Rav
Yosef Dov HaLevi Soloveitchik, zecher tzadik l’vrakha, in the Lonely Man of
Faith, distinguishes between what he called numinous and kerygmatic
man. Though unfamiliar Latin and Greek terms,
once fleshed out they are really quite powerful categories.
Kerygmatic man is the man who possesses a kerygma, literally, a
message. He is a man of mastery and
accomplishment. He is respected for his
talents and the contributions he makes to society. He might be a scholar, a warrior, a physician,
a lawyer, even a rabbi.
Numinous
man, like his Maker resides in solitude.
His being is mysterious. He is
unknowable. His inner life is rich and
full of meaning. But his inner world is
wholly incommunicable.
There
is a beautiful midrash that compares Moshe and Bilam:
“There shall never rise up in Israel and prophet like Moshe”—in Israel,
there shall never rise up, but in the nations of the world there shall: Bilam
son of Be’or. But there is a difference
between the prophecy of Moshe and Bilam: Moshe never knew who was speaking to
him—Bilam knew, as it says, “so says the hearer of the words of G-d”; Moshe never
knew when G-d would speak to him—Bilam always knew, as it says, “the one who knows
the mind of the Lofty One”; Moshe only spoke with G-d while standing, as it
says, “you, here, stand with me”—Bilam would speak with him while fallen, as it
says, “who sees the vision of Shadai, fallen with open eyes.” To whom may he [Bilam] be compared: to the chef of the king who know how much the king spends on his meals. (Yalkut Shimoni, §966)
At
first it sounds like Bilam is greater—he knew Who was speaking to him and he knew
when He would speak to him. On the other
hand, G-d would speak to Moshe while he was awake and Bilam only when he was
asleep (I assume that is what is meant by fallen). Here is my interpretation, for what it’s
worth. Unlike Bilam, Moshe did not claim
mastery over G-d—he did not know when or even Who was speaking to him. Moshe prophesied during the day—prophecy was
part of his very being. Bilam, on the
other hand, only while sleeping—only when he was removed from his kerygmatic
self, in sleep, when room was made for his numinous self, could he experience
the prophetic spirit.
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