Our Gemara on Amud Aleph discusses various transgressions and consequences related to a prophet suppressing his own prophecy and a Jewish person disregarding the words of a prophet: With regard to one who suppresses his prophecy because he does not wish to share it with the public, one who contemptuously forgoes the statement of a prophet and refuses to heed it, and a prophet who violates his own statement and fails to perform what he was commanded to do—his death is at the hand of Heaven.

Reshimos Shiurim (ibid.) brings down a question from the Minchas Chinuch (516:1): If there is a heavenly death decree for one who denies a command of a prophet, then any time one violates any command in the Torah, it should incur a heavenly death decree, as are we not disregarding the prophecy of Moshe? The Rav answers that Torah is not a prophecy in the sense of being a directive from a prophet. Torah is its own cheftzah—a lomdishe term for something with a status as a defined entity. We follow Torah as God’s will, revealed to us by Moshe, but it is not a command from Moshe as a prophet. This is why prophets can never uproot or add to the Torah but can only temporarily give a directive (Shabbos 104a). Moshe, however, speaks as the Torah itself, which has its own rules and consequences for not following them.

The Rav raises a second question: We learned that a prophet is liable for a heavenly death decree for disregarding his own prophecy, and a regular citizen is liable for disobeying as well. Why do we need two separate clauses? Every time a prophet disregards his own prophecy, he is de facto disregarding the command of a prophet (who happens to be himself). The Rav resorts to a similar Brisker distinction: When a prophet speaks his prophecy, it becomes a cheftzah of prophecy, and only then is a Jew obligated to heed it—the expression makes it active. Yet a prophet who has a private prophecy for himself is obligated immediately, even if he does not articulate it.

Both of these Brisker pieces of lomdus, as is typical of Brisker chakiras, allude to philosophical distinctions, even though in their lamdanus they often only speak of the chiluk (logical distinction) without exploring the potential philosophy it points to. Here too, we can discern the distinction between the cheftzah of prophecy and the cheftzah of Torah, and in the second question and answer, the distinction between the cheftzah of spoken prophecy and the cheftzah of private revelation. But, my friends, what does it mean? Especially in the first question and answer, where it turns out that disregarding prophecy carries a harsher punishment than disregarding Torah?

The answer lies in maintaining hierarchy and order. We saw on daf 88b that the Rebellious Elder cannot be granted forgiveness from his colleagues for refusing to comply with the ruling of the Sanhedrin, because they did not want to allow a proliferation of disputes and anarchy. Similarly, the word—literally the word of the prophet—must be heeded, as this was part of the Torah’s system of governance, which was neither quite monarchy nor certainly democracy. The king had powers, held in check by the Sanhedrin and the prophet, and each of these parties held the others in check (as seen throughout the stories in Tanach and Midrash, such as Nosson rebuking King Dovid, yet King Dovid also engaging in halachic disputes with the Sanhedrin). Therefore, a prophecy cannot be disregarded, as it threatens the social order even more than disregarding Torah, which has its own compelling ways. Furthermore, according to this, the prophet disregarding his own prophecy is a completely different sin from a citizen doing so. For the citizen, it is a rebellion against social order and harmony; for the prophet, it is a rebellion against God.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

If you liked this, you might enjoy my Relationship Communications Guide. Click on the link above.

Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, Rabbi Simcha Feuerman, LCSW-R, DHL is a psychotherapist who works with high conflict couples and families. He can be reached via email at simchafeuerman@gmail.com