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By Benjamin Lau Haaretz Newspaper in Israel When 70 elders are appointed to assist Moses in his role as leader, a major drama unfolds in the Israelite camp: "And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the 70 elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease. But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the Tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp. And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid [lit. "imprison"] them. And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord's people were
prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!" (Numbers 11:25-29).
Frightened by this strange, new prophetic atmosphere, Joshua becomes somewhat hysterical. However, Moses has a completely different reaction: He hopes, ideally, that God's spirit will inspire a large proportion of his people, rather than just a select few. This wish is echoed in a later period by the prophet Joel: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions" (Joel 2:28). The longing for a nation of prophets is sincerely felt by Joel, who lives in a society that lacks any uplifting vision. On the one hand, the First Temple period was characterized by an abundance of prophecies; on the other hand, the prophets were not a truly integral part of society. According to Jewish tradition, prophecy disappeared with the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. As we read in the Babylonian Talmud (Tractate Bava Batra): "Ever since the Temple was destroyed, the prophets lost their ability to prophesy, and that ability was transferred to the rabbinical scholars." Although there were a few prophets during the Second Temple period - such as Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi - midrashic literature refers to them as short-term prophets." In "The Guide for the Perplexed," Maimonides explains that prophecy disappeared because of the sadness and indolence that characterized Israel in its exile from the Holy Land. Another possible explanation is God's disappointment in the prophets' activities. For centuries, they attempted to convey the divine message to the people, but only in a few cases did their prophecies actually change the conduct of the Jewish nation. A striking example of a prophecy that wielded a major impact on human behavior is seen in the Book of Jonah - although Jonah's predictions ironically emphasize his fellow prophets' failure to influence people. Unlike the Jews, who rarely pay much attention to the prophets' words, Nineveh's inhabitants are indeed deeply affected by Jonah's prophecies and dramatically alter their behavior: In contrast to generations of Jews who, despite the prophets' dire warnings, continued their evil practices - these people are genuinely penitent and seek to abandon their sinful ways. Elijah's cry to the Israelites, "How long halt ye between two opinions?" (1 Kings 18:21) expresses the prophets' frustration with the Jews' failure to cease their "double loyalty" to God and idol worship, and to fully devote themselves to the Almighty. The prophets may have been prescient in their visions, but they could not provide the nation with practical guidance about daily life: Although their prophecies and words were eloquent, they were unable to serve as leaders of a nation in distress. Thus, the First Temple period is characterized by idolatry. In "Zeronim," Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook discusses this problem: "It is customary for prophets to eloquently describe the world's beauty, to praise the treasures of the universe, especially those characterized by abundant energy and thriving life. At the same time, however, they are also capable of depicting the overall ugliness of evil behavior and vigorously protesting against such conduct. However, the ability to focus on life's minute details, to teach people how to lead a proper way of life, to set them on the right track and to instruct them how to avoid even the slightest pitfalls - all this is beyond the capacity of the boldly imaginative prophet. What is needed is the precise wisdom of the physician, the pragmatist, the surveyor, the judge, the practically minded scholar." Generations of Jewish life, bereft of prophecy, have nonetheless produced scholars who have carved their own unique path through the thicket of traditional law and have provided guidelines for a normal way of life. With the disappearance of prophecy, Jewish law was consolidated during the Second Temple period and finally codified in the Mishnaic era by Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi. For centuries, rabbinical scholars produced thousands of treatises, thus earning for the Jewish nation the name of the People of the Book. The spirit of prophecy was defeated and was relegated to a marginal position. Today, we are witnessing a spiritual reawakening in Israel, with various movements seeking a link between the human world and the realm of mysticism. These movements, and the creative thinking that draws its power from the depths of our inner selves, beg the question, "Can prophecy return to the Jewish people in our era?" New subjects are thus being added today to the curriculum of the traditional Jewish learning center - the beit hamidrash: Hebrew literature, Jewish legend (aggadah), religious poetry and Jewish mysticism. Books that were studied by only a select few in the past have now become best-sellers. As Rabbi Kook sees it, such phenomena reflect a deep longing for prophecy: "Prophecy and the holy spirit stem from our inner world, which is influenced by the entire universe; for example, there is the world of Jewish legends, which are the echoes of the deep wellsprings of the human spirit." Should we fear prophecy, as Joshua does, or should we instead adopt the attitude expressed by Moses: "Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them?"
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