Prophecy

The Rambam wrote that one of the Thirteen Principles of the Torah is that there is such a thing as prophecy. This means that we are to believe that G-d communicates directly with man.

We also learn according to tradition that actual prophecy lasted for a thousand years from the exodus from Egypt. This is proven with a few important dates. Four hundred and eighty years passed from Egypt until the Temple of Solomon was built. This Temple lasted 410 years. Seventy years passed between the first and second Temple according to the prophecy of Jeremiah. And prophecy ended forty years after the second Temple was built. We simply add 480 plus 410, plus seventy, plus forty, and we get 1000.

The prophecies varied according to the spiritual level of the prophet. Some received their prophecy in their sleep in the form of a dream. Others were awake but went into what looked like an epileptic state. They would lie on the ground and their bodies would shake as the word of Hashem came to them.

The greatest of all prophets was Moshe Rabbeinu. His level of prophecy was so high that he was able to speak to Hashem as two friends carry on a conversation. He was in a completely conscious state of awareness.

After prophecy no longer existed, there were individual that received Ruach Halodesh, that would be translated as Divine inspiration. It is very likely that there are even such righteous souls today that possess Ruach Halodesh.

Rabbi Berel Wein once said that each generation has thirty-six Tzaddikim. “And if you think you’re one of them, you are not!”