The Great Sources with Rabbi Shnayor Burton

In this conversation, Zev and I discuss the 1000-year era of prophecy, how the perfectly righteous man bends the world to the perfect good, and the challenges of the new prophecy.1:45 Summary of the lecture "How to Reclaim Prophecy": • The New Knowledge of Hashem: How to Reclai... 6:00 Prophecy 1.0 is the guide to prophecy 2.08:20 Why we consider the era of prophecy to begin with the Exodus despite the great prophets who preceded it10:00 The one thousand years of Jewish history recorded in Tanach stand as the paradigm of Divine Providence, when nothing occurred that lay outside its order12:30 On public and private prophecy; why widespread public prophecy requires the Ark of the Covenant and the Mikdash20:00 How the perfectly righteous man bends God's will to what is good in his eyes26:15 Tefillah is the absolute commitment to what is right32:30 The perfectly righteous man is the one who cannot abide any evil38:30 Those who forgive some evil in themselves will forgive some imagined evil in God42:30 Are we living in prophetic times?44:15 Between the Rambam and R' Yehudah HaLevi48:00 How come the great books don't discuss the new prophecy?52:45 Would someone be able to do the original kind of prophecy today?1:01:45 Today, even the greatest righteous person will accept the impersonal laws of nature as being righteous1:07:00 The challenges of the new prophecy

"Exodus, Exile and Redemption" is a study of the profound significance of Judaism's history. Written essays are published bi-weekly ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Please subscribe!This series is made possible by the Jacob Lights Foundation. To support this and other ongoing foundation initiatives, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to the Substack newsletter or making a tax-deductible donation via Zelle to jacoblightsfoundation@gmail.com.

"Exodus, Exile and Redemption" is a study of the profound significance of Judaism's history. Written essays are published bi-weekly ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Please subscribe!This series is made possible by the Jacob Lights Foundation. To support this and other ongoing foundation initiatives, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to the Substack newsletter or making a tax-deductible donation via Zelle to jacoblightsfoundation@gmail.com.

conversation # 5 of the seriesIn this conversation, Zev and I discuss how Da’as Hashem collides with politics, and what steps must follow.0:00 How would we design a political system supportive of Da'as Hashem?5:00 People who appreciate what is good and right about the current order delay the Moshiach8:00 For individuals, the most important question is Da'as Hashem; for the nation, the most important question is what systems would support Da'as Hashem11:15 Is it possible to think about Moshiach while also appreciating and supporting the current order?13:30 The division of labor between those who dream up new worlds and those who support the current world17:20 What goes wrong when politicians do Torah; Abarbanel's problematic approach to monarchy24:45 Should the political theory of Da'as Hashem utilize existing political theory?29:15 The nation of Israel is where political theory breaks down 36:00 What's the next move for the Da'as Hashem movement?44:00 Can we make Hashemists? 47:45 The last time Da’as Hashem went political, it became a Golden Calf52:30 Why we can't sell Da'as Hashem55:00 Prophet school1:03:00 The secret society that will meddle in world affairs to advance Da'as Hashem1:15:15 Why there is no Sanhedrin, Beis Hamikdash, or Korbanos1:19:00 The need for working out the political theory of Da'as Hashem1:23:00 The newsletter required for developing the political theory of Da'as Hashem1:26:00 To change the world, explain to them what you're capable of explaining

00:25 The essence of Rabbi Akiva's wisdom is that the Torah speaks in parables3:40 The sin that led to the death of Bar Kochba is the sin of taking the Torah literally 11:15 Balaam and the parables about the Messiah; the prophets themselves didn't know the meaning of their parables about the Messiah18:00 Balaam blessed Israel with kingship, which turned into a curse21:00 Inverting the meaning of the Torah and Balaam's endeavor24:00 The inversion of the Torah is its external, superficial meaning; Balaam as the anti-Moshe28:45 The function of a king is to craft a unified message; the connection between kings and parables33:45 The problem with kings, who occlude the kingship of Hashem43:00 How can there be a righteous king?44:15 The function of halacha and how it applies to establishing kings who stand as parables for Hashem55:00 The contradiction in Shemoneh Esreh whether Hashem alone will rule us or David will56:00 Solomon's failure revolved around thinking we know the reasons of mitzvahs fully59:30 The more progress we make in recognizing the limits of our reason, the more we can safely explore the reasons for the mitzvahs 1:05:30 The Guide is Gan Eden; the Tree of Life is the middle question in the middle chapter of the middle section of the Guide: "Why did he give these mitzvahs and these prohibitions?"1:11:30 Rabbi Akiva knew the reason of the Red Heifer, which is that paradoxes are appropriate1:13:00 Balaam as the anti-Moshe and his influence, together with Moshe, on all the prophets that come after Moshe1:15:00 Rabbi Meir, student of Rabbi Akiva, and his approach to parables

00:00 The project of the Guide is the rectification of the challenges associated with prophecy2:30 The need for the Torah to be unlocked12:00 King Solomon was a Messianic figure who commenced the unlocking of the Torah, which was then completed by Rabbi Akiva20:45 The innovation in the Torah which is itself rooted in the Torah: Rambam's rereading of the Torah's mission to uproot idolatry and his application of its teaching to God's incorporeality 36:30 The Oral Torah can undermine the surface-level meaning of the Written Torah40:45 How Moshe both did and didn't wage war against the erroneous belief in the corporeality of God44:00 It takes much knowledge to know that knowledge is limited48:45 How Rabbi Akiva's new teaching about parables improved on King Solomon's teaching about parables51:00 The endless sea and the infinitude of wisdom: The meaning of the parable of water is that we can’t know the true meaning of the parable of water54:30 The purpose of parables is not to explain something but rather to make an abstract truth attractive to the body1:01:15 Rabbi Akiva's teaching about the water that has no end; how he faced endless waves and how Rabbi Meir faced endless waves1:12:30 Two kinds of parables1:15:30 What will be treated of in the next lecture

0:00 How does Rambam intend to extract us from exile?2:30 Rabbi Akiva as the great teacher whose Torah completes the Messianic teaching6:30 The need for the Torah to be clarified and for its meaning to be unlocked10:00 In what sense Rabbi Akiva is called a "prophet"18:30 The diminished significance of the Messiah as an individual man of great wisdom and prophetic power24:00 Allusions in the Guide to the role of Rabbi Akiva and his new teaching30:00 What is the "new teaching" predicted by the prophets and who will teach it? 31:00 The teaching of Rabbi Akiva about what makes a human perfect: Do not say, "Water, water"34:45 Moshe went beyond human capabilities; the rest of humanity requires a way to approach God without transcending human limits46:30 The meaning of the word "water"; equivocal terms and parables54:20 Why there is a need for a "new teaching" and what is wrong with the "old teaching"58:00 The failure of the "Nobles of the Children of Israel" in their vision of God points to the flaw with the old teaching and the problem inherent in every prophet lesser than Moshe1:05:00 The Guide is meant to rectify the problem inherent to non-Mosaic prophecy