Nevuas Hayeled (Prophecy of the Child)

[Yankel Nosson]

Anyone know anything about this Nevuas Hayeled? According to the articles to be posted below, "the Zemah Zedek, Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Lubavitch (1789-1866) vouched for its veracity."

[Yankel Nosson]

Ancient Prophecy Concerning Taliban and — Osama bin Laden?
Special to Orot.com by Rabbi Bezalel Naor

Siman karov nihyeh,
u-be–sayfin yihyeh,
ve-‘arka bar Talibaya,
de-hava hogeh ve-kayam bein Sufkaya.

An imminent sign will be,
And with swords he will be,
And the son of the Talibs runs away
Who was studying and living among the Sufis.

By a conservative estimate, roughly seven centuries ago, a Jew living presumably in a Moslem land, penned this prophecy, whose meaning has eluded scholars until the events of the past month. So believes Rabbi Bezalel Naor, national director of Orot, an organization that disseminates the teachings of Rav Kook.

This rhymed stanza is to be found in the third prophecy of the so-called Nevu’at ha-Yeled, the Prophecy of the Child, a pseudepigraphic work attributed to a child by the name of Nahman ben Pinhas (also referred to as Nahman Katufa and Nahman Hatufa) of the village of Bar’am in Erets Israel, who died in infancy in the year 485 C.E., shortly after uttering the prophecy. The prophecy of Nahman was written in a cryptic Aramaic tongue and arranged alphabetically.

The late Gershom Scholem, Hebrew University professor of Jewish mysticism, was convinced the prophecy could be traced back to the period of the Mongol invasion of Erets Israel in the thirteenth century, based partly on the fact that Rabbi David the Nagid (grandson of Maimonides) is alleged to have penned a commentary to the Prophecy. To date, the singularly most important commentary on the Prophecy is that written by the kabbalist Rabbi Abraham ben Eliezer Halevi at the beginning of the sixteenth century.

Though Halevi feels confident in his ability to elucidate most of the events foretold in the Prophecy, significantly enough when he comes to the passage concerning "the son of the Talibaya," he admits he is at a loss to provide a satisfactory explanation. Halevi confides that suddenly there occurred to him the thought that it refers to Ali ben Talib, the son-in-law of Muhammad. (The very first prophecy of Nahman alludes to Muhammad and Mecca.) Halevi by a stretch proposes that Talibaya is the Aramaic form of Talib. Says Rabbi Naor, "Clearly this is unsatisfactory." "As any student of Aramaic knows, ‘Talibaya’ is a plural form." Rabbi Naor’s solution? The rabbi suggests ‘Talibaya’ is a reference to the Taliban, the plural form of the Persian word ‘Talib’ (student). And who is the son of the Talibs who has taken flight? Rabbi Naor suggests it may refer figuratively to Osama bin Laden, the protégé of the Taliban.

"The Prophecy of the Child in its entirety (all five prophecies) reads like a great saga of Islamic civilization and its interface with Judaic civilization, culminating in a messianic denouement," concludes Rabbi Naor. He adds that some of the greatest hasidic rebbes placed great stock in the Prophecy of the Child. For one, the Zemah Zedek, Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Lubavitch (1789-1866) vouched for its veracity.

Bezalel Naor plans to discuss this and other ancient kabbalistic prophecies in a forthcoming work. Stay tuned.


http://www.orot.com/talib_prophecy.html

[Yankel Nosson]

UPDATE ON TALIBAN PROPHECY
by Bezalel Naor

Of course, we now know in hindsight that the prophecy concerning Osama bin Laden was completely accurate. The 'son of the Talibs,' i.e. the protégé of the Taliban, Osama bin Laden did escape as predicted in the Prophecy of the Child (Nebu'at ha-Yeled). Osama bin Laden has simply dropped out of sight. In President Bush's State of the Union Address in January there was no longer any mention of capturing Osama.

There is an interesting postscript to the events of the war in Afghanistan. In December of 2001 the last stronghold of the Taliban in Afghanistan was a mountain fortress by the name of Tora Bora (Pushtun for 'Black Widow'). As is well known, Tora Bora fell to the Allied forces consisting primarily of American and Northern Alliance fighters. The Taliban who survived the assault on Tora Bora were taken captive.

Could the events described be summed up more eloquently than they are in the fourth prophecy of Nebu'at ha-Yeled?

Zahayyan li-qatla,
ve-khol yomeihon be-tiltula,
ruheihon kad natla,
shultanhon batla.

Hashvan le-mihalkha,
li-medinat malka,
le-hu leit arkha,
mi-kasyuta be-hon 'arkha.

Tor Tabor mitkanshin,
ve-taman tayyshin,
kula be-hon mayyshin,
di-le-khula havvan bishin.

They were proud to kill,
And all their days were in movement;
When their spirit soared,
Their rule was over.

They thought to go
To the land of the king;
For them there is no reprieve
From the slaughter arranged for them.

At Tor Tabor they gather,
And there they are defeated;
All attack them
For to all they were bad.

There is no doubt that Tor Tabor is an allusion to Tora Bora. Tur is the Aramaic word for mountain; tabor means strong. Thus there is conveyed the sense of a mountain fastness. This much was gleaned already by Rabbi Abraham ben Eliezer Halevi who penned his commentary to Nebu'at ha-Yeled in 1517. Little could the rabbi have dreamed that without recourse to the Aramaic meaning of the words, Tor Tabor would be a pun on the the actual name of the site! Tor Tabor is a child's rhyme for Tora Bora.

This is an instance of 'prophetic license.' The great medieval exegete RaSHI (Rabbi Solomon Yizhaki of Troyes, France) writes in his commentary to Isaiah 5:7 that divine inspiration (ru'ah ha-qodesh) sometimes takes the form of pun in the mouth of the prophet.


http://www.orot.com/taliban2.html

[Yankel Nosson]

I should probably wait for a sharp denunciation from the purists, but let me save them from embarassment:

[Yankel Nosson]

Purchased a sefer containing Nevuas HaYeled with the elaborate peirush by R' Abraham ben Eliezer Halevi. Very interesting.

[wannabe]

Fascinating!

About the ha'orah in the sicha: The Rebbe is saying there that it is possible that on the day that Moshiach is born, he is already able to fulfill his function as moshion. For this (that a small child will be able to do things leosid lovoy) the Rebbe brings an example from the dor hamabul, and from nevuas hayeled.

The question is - The fact that small children will have nevuah le'osid lovoy seems to be a clear Possuk "venibu b'neichem ubnoiseichem". What does nevuas hayeled show more than that?

Two possibilities: 1) The Rebbe is trying to bring an example of something that actually took place (like the example of dor hamabul). However it is difficult for me to accept that that would be better than a clear possuk.
2) That bneichem ubnoiseichem can refer to older children (although the tanchumah at the end of b'haaloscho seems to apply it to everyone?), and the Rebbe once to bring an example of nevuah by a newborn. This brings me to the question - exactly how old or young was that child (in the article he's reffered to as an infant)?

[Torah613]

A posuk can be explained in a way that isn't literal. An actual story can't.

[wannabe]

I find it difficult to accept that answer in this case, because in this case the Possuk does seem to be taken literally (besides the tanchuma that I mentioned, which you'll say is no proof because it's a medrash, look - for example - in Liku"s chelek 31 tetzaveh about eifod bod sif 7, where the Rebbe interpets the Possuk literally in the context of a purely halachik discussion (and as a basis for a halachik question), and look also in the Rambam Iggeres teimon that the Rebbe quotes in the sicha of Shoftim '51, that takes it literally).

I find it difficult to say that the Rebbe will leave out a proof from a clear Possuk (not even as a 2nd proof) that is meant literal, just because pesukim aren't always literal.

[Yankel Nosson]

http://www.haoros.com/Archive/?kovetz=827&Cat=7&haoro=3

"ד-י"ט כסלו - ש"פ וישלח - תשס"ב
חסידות
הערות קצרות - בספר החקירה
הרב אהרן חיטריק
תושב השכונה

בספר "החקירה" לכ"ק הצ"צ (דף נ, א), כותב הצ"צ, בענין ריבוי המופתים, אפילו בדורות האחרונים "כמו המגיד להב"י (ונבואת הילד) דבר הפלא".

ענין "נבואת הילד" - זהו קונטרס קטן, ופתיחתו היא - "נבואת הילד, משנת תל"ב לחורבן בית שני", שם הילד נחמן קטופא

החיד"א בשם הגדולים, מערכת ספרים ערך "נבואת הילד", כתב, שרבינו אברהם הלוי חיברו, ובסדר הדורות שנת ד"א רמ"ה כתב, שהיה בזמן רבנן סבוראי

הקונטרס, נדפס לרוב, בסוף ספר הקבלה "נגיד ומצווה" לרבינו יעקב צמח, שהיה מתלמידי האריז"ל. אף שקונטרס זה אינו שייך להספר הנ"ל. ובדפוס ליוורנו תקנב נדפס על כמה עמודים "נגיד ומצווה"

וצריך להבין, למה הצ"צ כתב דוקא תי' "ונבואת הילד" בסוגרים, וכן, למה מזכירו אחר המגיד להבית יוסף. האם הוא מרמז משהו

[DW Duke]

Specificity, precision and detail. May an utterance be applied to millions of situations thereby rendering it meaningless or is it clearly applicable to one?