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The Patient Ox (aka Hénock Gugsa)

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** TPO **
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Friday, August 1, 2014

Prophecy Defined - by Pinchas Winston

 
The Essence of Prophecy *
  - Pinchas Winston -

[Imagine] a child [at school] who, upon seeing his enemy in a group of other children, throws a stone seeking revenge. Sure enough, the stone hits its mark, and a tremendous scream goes out from the hit child, as all eyes focus on the thrower who all of a sudden cowers from the unpredicted negative attention.

The next thing he knows is that the principal comes out to see what is causing all the commotion. After wiping the blood away from the boy's head and sending him to the nurse, the principal turns in the direction of all the pointing fingers and spies the boy who is responsible. He does not know the whole story of the two boys, nor does he care about it: no one throws a stone at another person, at least in his school.

As the principal advances towards him with a grim look on his face, the stone thrower sees his life flash before his eyes. He no longer remembers the sense of accomplishment he felt momentarily upon accurately hitting his enemy with the stone. All of that was quickly wiped away by the extreme sense of dread he now feels as he wonders how far-reaching the consequences of his action will be. His life is about to change, perhaps forever, of that he is sure, and he wonders what it was in the first place that blinded him to all of this as he threw the stone.

Thus, the rabbis teach: Who is a wise man? One who sees what will be born?

However, if you think about it, that is not the definition of a wise man, it is the definition of a prophet. Perhaps that is why the exact translation of the Talmudic statement is not "one who sees what will be born," that is, what will end up occurring in the future, but "one who sees what has been born," that is, now, in the present.

In other words, it [prophecy] is not about predicting the future; it is about properly and accurately understanding the present.

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* Source: "Born to be Wise" by Rabbi Pinchas Winston
http://www.torah.org/learning/perceptions/5766/devarim.html

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