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

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>
  • To: Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] oral law
  • Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 16:50:09 +0100

On 23/06/2006 16:39, Yitzhak Sapir wrote:
...

The claim that there is no oral law is just as external to the Torah/Bible
as the claim that there is. More to the point, and without identifying
the oral law as the Mishna/Talmud, it is very likely that there is an oral
law, simply because any code of law that is written is written in a certain
context, and further generations must interpret that law to allow new
situations to be addressed. While something may have seemed clear
to the author of the law, it may not be so clear to its practitioners several
generations hence. All of this creates the background whereby any code
of law that is written down, has along with it, associated understandings
that are not written down, and also must be interpreted continuously in
further generations.

As a Christian I would not dispute the existence of oral law. It is clear (not least from the New Testament) that a body of traditional interpretation and application of the laws in the Torah had built up by the Second Temple period, and continued to build through the Talmud, Rashi etc to the present day. What I would dispute is the proposition that this body goes back to the time of Moses. Some of it might, but it seems likely to me that at least the majority of it dates from much later, no earlier than the approximate time of Ezra when the Jewish community reestablished itself in the Land and concentrated on distinguishing itself from the surrounding nations. It was this body of traditional interpretations which was criticised by Jesus, especially in cases where it could be seen to contradict the original intention of the Torah, which Jesus summarised as love for God and love for one's neighbour.

--
Peter Kirk
E-mail: peter AT qaya.org
Blog: http://speakertruth.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.qaya.org/





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