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  • From: Shoshanna Walker <rosewalk AT concentric.net>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] oral Torah
  • Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 09:12:08 -0500


G-d told Moshe to choose 70 men, who, together with him would be the first Sanhedrin, and told Israel that they had authority. I don't remember by heart the description of their requirements, but they certainly had to be "wise men" and versed in Torah law.

Shoshanna





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

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  • Re: [b-hebrew] oral Torah, Shoshanna Walker, 06/23/2006

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