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December 8, 2016

Does God Still Talk to People? And If So, What Does He Say?

The daughter of a voice.

The Talmud and other ancient rabbinic works tell a number of stories in which God seemingly addresses humans via a bat kol—a phrase usually rendered “a heavenly voice,” but meaning literally “the daughter of a voice.” One source states directly that, although the era of prophecy has ended, God can still be heard through a bat kol. After arguing that this phrase is best translated “a disembodied voice,” Ari Lamm shows through an examination of various passages that a bat kol almost always affirms what is already known, and cannot decide matters of halakhah:

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