Whatever Happened to Prophecy?

Q. Why is there no prophecy after the Second Temple?

A. There are a lot of pieces to this answer, so I'm going to have to give you some necessary background information before we get to the point.

Human beings have a good inclination and an evil inclination. Our job in this world is to conquer the evil inclination and do the right thing. This is meant to be a battle inside us; God doesn't just hand us victories.

There used to be an urge towards idolatry that we couldn't understand today. It was comparable to the sexual urge in its intensity. We see that many people in Bible times were easily tempted into idolatry, which is something we never even think about today. So what changed?

In second Temple times, the Sages prayed for the urge for idolatry to be removed. While it wasn't removed from the world completely, it was significantly reduced. But this created a power imbalance.

It was one thing when the urge for idolatry was strengthening the evil impulse and people like Isaiah were delivering prophecies, which strengthened the good inclination. That was a "fair fight." With the urge for idolatry gone, the good inclination would have too easy a time with prophecy on its side. Since God doesn't just hand us victories, prophecy had to go, too. This re-leveled the playing field.

So yes, the loss of prophecy is a great loss indeed, but when you consider how many people fell prey to the lure of idolatry in olden times, the Sages considered it a fair trade. We may no longer have the gift of prophecy, but we've saved countless people from a dangerous spiritual fate.

Rabbi Jack's book Ask Rabbi Jack is now available from Kodesh Press and on Amazon.com.