days but in the days of his son. It didn’t completely eradicate the decree, it only pushed it off. But in any case, we see that when the prophet did say that something would happen to him, that he would die, in practice he didn’t die because he repented.

“Suspended” (talah) means like what it says “suspended and standing” (talui v’omed) — when a person is a beinoni (intermediate), his matters are suspended and standing.

When it comes to calamity, many times the Almighty reverses it. Or, the Almighty, the calamity in general was dependent on repentance. The Almighty said that calamity, if they didn’t repent, or even when the calamity comes and waits for the person’s further actions.

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Halacha 9 — A Good Matter: The Clear Test for a Prophet

A Good Thing the Almighty Does Not Retract

“But if he promised something good, and said it would be such and such, and the good thing he said did not come — it is known that he is a false prophet.” Why? “Because every good thing that God decrees, even conditionally, He does not retract.” A good thing that the Almighty decrees, even if conditionally — He does not retract it. Someone to whom the Almighty promises a good thing, it always comes. And upon this is the principle that the Almighty does not retract.

The Answer to the Previous Question

“From here you learn” — and here you learn — “that only through words of good is the prophet tested.” When one wants to test a prophet, one should specifically use a good matter. Because a matter of calamity cannot serve as proof — if it doesn’t happen, it still doesn’t contradict the prophet. But a good matter is indeed a good way to test the prophet, because if it doesn’t happen, we know that he is not a true prophet.

Earlier I said that there’s a big problem — because here there is a way out. The answer, says the Rambam, this is the answer. The answer is: when he says something good, it’s very easy to test him. Therefore, that is where a prophet is tested.

Novel Point: Even Conditionally, a Good Prophecy Must Be Fulfilled

Furthermore, regarding a good thing — even if he says “if you will be good, good will happen” — even then the good thing must happen. He can’t say “I told you a condition.” No, a prophecy.

Earlier we said, when the prophet says a bad thing conditionally, the meaning is that if the condition is not fulfilled, it won’t happen. What we say that regarding evil He retracts — that’s even if he doesn’t say it conditionally — he says clearly “you will die” — just as Isaiah said to Hezekiah that he would die, and he didn’t die.

But regarding a good thing, even if he says it conditionally, it must be fulfilled. The Almighty does not retract from a good thing, even if the person was not good. Therefore it comes out that if a prophet says a good thing, it is always a test.

A Question: When Precisely Does This Law Apply?

One needs to understand: when is it a prophecy? It says in the Torah that many prophecies of good are conditional. One needs to understand when precisely the law applies that it need not be fulfilled.

The Rambam’s Sources

You say one can learn the Gemara differently, and so on one can. But the Rambam learned all this, and the Rambam says “even conditionally He does not retract” — does the Gemara say this? Perhaps it’s the Yerushalmi? Yes, in various places he says it’s in the Yerushalmi. We are not learning now to determine whether the Rambam is correct according to his sources. According to what the Rambam says, it comes out that regarding a good thing there is the clear test.

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Halacha 10 — The Source from Jeremiah and Chananya ben Azur

The Dispute Between Jeremiah and Chananya

The Ibn Ezra brings a proof from Jeremiah — Jeremiah in his address to Chananya ben Azur. A false prophet came, Chananya ben Azur. And while Jeremiah was prophesying evil — Jeremiah warned King Zedekiah that he should repent and should not go to war with Babylonia.

Chananya said that things would be good, they would win the war. Jeremiah said to him: “Chananya, if my words are not fulfilled — that is no proof that I am a false prophet, because I spoke of calamity. And if the Jews repent, Jeremiah’s prophecies of calamity won’t happen. But if your words are not fulfilled, know that you are a false prophet.” And he brings the verse there.

The Verse

I didn’t remember the verse, I didn’t remember the Rambam. I remembered that the Rambam was composed by people who had learned Tanach, and when something is lacking in the Oral Torah (Torah sheb’al peh), the Rambam explains the meaning. But we who haven’t learned the verses sufficiently cannot understand the Rambam.

The verse that is written there says as follows: “Hanevi’im asher hayu l’fanai ul’fanecha min ha’olam vayinav’u el aratzos rabos v’al mamlachos gedolos l’milchama ul’ra’ah ul’davar. Hanavi asher yinave l’shalom, b’vo dvar hanavi yivada hanavi asher sh’lacho Hashem be’emes.” — “The prophets who were before me and before you from of old prophesied against many lands and against great kingdoms, of war and of evil and of pestilence. The prophet who prophesies of peace — when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet shall be known as one whom Hashem has truly sent.”

This doesn’t state it explicitly, but the Rambam understood, based on the Gemara, that this means to say as follows: You who promise peace — one can very easily know whether his things happened. But he who prophesies war — that I who prophesy war, that they will lose the war — it can sometimes not happen. The second side isn’t stated explicitly, but that’s how one understands the meaning of the dispute. Because otherwise, what is the dispute? What is Jeremiah saying?

The Meaning of the Dispute

The Gemara learned that this is the dispute. He says: “You are taking on a greater responsibility. You are much more likely to be a false prophet than me, because I am only warning that one should not do something, but you are promising that things will be good — you need to take much more responsibility, because it could still be that you are a false prophet.”

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The Value of Prophecy of Evil — Arousing Repentance

Should we say that this is some kind of incentive to threaten more with calamity, to come and say that threatening with punishments is a better strategy than saying blessings? Indeed, it’s a better strategy, because the point of prophecy is…

But even without the principle that a good thing must be retracted, there’s still already a problem. Because one who goes around telling everyone that everything is good and it will be good — that is a very dangerous thing — so we learn here. Because that causes people to never repent.

The prophet who says that things will be bad, and through that arouses the public to repentance — even if the bad thing doesn’t happen, it has already accomplished something. Because now that person says: at most, they repented for nothing. You know, they were afraid some war was coming and they repented. What’s the first thing — and they became better, and it was for nothing? Well, it was worth it in itself.

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A Practical Ramification — Tzaddikim Who Promise Good Things

Therefore, all those tzaddikim who promise people that good things will happen need to be much more careful than one who says bad things. By the way, they say they are not prophets. So I already have my earlier inquiry: how exactly does one become not a prophet?

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Halacha 11 — A Prophet Attested to by Another Prophet

The Principle

The Rambam continues. Now there is one more detail: not every prophet must perform signs and wonders (osos u’mofsim). There is another way to verify a prophet.

The Rambam says: “Navi she’he’id lo navi acher shehu navi” — “A prophet for whom another prophet testified that he is a prophet” — a prophet can also become a prophet through another prophet testifying that he is a prophet. He is presumed to be a prophet (harei zeh b’chezkas navi)! He no longer needs signs and wonders, because we already have a prophet saying he is a prophet!

The Logic

It could be — after all, the first prophet had signs and wonders. You say he needs to be testimony from the mouth of the prophet? I don’t know! Perhaps he is trusted more. That means: how does he know? He saw him together as a prophet! Or he knows — a prophet! A prophet doesn’t tell lies! Because one requires investigation, the second one doesn’t need to be investigated!

The Proof from Joshua

What does he bring? “For Moshe Rabbeinu testified about Joshua, and all of Israel believed in him before he performed a sign.” Even before he performed a sign, they already believed in Joshua.

It’s very interesting — there are verses! Because whoever looks at the end of the Book of Deuteronomy (Sefer Devarim) and in the Book of Joshua (Sefer Yehoshua) sees that there was indeed something that happened after Joshua performed wonders.

The Verse “Full of the Spirit of Wisdom”

He brings it very well, that it says in the verse: “V’Yehoshua bin Nun malei ruach chochma ki samach Moshe yadav alav, vayishme’u eilav bnei Yisrael vaya’asu ka’asher tzivah Hashem es Moshe.” — “And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him, and the Children of Israel hearkened to him and did as Hashem commanded Moses.” Moses said he was ordaining Joshua, he made him the leader of the generation — and they followed him.

Discussion: “Spirit of Wisdom” — Wisdom or Prophecy?

Later, at the beginning of the Book of Joshua, it says “Hayom hazeh acheil gadlecha b’einei kol ha’am” — “This day I will begin to magnify you in the eyes of all the people” — after he performed wonders — “l’ma’an yeid’un ka’asher hayisi im Moshe ehyeh imach” — “so that they shall know that as I was with Moses, I will be with you,” and so on. We see that there was indeed something they were lacking from him.

Just like that, that other verse one could still say that they believed him in the capacity of a sage. Just as it says “full of the spirit of wisdom” – one believes what he says.

Speaker 2: You’re saying that Moshe was a… right, he was a sage. In that verse, and so, there’s nothing to believe someone in the capacity of a sage.

Speaker 1: “Spirit of wisdom” means prophecy, it doesn’t mean simply “full of the spirit of wisdom.” Wisdom is wisdom, either it’s wisdom or it’s not “spirit of wisdom.” “Spirit of wisdom” is prophecy. Certainly, that is what Moshe gave him – prophecy.

Speaker 2: There is an opinion, “a sage is preferable to a prophet” (chakham adif mi’navi), I don’t know.

Speaker 1: The Rambam says that Moshe Rabbeinu himself testified – he says after all “ve’he’eminu vo” (“and they believed in him”) because he is a prophet. Not just simply, he’s a Torah scholar (talmid chakham) so one must follow him.

Speaker 2: There were other students of Moshe who had learned.

Speaker 1: Right. The court (beis din) one must follow, one needs to know precisely as well. But the Rambam says as follows: it’s interesting – later one does see verses that say that the Almighty granted him further. The Rambam’s point is that Moshe’s testimony about Yehoshua was in the capacity of a prophet, not in the capacity of a sage – and through that they “believed in him” with faith (emunah), not merely obedience to a beis din or a great leader of the generation (gadol ha’dor).

Rambam, Laws of the Foundations of the Torah, Chapter 10 (continued) – A prophet for whom another prophet testified, and the prohibition of testing him excessively

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Wisdom vs. Spirit of Wisdom – What did Moshe give Yehoshua?

Wisdom is either wisdom or it’s not “spirit of wisdom.” Spirit of wisdom is prophecy. What does it mean that Moshe gave him prophecy? That’s what it comes down to. With some kind of floating garment of wisdom? I don’t know, there are two types of wisdom. One year the wolf could have said it like a hyssop. It’s wisdom, it’s wisdom.

Not so, one doesn’t need to simply follow a Torah scholar anyway. There were other students of Moshe Rabbeinu, just as they had learned the introductions, right? The beis din one must follow, one needs to know precisely.

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Yehoshua – He was believed before he performed a sign

But the Rambam says as follows, it’s very interesting. And later one does see verses that say that the Almighty performed great salvations just like Moshe – after he split the Jordan, there he made the Jordan stop, then they believed in him just like Moshe.

The Rambam says: true, but you see that they followed him before that. From this we see that one doesn’t need to – that there is indeed a virtue, it’s a good thing, it certainly makes a greater impression that he can perform miracles like Moshe, but we see from this that they already believed before he performed the sign.

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Elisha – A prophet can make another prophet

Fine, in his generation’s lifetime, but Eliyahu says about Elisha – there is a verse: “Ve’es Elisha ben Shafat timshach le’navi tachtecha” (“And Elisha the son of Shafat you shall anoint as prophet in your place”) – Eliyahu made Elisha into a prophet. That means, they believed him. Afterward we see that he indeed performed signs as well, but it appears that they believed him before that.

What do we see? That a prophet can make another prophet, and not every prophet needs the extra Moshe-level things.

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Investigation: What does “va’yishme’u eilav Bnei Yisrael” mean?

Because there it also doesn’t clearly state that they followed something that Yehoshua said. It says that Yehoshua said what the Almighty had already commanded Moshe. No, no – “Va’yishme’u eilav Bnei Yisrael va’ya’asu ka’asher tzivah Hashem es Moshe” (“And the Children of Israel listened to him and did as God commanded Moshe”). This refers to what the Almighty told Moshe – that they should follow Yehoshua. Not that they followed what Yehoshua repeated again from the Torah of Moshe.

No, why would you think that? We’re talking about the fact that he commanded regarding action – the Torah of Moshe as well. He commanded them to go into the Jordan on that day, to send the spies – that they followed him. “Va’yishme’u eilav” means that they followed the Torah? What does it mean that they followed Yehoshua? For what purpose?

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Very well said, very nice. Ein tzarich chakirah – of the Rebbe, Moshe Rabbeinu – this applies to Yehoshua, and all of Israel believed in him before he performed a sign. For all generations – yes, I already said that.

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Halacha 12 – It is forbidden to doubt him or to test him excessively

The positive commandment to follow a prophet

Now comes the second point: they learned that there is a positive commandment (mitzvas asei) to follow a prophet. Now, when exactly must we follow a prophet? After all of those procedures.

So afterward, the Rambam said that one must verify multiple times that he is a prophet whose prophecies are fulfilled, but it doesn’t mean that one’s entire life one can pester the prophet – do another miracle, do another miracle. Rather, a prophet who has become known as a prophet, once his words have been verified time after time.

The conditions of this halacha

Or the other conditions that he stated there: she’he’id lo navi – a second prophet testified about him – ve’halach be’darkei ha’nevuah – and he walks in the ways of prophecy. You have here two new conditions, which presumably apply to both cases.

One says: a righteous person who walks in the ways of prophecy – that condition always applies. One says: someone who doesn’t walk in the ways of prophecy – it’s like someone saying “I have a sign regarding these stones here.” No, no, no – don’t follow him.

What does “it is forbidden to doubt” mean?

Asur le’harher acharav – one may not have doubts about him. What does it mean to have doubts? Just in thought? It also means thoughts? It means one may not think bad thoughts about him?

The Rambam says, he does say: le’harher bi’nevuaso she’ma einah emes – to doubt his prophecy that perhaps it isn’t true. And not only that, but ve’asur le’nasoso yoser mi’dai – it is forbidden to test him excessively. I don’t know if you want to say that there is no test in thought, but here it does state that one may not.

“Lo senasu es Hashem” – The source

It is forbidden to test him excessively – one may not test too much. Ve’lo nihyeh holchim u’menasin oso le’olam – we should not go on testing him forever – she’ne’emar “Lo senasu es Hashem Elokeichem ka’asher nisitem ba’Masah” (“You shall not test the Lord your God as you tested Him at Masah”).

What was the test there? They tested Moshe Rabbeinu, they said: “Ha’yesh Hashem be’kirbeinu im ayin” (“Is God among us or not?”). The Rambam’s interpretation, in other words: does the Almighty truly speak with Moshe?

“Ya’aminu ve’yeid’u ki Hashem be’kirbam”

So, but what then, one may not test excessively. Ela me’achar she’noda she’zeh navi, after it is known that he is a prophet – at best after several miracles and wonders, signs and portents – ya’aminu ve’yeid’u ki Hashem be’kirbam – they should believe and know that God is among them. They should know that the prophet is among them, that the Almighty is among them through the prophet.

This means, all Jews have access to the Almighty through the prophets. This comes from the verse “Ha’yesh Hashem be’kirbeinu”.

Insight: Constantly testing comes from a weak faith in oneself

It appears that many times the doubting is not because they don’t believe in the prophet – but because they don’t believe in themselves. They don’t believe that they merited having the Almighty among them. “Ha’yesh Hashem be’kirbeinu” – many times the constant testing comes from a weak faith in oneself, that they have the merit to have a prophet among them.

“Ve’yad’u ki navi hayah be’socham”

But there he expounds regarding a false prophet – well, the exposition is not a bad thing. Ve’lo yeharher ve’lo yechashev acharav, ke’inyan she’ne’emar “ve’yad’u ki navi hayah be’socham” (“And they shall know that a prophet was among them”).

And with this we have concluded. We see here – here we see that the Almighty tells Yechezkel that the people are stubborn, they don’t listen, but He wants “ve’yad’u” – “ve’yad’u” it says – “ki navi hayah be’socham”. They knew that later, when the destruction – it speaks about after he went regarding the prophets, they came to know this.

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The prohibition of “lo senasu” – Testing the prophet is testing the Almighty

In any case, he derives from this verse that afterward, after one has verified time after time, after one has done everything, there is a prohibition of testing God excessively. And this he also derives – he brings the verses about the tests: “Lo senasu es Hashem ka’asher nisitem ba’Masah” – all the tests with which they tested God in the wilderness.

What does it mean they tested God? They tested a prophet! These aren’t tests of the Almighty – they are tests that perhaps Moshe doesn’t know exactly what he’s talking about, perhaps he isn’t truthful in the name of God. This is what the Rambam states: “Asarah nisyonos nisu avoseinu es ha’Makom” (“Ten tests our forefathers tested God”) – the Rambam says: “They tested the prophet.”

It’s very interesting – why would one test the Almighty? Everyone knows there is a God. Rather, they were testing whether perhaps the prophet, “the word of God is within him” – perhaps the prophet doesn’t know exactly, or as you say, perhaps he isn’t worthy of being a prophet, whatever it may be – in practice, the conclusion is that the prophet isn’t genuine.

Regarding this, the Rambam says that there is a negative commandment (lav) of “lo sensuhu yoser mi’dai” – do not test him excessively.

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The entire chapter – A middle path

It’s very interesting, because the entire chapter deals with the two commandments that apply regarding the prophet:

1. On one hand, to follow a prophet

2. “Lo sensuhu yoser mi’dai” – in this halacha

Afterward there are the laws of a false prophet which we have seen.

And here it is very interesting that the entire chapter is such a middle path (derech ha’memutza). What is the approach? That the Rambam elaborates extensively about testing, and there is also too much. So, the correct approach is the exact amount in the middle. When one merits the exact amount, then one proceeds to the next middle path.

It doesn’t state here explicitly, but many commandments – I know that the middle path is a normal thing, many things work this way: this much but not more and not less. Okay. The “lo sosif ve’lo sigra” (“do not add and do not subtract”) is the framework that the Rambam discussed regarding how one merits the middle path. Very good.

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Conclusion of the Laws of the Foundations of the Torah

And we conclude with the words that the Rambam added: “Baruch Rachmana de’say’an” (“Blessed is the Merciful One who helped us”). Yes, that is not the language of the Rambam – in the Rambam it doesn’t appear, but in all other editions it does appear.

We thank the Almighty that we merited to finish the Laws of the Foundations of the Torah. Let us continue to strengthen ourselves, and we will begin to learn the Laws of Character Traits (Hilchos De’os).