The Written Torah is divided into three sections: Torah, Neviim and Kesuvim.
Tanach.
The Gemara in Bava Basra (14b) lists the books of Neviim and Kesuvim in order and explains the reasoning behind some of the ordering of the sefarim, both in Neviim and Kesuvim.
However, the Gemara does not explain how chazal determined whether a sefer belonged in Neviim or Kesuvim. What was the criteria to determine that?
At first glance, one would say that Neviim are sefarim containing prophecies while Kesuvim are sefarim that were written with ruach hakodesh but weren’t necessarily prophecies. For example, Tehillim and Mishlei.
The one apparent exception is the sefer of Daniel.
Daniel, which is a sefer in Kesuvim, contains interactions with malachim and prophecies, including prophecies about the End of Days – the ketz hayamin. Why is Daniel in Kesuvim? Being that it contains prophecies, shouldn’t it belong in neviim?
This question is posed by the Ramban in his commentary on Bereishis. In order to understand the Ramban, we need to first analyze a Gemara in Megillah.
The Gemara in Megillah – The Ramban’s Approach
The Gemara in Megillah (3a) recounts how Daniel saw a vision in the company of three other prophets: Chaggai, Zechariah and Malachi. In that context, the Gemara explains that while Chaggai, Zechariah and Malachi were neviim, Daniel was not a navi.
Why not?
The Ramban explains that there are two levels of prophetic encounters:
There is nevuah, like the ones the great neviim had. The Avos. Moshe and Aharon. Yehoshua and Shmuel.
And then separately, there can be human interactions with malachim, either through a vision or a dream. These interactions may contain prophetic elements, but are not fully on the level of nevuah.
One example of this is Hagar’s interactions with malachim.
Hagar, Avraham’s maidservant-turned-wife, is never counted among the neviim. And yet we find that she interacted with angels and was foretold how she would have a child – Yishmael. This is an example of an interaction with malachim that isn’t quite the same as nevuah.
The Ramban notes that Daniel is also an example of this category as his prophecies were through interactions with malachim. Of course, the Ramban emphasizes that Daniel was on a greater level than Hagar and was able to interact with malachim even while awake but nonetheless, these weren’t quite on the level of nevuah and therefore, his sefer isn’t included in Neviim.
This is what the Gemara in Megillah means when it says that Chaggai, Zechari and Malachi were neviim but Daniel was not a navi.
The great gaon, the Shaa’gas Aryeh, appears to have reached the same conclusion of the Ramban on his own and uses it to explain the Gemara in Megillah. (See Turei Even, Megillah 3a)
The Approach of Rashi
Rashi seems to take a different approach.
Rashi (Megillah 3a) indicates that there was no difference between the level of Daniel’s prophecy and that of Chaggai, Zechariah and Malachi.
However, unlike Chaggai, Zechariah and Malachi, the prophecies that Daniel saw were not given with the instruction to deliver a message to klal yisrael. Only prophecies given with the instruction to be delivered to klal yisrael are considered nevuah.
This Rashi appears to be based on another Rashi on Sefer Shemos.
When Moshe Rabbeinu is going to approach Pharaoh, Hashem tells him that “Aharon achicha yihye neviacha – Aharon your brother shall act as your navi.” (Shemos 7:1)
Why is Aharon called the navi? Wasn’t Moshe the one who was interacting with Hashem?
Rashi (ibid) explains that the translation of navi is one who “announces and makes heard to the people words of rebuke.” Aharon, who was giving Moshe’s message to Pharaoh, was therefore considered Moshe’s navi. Rashi there even references the old French equivalent of the word “Preacher.”
This provides added depth to the Rashi in Megillah.
Since the definition of a navi is one who delivers messages to others, it would follow that since Daniel was not sent to give a message to others, he was therefore not called a navi.
Based on this, we can also understand why Sefer Daniel was not included in Neviim.
The 48 Neviim – Was Daniel One of Them?
The Gemara later in Megillah (14a) says that although there were many neviim, there were only 48 neviim who foretold “nevuah she’hutzrachu l’doros – prophecies that were needed for the generations.” The Gemara gives the number of 48 but doesn’t specify who these 48 were.
Rashi (ibid) compiles a list of 46 and writes that he couldn’t determine who the last two neviim were. Nonetheless, Rashi concludes that Daniel was not one of the 48 based on the Gemara earlier that Daniel was not a navi.
Rabbeinu Channanel disagrees and counts Daniel among the 48 neviim.
How? How does Rabbeinu Chananel learn the Gemara earlier that states explicitly that Daniel wasn’t a navi?
Rabbeinu Chananel may hold like the Tosfos Harosh.
The Tosfos Harosh says that the Gemara earlier in Megillah shouldn’t be taken literally. Of course, Daniel was a navi and had the full title of a navi. The Gemara only meant to say he didn’t give over messages to klal yisrael and therefore wasn’t viewed on the same level as Chaggai, Zechariah and Malachi. However, he was – of course – a navi.
The Question of R’ Yaakov Emden – What About the Avos?
R’ Yaakov Emden wonders how could the definition of nevuah be giving messages over to others – what about the Avos? They are included among the 48 neviim but their nevuah wasn’t given over to anyone? They were the only members of klal yisrael in their time?
The answer to this lies in the idea that the Avos did give over the messages they received from Hashem. They gave it over to their children – to us.
As the Gemara in Yevamos (79a) tells us, Avraham instructed us on how to do chessed and be kind – so much so that David Hamelech banned the descendents of the Givonim from marrying into klal yisrael because they demonstrated cruelty.
R’ Chaim Volozhiner writes that we learned how to have mesiras nefesh from Yitzchak who demonstrated mesiras nefesh by the Akeidah. And we learn from Yaakov how to navigate life in galus. All these were learned from our Avos – among other things.
May we be zocheh to continue to pass down these messages and ultimately see the return of true nevuah, bekarov.