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: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] oral Torah
  • Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 15:54:25 +0200

Dear Harold,

Your perfectly valid comments below are all besides the point, and basically are the same points raised by the Sadducees, Karites and other groups within Judaism, that eventually ended up in the margins. However, unlike Shoshanna, instead of simply making assertations of faith, I'm trying to give us some historical perspective.

Rabbinic Judaism was basically the great "democritizer" of Judaism. The Priests claimed that their authority was hereditory, based on their descent from Aaron. As long as the Temple was at the center of Jewish life, they had an unassailable position of power. However, with the emergence of the synagogue, which became Judaism's lifeline in the post-Temple era, the Priests had no special claim to authority. After all, they had been preaching since Deuteronomy that the Jerusalem Temple was the only place in which the sacrificial cult was valid. Well, since there was no more Temple, it was now someone else's turn.

In principle, anyone can become a prophet, but as scripture became cannonized, the list of "true prophets" closed. Tradition considers Malachi, a.k.a. Ezra (and yes, I know that there's no scriptual basis for that identification!) be have been the last prophet. Malachi, of course, predicted the return of Elijah, but until that happens, prophecy is closed. Of course, there are still individuals who are "inspired", but that's not the same.

Which leaves the rabbis/scribes/elders. Anybody can become a rabbi, but he has to study and pass his exams. Moses "ordained" the first group of 70, led by Joshua. This "ordination" is called "smikhah", which means "laening [the hands]", which is what Moses did to Joshua. The rabbis' tradition is that all future rabbis can trace their "smikhah" back to Moses.

You ask, where is all this in scripture? Well, it's not spelled out, hence "oral". But there are hints. For example, Deut. 13. Please note: in the English, this chapter begins by warning us that if there should arise a prophet who tells us to change the Law, he is not to be believed, because the Law is immutable. The MT, however, begins one verse before (12:32 in the English) - "Whatever I tell you to do, don't add and don't detract". In the Hebrew, this is not the ending of chapter 12, but the begining of chapter 13.

Or go to Deut. 16:18, which is the begining of the Sedrah Shophtim. "Judges and officers you shall make in all your gates" - none of which have to be priests! So the actuall keeping of the Law is not given to the Priests! And then there's 17:8 ff. - if you have a question, come to the Priests, the Levites AND the judges...

The point of all of which is that the scribes/rabbis/elders, also the Pharisees, considered their authority, based on knowledge and learning, to be greater than that of the Priests. They traced their authority back to Moshe rabbeinu, "Moses our Rabbi" - the first and greatest of them all. From a historical point of view, the won - and shaped Judaism in their image.

Yigal




----- Original Message ----- From: "Harold Holmyard" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, June 23, 2006 2:09 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] oral Torah


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

_______________________________________________
b-hebrew mailing list
b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page