24
votes
Accepted
Does Judaism recognize contemporary prophets?
The last of the true prophets (nevi'im) were indeed Chaggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The Talmud (Bava Batra 12a) cites:
R. Abdimi from Haifa said: Since the day when the Temple was destroyed, ...
- 17.5k
15
votes
Accepted
Did Rashi have nevuah?
Unfortunately, indeed we do not have prophets today, and Chazal say that the last prophets were Hagai, Zecharia and Malachi.
Rashi's momentous perush on most of the Bible and most of the gemara speak ...
- 3,794
13
votes
Accepted
Are there any mentions of Torah Scrolls before Ezra?
In Melachim (Kings) Chapters 22-23, King Joshiahu discovers a Torah scroll during renovations of the Temple.
- 5,292
11
votes
Accepted
What are the fasts of the 4th, 5th, 7th, and 10th months?
These fasts are counting from Nisan as the first month (the Jewish religious calendar).
The fast of the 4th month is 17 Tammuz.
The fast of the 5th month is 9 Av.
Here, the fast of the 7th month is ...
- 24.5k
10
votes
Did HaShem ever command a Navi (Prophet) to break a law?
Hashem tells Yechezkel that his wife is going to die, and that he specifically shouldn't observe several of the practices of aveilus (Yechezkel 24:16-17). It's a machlokes whether the first day's ...
- 7,667
9
votes
From the Jewish perspective, if a prophet had the power to bring people back from the dead, what would that make him?
He would be a prophet through whom God worked a miracle. In fact, this happened with the prophet Elisha, as recorded in Melachim II 4. Elisha had told a Shunammite woman who had treated him very ...
- 56.2k
9
votes
Did HaShem ever command a Navi (Prophet) to break a law?
Eliyahu at Har Carmel. Standard halachic opinion is that sacrifices away from the Temple were forbidden. So Eliyahu was either directly told to break this, or decided on his own and that decision was ...
- 191
8
votes
Accepted
Can non-Biblical figures be considered prophets?
In Judaism, prophecy means to communicate the direct word of God. Someone who does the things that you mention might be a great person, but that is simply a different thing from prophecy.
The Bible ...
- 24.5k
8
votes
How and why are eunuchs forbidden to enter the congregation per Devarim 23:1 but are accepted in Isaiah 56:4-5?
The verse in Deuteronomy is a halachik prohibition for a descendent of the 12 tribes to marry a man with specific types of injuries to his genitals. That is the full extent of the law and the injured ...
- 17.5k
8
votes
Why does prophet Isaiah believe the world is flat
This is not a literal meaning but the way people speak. We still speak of "sunrise" and "sunset". The idiom of "the four corners", means the farthest away that one can go in any direction.
One ...
- 42.7k
8
votes
Could Bathsheba have refused King David?
One opinion in Kesubos 9a says
וכי תימא מעשה שהיה מפני מה לא אסרוה התם אונס הוה
And if you would say with regard to the incident that transpired involving David and Bathsheba: For what reason ...
- 19.2k
8
votes
Accepted
How do we learn that Esther was a prophet?
Talmud Bavli, Megillah 14a lists the seven prophetesses as:
Sarah
Miriam
Deborah
Hannah
Abigail
Huldah
Esther
(Interestingly enough, Eve is not listed as one of the prophetesses.)
The Talmud ...
- 40.3k
8
votes
Why is Yiftach's sacrifice of his kin looked at so negatively, while Chana's "sacrifice" of kin so positively?
I admit that don't have a source for the following distinction.
But there's a logical distinction between the cases.
Shmuel was consecrated to Hashem.
Chana didn't abandon him, or "lock him up" ...
- 2,901
8
votes
Accepted
How did Manoach not know he was speaking with an Angel?
Re-read the verse. Manoach's wife told him she met a prophet (איש האלוקים/man of God is a title for a prophet) who looked like an angel:
"The woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came ...
- 23.6k
7
votes
Accepted
Why didn't the prophets (and others "inspired from Above") ever learn the secrets of science or cures for disease?
There was once a book that had all the cures you are talking about, but it was buried.
In the mishna of Psachim 4:9 it says that the king Chizkia buried "the book of cures":
ששה דברים עשה חזקיה ...
- 975
7
votes
Accepted
The Rebbe as a prophet -- how?
A prophet is someone who speaks in the name of Hashem. Someone who can say, "Hashem told me to say..." However, there are ways that Hashem lets his close ones know things, סוד ה' ליראיו. This is not ...
- 4,934
7
votes
Accepted
Can one accept Muhammad and remain Jewish?
There are two questions here: the one you asked and the one you intended to ask. To answer the question that you asked, even if someone accepts Mohammad as a prophet, he remains Jewish. Nothing can ...
- 24.5k
7
votes
Can a convert be a prophet?
Chananya ben Azur was a prophet (until he went bad), and he was a Givoni, who are a nation of converts (Rashi on Yirmiyah 28:6).
- 1,657
7
votes
Accepted
Were there non-Jewish prophets? If yes, who were they and what were their purpose?
Bil'am was a non-Jew prophet, his prophecy is about Israel mainly and is integral part of Pentateuch, Chazal, magnify his prophecy and see an allusion in the last verse of Pentateuch that in Jewish ...
- 22.5k
7
votes
Accepted
Were there multiple Isaiahs?
To answer the first part of your question, yes the sages discussed the authorship of Isaiah, and he did not write his own book.
See here Bava Bathra 15a
Hezekiah and his colleagues wrote (...
- 33k
7
votes
Is Solomon wiser than Moshiach?
The Rambam in hilchos teshuva chapter 9 halacha 2 actually writes that Moshiach will be smarter than Solomon and also on a level of prophecy close to Moshe.
מפני שאותו המלך שיעמוד מזרע דוד בעל חכמה ...
- 33k
7
votes
Accepted
Why was Shaul prophecising naked?
It is true that just from reading the words in the pasuk, it appears that Shaul was unclothed, but if you look at the different mefoshim, most seem to say that he just "Stripped" himself of ...
- 1,414
7
votes
Accepted
Bilam: a prophet/magician?
That Bilam was a prophet is stated in a number of sources, such as Bava Batra 15b:
"... Seven prophets prophesied to the nations of the world, and they are: Balaam and his father Beor..."
...
- 23.6k
7
votes
How can we reconcile the Gemara saying that Daniel was NOT a Navi, with all the Obvious (Very Intense) Prophecies of Daniel written in Sefer Daniel?
There have been various rabbinic interpretations on this issue. In addition to Tamir's note on Rashi's commentary (to Megillah 3a) - that Daniel was not technically considered a prophet since he didn'...
- 11.2k
7
votes
Accepted
When was book of Shmuel written?
Abarbanel discusses this issue in his introduction to Sefer Yehoshua and concludes (my translation):
"And it seems that when Yirmiyahu wished to write Sefer Melachim, he clarified Sefer Shmuel ...
- 23.6k
6
votes
Definition of the Written Law
The Gemara in Kiddushin (30a) says that a father is obligated to teach his son "mikra, not mishnah." Rava there says "mikra" means "Torah." Rashi explains that this means ...
- 14.1k
6
votes
Can non-Biblical figures be considered prophets?
In Judaism, a prophet per se means someone to whom God gives a distinct message to communicate to the people. The last prophets were at the end of the Biblical era, around 2400 years ago, helping the ...
- 129k
6
votes
Was there ever a prophet that was also a military commander
Joshua was visited by a malach of extremely lofty level (though he might not have technically been a prophet).
It's also written a few times that God spoke to Joshua, such as in Joshua 1:1-9, 4:2-3, ...
- 61
6
votes
Accepted
Why are several prophetic books collected into 'Trei Asar'?
As noted by DoubleAA in a comment, the reason you mentioned in your question is found in Bava Batra 14b:
וליכתביה לחודיה וליקדמיה איידי דזוטר מירכס
But let it [Hosea] be written separately and ...
- 40.3k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible