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32 | Johanna Stiebert www.jrfm.eu 2016, 2/1, 23â33
of people, sometimes whole nations. While the expression does not mean echo, it
seems to pertain mostly to a smaller voice, even a murmur, and sometimes to a muf-
fled sound coming from the netherworld. According to the Tosefta,29 following the
death of the final prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, the Holy Spirit departed
from Israel but the bat qĂ´l was still heard occasionally (Sotah viii.2). The suggestion is
that not only a prophet but also his generation has to be worthy to receive the voice
of God, or of Godâs holy spirit, but the smaller bat qĂ´l persisted beyond the period of
prophecy into the rabbinical period, issuing pronouncements of the divine will. Bat qĂ´l
is a lesser gift but it is not less reliable.
One story recorded in both Talmuds30 recounts a rabbinical argument about the
purity or otherwise of a new oven. After Rabbi Eliezer has called up a series of mira-
cles to prove the ovenâs purity but has still failed to persuade the other rabbis, the
bat qĂ´l (coming from heaven and accepted as divine) decrees that the view of Rabbi
Eliezer is correct and should be adopted. At this point Rabbi Joshua points to the
Torah passage at Deuteronomy 30:12,31 which states that divine commandments are
present (by implication, here on earth) and need not, therefore, be retrieved with
great difficulty from heaven. He goes on to declare that because the Torah is not in
heaven, there is no cause to pay heed to the bat qĂ´l. In other words, the bat qĂ´l has
been relegated below the authority of Torah in legal decisions: God may speak out
loud, but God is overruled by his Torah (see Babylonian Talmud, Nezikin, Baba Metzia
59b).
The postscript to this story is that another rabbi, Rabbi Nathan, a mystic who from
time to time met with Elijah the prophet, Godâs messenger, who had been taken up to
heaven, asked Elijah, âand what did God do next?â â that is, after that moment when
Rabbi Joshua pushed divine pronouncement out of the ruling. Elijah replies that God
laughed with mirth, because Godâs children had defeated God. In other words, God
gave the Torah and along with it the capacity to interpret it, and even God cannot
interfere in that process. Godâs voice can be heard and is correct â but it cannot over-
rule. Such a concession to human activities of interpretation and exchange is rather
heartening and affirming in any analysis (such as this one) of the multifarious depic-
tions of the body and voice of God.
29 Tosefta (meaning âsupplementâ or âadditionâ) is a compilation of Jewish oral law, in many respects a
supplement to the Mishnah (the written down Jewish oral law). The Tosefta uses the same orders, or
divisions (sedarim) as the Mishnah.
30 The Talmud is a wide-ranging record of rabbinical discussions on Mishnah. There are two Talmudic
traditions: Yerushalmi (the Jerusalem Talmud) and Bavli (the Babylonian Talmud).
31 This passage is also of interest on the topic of voice. Here divine commandment is said to be near
(rather than far and inaccessible). It is called âthe wordâ (haddÄbÄr) and is located in the mouth and
heart (Deut. 30:11â14).
JRFM
Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 02/01
- Title
- JRFM
- Subtitle
- Journal Religion Film Media
- Volume
- 02/01
- Authors
- Christian Wessely
- Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati
- Editor
- Uni-Graz
- Publisher
- SchĂźren Verlag GmbH
- Location
- Graz
- Date
- 2016
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- Size
- 14.8 x 21.0 cm
- Pages
- 132
- Categories
- Zeitschriften JRFM