Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Prophecy versus Ruach Hakodesh
My current issue is the relationship between prophecy and ruach hakdoesh. While it seems to be obvious to most people that prophecy is the higher level, in recent sources the reverse seems to be true. This is based on the gemora in Bava Basra (12a) that a sage is superior to a prophet. The distinction between them is that ruach hakodesh is the ultimate form of wisdom while prophecy is a revelation based upon metaphor. Wisdom can penetrate deeper but is open to error. Prophecy is not as clear but contains no doubts. Ruach Hakodesh is represented by R' Akiva while prophecy is represented by Moshe. To be continued
I'm still struggling through trying to translate it but the Divrei Yatziv, volume 7 (Leikutim) chapter 88 seems very relevant and brings a lot of sources.
ReplyDeleteOf course there is the Divrei Chaim YD 2 105 and Ohr HaChaim 6:3 (I think there is a resolution between the obvious conflict pointed out by R. Gil Student on Cross-Currents, but it needs some more work). See also Beis Shlomo O.C. 2 112. These sources are related and may prove useful.