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7.10.2006

TORAH SHEBALPEH------indispensable

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The Oral Torah - Torah shebal peh - was given at the exact same time as the written Torah (Torah shebiksav). The Oral Torah is the explanation of the Written Law. Without the Oral Law, the Written Law, simply put, makes no sense.

This, among other reasons, is why other religions, such as Christianity, Islam, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist "Judaism", and Jews for Jesus will never have any serious basis for their religious beliefs, since they all attempt the impossible: To base a religion on the Written Law only, to the exclusion of the Oral Law. That’s impossible, since without the Oral Law, the Written Law is meaningless. It is clear as day from the Written Torah that an Oral Torah goes along with it.

Example: "In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy assembly, all actions of work you shall not do; a day of blowing it shall be for you" (Bamidbar 29:1).

Ookay. Now, just based on this written verse, what in the world does this mean?

Proclaim a holy day, abstain from work, blow the shofar -- why? What is the meaning of this holiday? What is it in honor of? Do you think G-d told them to celebrate without telling them what it is they are celebrating?

Don’t you think G-d explained this to Moshe?

In Shemos 23:15 we read: "The festival of Matzos you should keep. Seven days you shall eat Matzos and I commanded you, in the designated time in the spring month, in which you went out of Egypt."

We understand that a "month" means the lunar month ("chodesh" - month - comes from the word "chodosh" - "new", as in new moon. The solar "month" is not really a month but a random division of the year into 12 parts with no real rhyme or reason. A solar month could have had 20 30 40 50 or 150 days - it’s just a random number).

But the problem is, the lunar year is 354 days and the solar year is 365. That means, every year, the lunar year slips 11 days behind the solar, so that this "spring month" will not be a spring month anymore in a few years, and will come out as often in the winter as it does in the summer or spring or fall (Ramadan of the Moslems comes out different times of the year because of this). So what in the world is a "spring month"??????

Don’t you think G-d explained this to Moshe? Yet there is not a peep in the Torah about what this mean or what to do when Pesach comes out in December!

"You shall afflict yourselves" (Vayikra 16:31) on Yom Kippur. How? By standing on your head? Sticking needles into your skin?

"You shall take for yourselves (on Sukkos) a good-looking fruit" (Vaiykra 23:40) - which one???

Despite the total non-committal nature of the Torah on these issues, no Jew in history ever questioned the fact that Pri Eitz Hadar means an Esrog, and affliction on Yom Kippur means fasting. Even the "Messianic Jews" who believe in Yoshka, fast on Yom Kippur! Not that they have any idea what they’re doing, but he question is, why does everyone in the world think without any disagreement that these verses refer to these particular things?

The Torah nowhere says you must fast on Yom Kippur!

And check this out: "And they shall be Totafos between your eyes" (Devarim 6:8).
What in the world are totafos? What does this word mean? It has no real translation, even.
Don’t you think that Moshe, when G-d told him this, asked "Please explain?"

All this information - and more - was given to us by G-d Himself to Moshe on Mt. Sinai, orally.

That is the Oral Law.

Without this Oral Law, the whole Torah just makes zero sense. Its clear form the Torah itself that there is Oral "notes" that accompany it.

And there is but one - and only one - version of the Orla Law in existence. Nobody - no religion, no professor, no historian - even claims in their wildest dreams that there may be another version of Torah shebal peh. It’s either the Talmud or nothing.

And clearly it’s not nothing.

You can’t forge a Torah shebal peh.It has to be a generation-to-generation tradition from Mt. Sinai down. That can’t exist unless everyone knows about it from the moment it was given - after all, its supposed be the religious authority of the entire nation. That’s why nobody could claim another Oral Law.

Besides the explanatory notes that G-0d gave moshe on Mt. Sinai, He also taught Moshe formulas for deciphering the Torah on their own. Using G-d's formulas, as well as instructions explicit in the Torah, we can find instructions in the Torah on how to deal with disagreements among the sages and other such issues.

The Torah also gives us guidelines of the authority of the sages regarding enacting decrees, the formation of customs, etc.

But you cannot take half of the Torah and leave out the other half - the Oral Law and the Written Law are one entity. Taking one without the other is like taking the odd pages of the Torah and leaving out the even. It’s either all or nothing.


Q: What was the point in both, shebaal peh and shebichsav. why didn’t hashem just make it together. why make a torah that makes no sense and you have to look up what it means. why not just straight out?



A: We needed both.

The purpose of the Oral Law being unwritten was to protect it from abuse by other religions - the way they abused Tanach by making it into the "Old Testament" etc. The Oral Law is the private connection between the Jews and G-d, and nobody else can have access to it - it’s the private relationship between us and Him.

However, one of the characteristics of the written Law is that it is "aidus" - "testimony" to the world of the events that happened - the creation of Klall Yisroel, the giving of the Torah, etc. Kind of like the official marriage documentation between us and Hashem. And as testimony, must be public and written. The Oral Law is our private relationship with G-d, but the written law is the documentation that we are His.

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