This class was presented Sunday morning, 24 Av 5776, August 28, 2016, at the Ohr Chaim Shul in Monsey, NY.

Prophecy is a fundamental part of Jewish belief. As a matter of fact two of Maimonides thirteen principles of Jewish Faith are:the belief that G-d communicates with man through prophecy (#6), and the belief in the primacy of the prophecy of Moses our teacher (#7). But how does one go about authenticating prophets? How can we know if G-d has really spoken to the self-proclaimed prophet or if he is a fraud, as has happened all too many times in history?

The criteria usually given is this: if he has successfully proven that he can accurately foretell the future, or he performs miracles, we are commanded to believe him and follow his directives.

But then there is a fascinating section in the portion of Reah (Deuteronomy 13:2-4) :

“If there will arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder of which he spoke to you happens, [and then he] says, ‘Let us go after other gods which you have not known, and let us worship them’, you shall not heed the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of a dream; for the Lord, your God, is testing you, to know whether you really love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul.”

The Torah is in essence saying: The prophet may perform true miracles. He may not be a fraud or an illusionist. Yet at this point we cannot listen to him.

Why? If he has proven himself to be a Spiritual Master, a miracle worker, should we not trust him more than we trust ourselves?

An enigmatic comment by Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher (1269-1343), the author of the “Tur,” has been analyzed for generations. Some claimed that his insight granted us tremendous historical insight into these verses, and answers one of the most sensitive theological questions of all time: Why did the Jews reject Christianity and other religions?

And yet, there may be a far simpler interpretation, defining the role of women as prophets.