Anshei Amana

We live in the three weeks towards Tisha B'Av, the commemoration date of the destruction of Beit HaMikdash. Daniel 8:12 states that with the ceasing of the Tamid, the truth was thrown onto the ground. The meaning of this statement reaches very far. The Tamid is not only the daily sacrifice that was once brought in Beit HaMikdash. It is also the continuous dwelling of the Shechina among Israel. It is the presence of men of truth, prophets. After the destruction of Beit HaMikdash, all this truth was thrown onto the ground. Prophecy stopped. At a lower level, the Chachamim of Sanhedrin became the embodiment of truth, and continued the heritage of the prophets. (Though we learn that a Chacham is at a higher level than a prophet, this is restricted to matters in which both reach the truth.) When also Sanhedrin disappeared, the last Tamid ceased. What remains is the Talmud.

Am Yisrael took the Talmud as its absolute guideline. Until prophecy returns, nothing will supersede it, because its teachings, though formulated by the sages, are based on the heritage that came from prophets. This sounds heroic, but we must internalize: The truth was thrown onto the ground. The sages of Sanhedrin did not always understand the prophets, because they were not at the same level. And for the same reason, later sages did not always understand earlier sages. And we do not always understand the sages. A desolating Shikutz appeared in our midst. With the truth on the ground, dogma took over. We became increasingly liable to reject truth in the name of Torah.

This is explicit in the ban of rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanos because of a halachic matter in which he was right. Although Heaven attested that rabbi Eliezer was right, his opinion was rejected by Sanhedrin, and he was banned. The message of our sages is very honest and sobering. Because we are not at the level of prophets, we cannot attain truth in their way. Therefore, we can only decide Halacha by majority. There are many ways to make believe that this was progress in disguise. Lo B'Shamayim Hi - Torah is not in the Heavens; it is in the hands of man. However, by logic, truth is not in the hands of man. Truth is. Therefore, in truth, the matter is a deeply saddening aspect of the exile. While the men of dogma claim the truth, the truth is that in essence the truth is in exile from us.

Woe to those who insist to remain in the exile of dogma. The redemption depends on the return of men of truth, Anshei Amana. This refers to the return of Sanhedrin, and to the return of prophecy. It refers to renewed understanding of Torah, the words of the ancient prophets. The men of dogma will not forever be able to repress the emergence of the men of truth. The hearts of the fathers must return to the children. The hearts of the children will return to the fathers.

כג