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Oral Law - Mishna & Talmud

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ASK U. - The Kollel Institute Foundations of Judaism: Oral Law - Mishna & Talmud A. Oral Law All the commandments that were given to Moshe at Sinai were given together with their interpretation, as it is written “and I will give thee the Tables of Stone, and the Law, and the Commandment” (Exodus 24,12). “Law” is the Written Law; and “Commandment” is its interpretation: We were commanded to fulfi ll the Law, according to the Commandment. And this Commandment is what is called the Oral Law. The whole of the Law was written down by Moshe Our Teacher before his death, in his own hand. He gave a scroll of the Law to each tribe; and he put another scroll in the Ark for a witness, as it is written “take this book of the Law, and put it by the side of the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee” (Deuteronomy 31,26). But the Commandment, which is the interpretation of the Law--he did not write it down, but gave orders concerning it to the elders, to Yehoshua, and to all the rest of Israel, as it is written “all this word which I command you, that shall you observe to do . .” (Deuteronomy 13,1). For this reason, it is called the Oral Law. Maimonides - Introduction to ‘Mishne Torah’ - (all futher unattributed citations are from this source) 1. “An eye for an Eye” - This refers to monetary compensation Bava Kamma 84a 2. It shall be an eternal commandment for you. In the seventh month, on the tenth day, you shall affl ict your souls and no manner of work shall be done... Leviticus 16:29 3. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the L-rd, your G-d; you shall not do any work... Exodus 20:9 4. If the place that the L-rd, your G-d will choose to place His Name will be far from you, you may slaughter from your cattle and your fl ocks that the L-rd has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat in your cities according to your hearts desire Deutoronomy 12:21 B. Oral Transmission (331 BCE - 188 BCE) 1. Although the Oral Law was not written down, Moshe Our Teacher taught all of it in his court to the seventy elders; and El`azar, Pinehas, and Yehoshua, all three received it from Moshe. And to his student Yehoshua, Moshe Our Teacher passed on the Oral Law and ordered him concerning it. And so Yehoshua throughout his life taught it orally. Maimonides - Introduction to ‘Mishne Torah’ 2. Moses received the Torah at Sinai and trasmitted to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, the elders to the prophets, the prophets transmitted it to the men of the great assembly... Mishna Pirkei Avot 1:1 C. The Mishnah (188 CE) Our Holy Teacher (Rabbi Yehuda HaNassi - Rabbi Judah ‘the prince’) wrote the Mishnah. From the time of Moshe to Our Holy Teacher, no one had written a work from which the Oral Law was publicly taught. Rather, in each generation, the head of the then existing court or the prophet of the time wrote 1 ASK U. - The Kollel Institute Foundations of Judaism: Oral Law - Mishna & Talmud down for his private use notes on the traditions he had heard from his teachers, and he taught in public from memory. So too, everyone wrote down according to his ability parts of the explanation of the Torah and of its laws he heard, as well as the new matters that developed in each generation, which had not been received by oral tradition, but had been deduced by applying the Thirteen Principles for Interpreting the Torah, and had been agreed upon by the Great Rabbinical Court. Such had always been done, until the time of Our Holy Teacher. Why did Our Holy Teacher do so, and did not leave things as they were? Because he saw that the number of students was continuing to go down, calamities were continually happening, wicked government was extending its domain and increasing in power, and the Israelites were wandering and emigrating to remote places. He thus wrote a work to serve as a handbook for all, so that it could be rapidly studied and would not be forgotten; throughout his life, he and his court continued giving public instruction in the Mishnah. He gathered together all the traditions, all the enactments, and all the explanations and interpretations that had been heard from Moshe Our Teacher or had been deduced by the courts of all the generations in all matters of the Torah; and he wrote the Book of the Mishnah from all of them. And he taught it in public, and it became known to all Israel; everyone wrote it down and taught it everywhere, so that the Oral Law would not be forgotten by Israel. 1. Those who study Mishna bring destruction upon the world. How can it occur to you to say that they bring destruction upon the world?! Rabina said: Because they decide points of law from their teachings. Talmud Sotah 22a 2. A valuation of money. Money’s worth. In the presence of the court. On the evidence of witnesses who are free men and persons under the jurisdiction of the law. Women are also subject to the law of torts. [Both] the plaintiff and defendant are involved in the payment. Bava Kamma - Mishna 1:3 D. Beraisa Rav wrote the Sifra and the Sifre to explain and expound the principles of the Mishnah, and Rabbi Hiyya wrote the Tosefta to explain the matters of the Mishnah. So too, Rabbi Hoshaya and bar Qappara wrote alternative oral traditions to explain the text of the Mishnah. Rabbi Yohanan wrote the Jerusalem Talmud in the Land of Israel about three hundred years after the destruction of the Temple. The Mishnah scholars wrote other works to interpret the words of the Torah: Rabbi Hoshayah, a student of Our Holy Teacher, wrote an explanation of the Book of Genesis. Rabbi Yishmael wrote a commentary [on the Biblical text] from the beginning of the book of Exodus to the end of the Torah, which is called the Mechilta; and Rabbi Aqivah also wrote a Mechilta. Other Torah scholars later wrote collections of sermonic materials on the Bible. All these were written before the Babylonian Talmud. E. Aggadic Midrash ...Other Torah scholars later wrote collections of sermonic materials on the Bible. 1. And the third class [of thinkers]... are the individuals who have a clear conception of the greatness of the Sages and the excellence of their intellect…They know that the Sages, peace be upon them, did not speak words of nonsense. It is also clear to them that heir words have both superfi cial and deeper meanings and that all of their statements which speak of impossibilities were said in the manner of riddle and parable, for this is the method of the great Sages. Maimonides Commentary to the Mishna, Sanhedrin Chapter 10 2 ASK U. - The Kollel Institute Foundations of Judaism: Oral Law - Mishna & Talmud 2. Said Rabba bar Bar Channah: Once I saw a frog that was as big as the city of Hegronia. And how big is the city of Hegronia? Sixty houses. A serpent came and swallowed the frog and then a raven came and swallowed the serpent. It fl ew up and sat on a tree. Consider how strong that tree was! Said Rav pappa Bar Shmuel: “Had I not been there myself I would never have believed it Talmud Bava Basra 73b 3. When the earth was astonishingly empty, with darkness upon the face of the deep (Genesis 1:2). Rabbi Shimon interpreted this verse as referring to the four kingdoms that took Israel into exile. The word “empty” refers to Babylon, as it is written, I have seen the land and behold it is empty (Jeremiah 14); “astonishingly” refers to Persia, as it is written, and they made extreme haste; and the word “darkness” refers to Greece, who darkened the eyes of Israel with their edicts, because they said to them “write on the horns of the ox that you have no share in the God of Israel...” “And the spirit of G-d hovered”: this alludes to the spirit of Messiah, as we read, “And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him” (Isa. 11:2) Genesis Rabba 2:4 4. You should know that we have three kinds of books. The fi rst is the Torah, and all of us believe in it with perfect faith. The second is what is called the Talmud, which is a commentary on the commandments of the Torah. There are 613 commandments in the Torah, and there is not which is not explained in the Talmud. We believe in the Talmud’s explanations of the commandments.. We have a third [kind of] book called Midrash, meaning ‘sermons’. It is just as if the bishop would rise and deliver a sermon, and one of the listeners who was pleased by the sermon recorded it. With regard to this boo, if one believes in it, it is fi ne, but if one does not believe in it, he is not harmed [spiritually]. Nachmanides - The Disputation at Barcelona (Paragraph 39) F. Rabbinic Decrees From them are also found the restrictive legislations enacted by the Torah scholars and prophets in each generation, to serve as a protecting fence around the Law as learned from Moshe in the interpretation of “you shall keep my preventive measure” (Leviticus 18,30), which said take preventive measures to preserve my preventive measure.
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