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Podcast: The Great Sources with Rabbi Shnayor Burton
Episode: S1, E10 The Holy Tongue, Prayer and Prophecy
Description: What is the essence of lashon hakodesh? Why is it inextricably linked with prophecy and prayer?
Chazal hint that perfect knowledge depends on words. With the correct words for things, we have proper mental representation and accurate knowledge: we know what the world really is like from Hashem's perspective, and we can affect it through word, through prayer. That is the holy tongue of the prophets who gave us images of reality. The 70 languages, on the other hand, are 70 ways to misrepresent reality.Â
With true word came prophecy and the power of prayer; when the er...