The Hypostatic Ruah ha-Qodesh — the Holy Spirit — in Classical Rabbinic Literature

Hypostatic ruah ha-Qodesh is a unique figure in classical rabbinic literature, i.e., the tannaitic documents, viz., Mishnah, Tosefta and halakhic midrashim; and the post-tannaitic ouvre, including the two Talmuds, and Palestinian midrashic literature produced in the 5^th century CE. Ruah ha-Qodesh is unique because it behaves differently than the Holy Spirit in other Jewish works. It is highly artificial, a dramatized persona.

Hypostatic Ruah ha-Qodesh is not a logos figure because it does not represent wisdom or knowledge, but rather verbal revelation. It is true that rabbinic Ruah ha-Qodesh can also be involved in the inspiration and inculcation of wisdom. When someone intuits or grasps a recondite or exceedingly difficult matter, it can be ascribed to inspiration by Ruah ha-Qodesh. Similar to this is the process in which an oracle or some form of ecstatic state is communicated through ruah ha-qodesh to a prophetic figure.

The aspects of ruah ha-qodesh on which this lecture is focused, consist of a divine hypostasis that declaims Scripture. This Ruah ha-Qodesh is an artificial divine persona who (re)cites Scripture in new settings. This can occur in a sippur darshani — exegetical narrative —which incorporates a verse for dramatic effect. Or it may manifest in an “originary narrative setting” (my term), i.e., an attempt to recover the original situation that underlies the verse now present in the Bible. The third form is a litany-like duet with the Israelites or the Jewish people. The first two types occur during the biblical period; the third is timeless.