Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] oral Torah

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] oral Torah
  • Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 07:09:44 -0500

Dear Yigal,


Here's a basic difference between Christian and Jewish views. In (Rabbinic) Judaism, God is considered to have given the Law (written and Oral) once, at Sinai (of course, this was an ongoing process which took 38 years). In his omniscient wisdom, God made His Torah such, that it would have solutions for any possible situation "built in", so that the Torah would NEVER have to be "ammended".


HH: I want to clarify that this is not strictly a Jewish-Christian issue, because the Roman Catholic Christians have a similar view to the mainstream Jewish view. It is a claim that tradition is equally authoritative as the written word.

A major componant of the Oral Torah is the "codes" by which the Torah itself is to be interpreted, and these were passed down from Moses to Joshua and on to the elders, the members of the Great Assembly, and from them to what we now call "rabbis".


HH: Is there anything internal to the Scriptures that would indicate the existence of these codes? I can think of nothing offhand.


Both preists and prophets are outside this "chain of command".


HH: Then there is no chain of command, is there, for who else is there besides priests and prophets who are God- ordained? The "scribes" are not God-ordained as a special authority-bearing group outside the priests and prophets. If there is such a chain of command, the Law itself ought to instruct us of that fact.

The function of Priests, that is, decsendants of Aaron, is to perform the perscribed rituals in the Temple.


HH: The function of priests was also to teach and to judge. You are greatly circumscribing the role of priests.

The function of Prophets, that is, people who receive "direct" messages from God, is to warn the people of their transgressions or to give them hope for the future, NOT to interpret the Law.
Of course, there were individuals who were either both priest and prophet, priest and rabbi, or prophet and rabbi. Ezra was all three, which gives him a lot of clout in Jewish tradition. But the functions themselves are seperate.
The Talmud recounts several stories of rabbis discussing a point of Law, when suddenly either a heavenly voice or a prophet (even Elijah!) appeared and gave "God"'s view on the matter, to which the rabbis replied "It [the Law] is not in heaven" (Deut. 30:12) - once the Torah was given to us, we have sole authority over its interpretation.


HH: The rabbis, as a group distinct from prophets and priests, have no special God-given authority that I can recall from Scripture. I certainly don't see any "chain of command" in Scripture. There are the "wise men" in Scripture, but these are a group that culturally functioned in every nation, simply those looked to as wise. There are the elders, who were heads of the various families. That is certainly a divinely-approved position of authority, but it is based in culture and family and gives no special authority in the handling of Scripture.

Of course, historically speaking, this interpretation has not been held by all Jews throughhout history. The Sadducees, who were mostly priests, both denied the authority of the Oral Torah and of the rabbis who considered themselves to be its stewards. But this has become the "mainstream" view of post-Destruction Rabbinic Judaism.


HH: Thanks.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page