I think that I remember hearing that during the times of the Men of the Great Assembly, it was decided that prophecy would no longer be used to determine halachic rulings, i.e that before then it was acceptable.
Does anyone have a source for that?
This link (without a source) says that " The Great Assembly included the last of the prophets. One couldn’t “feel for” the right answer as reliably, and halachic reasoning came to the fore."
Update: It seems like the Rambam spoke on this in Yesodei HaTorah 9:4, namely that a prophet cannot change the oral law or decide based upon his prophecy. It seems as though he is including the period before the Great Assembly. This link also discusses similar ideas. I'm leaving the question open in case someone can provide specific information.
Answer
" Although the Jewish people demanded of the prophets and priests that followed - Yehoshua, Shmu'el, Pinhas and Elazar - that they ask for Heavenly direction with regard to the questions that arose, each of them replies lo ba-shamyim he - "The Torah is not in Heaven" (see Devarim 30:12). Once the Torah was given at Mount Sinai it is incumbent on the Sages of every generation to establish the meaning of the Torah; whose meaning cannot be established by prophetic communication with God." (Temurah 16)
http://steinsaltz.org/learning.php?pg=daf_yomi&articleId=2637
No comments:
Post a Comment