According to traditional Judaism, when God gave Moses the written Torah on Mount Sinai, He also gave him an oral Torah, which contains explanations of the written Torah, along with principles of interpretation through which the Written Law can be understood. Moses then allegedly passed this Oral Law on to Joshua, who then passed it on to the elders of the next generation, then to the prophets, then to the leaders of what is called the Great Assembly (beginning in Ezra’s day), then to specific pairs of leaders in the centuries before Jesus and then to whole generations of leaders in the subsequent centuries. (For the classic rabbinic formulation, see m. Avot chap. 1.)
Why was there a need for an Oral Law? The rabbis would say that without further oral explanation, many, if not all, of the biblical commandments are unintelligible. For example, God commanded the Israelites not to work on the Sabbath, with a death penalty legislated against those who broke the commandment. But nowhere does the Torah define exactly what constitutes work. How then could there be a death penalty for violation of an unclear commandment? According to traditional Judaism, God gave further explanation to Moses in the Oral Law, detailing the so-called 39 subdivisions of labor that were prohibited on the Sabbath.[27]
Another example of an allegedly unclear commandment is found in Deuteronomy 6:6–9, where Moses said to Israel:
These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
What, exactly, does it mean to “tie [the commandments] as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads”? What does it mean to “write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates”? The rabbis claim to have the explanation for this as well, interpreting these verses literally with reference to phylacteries and the mezuzah (see #20 and #21).
Dozens of other examples could be given, but the pattern is the same: Traditional Judaism claims that the Written Law cannot be understood without the Oral Law.
Why then is there little or no direct evidence in the Scriptures for this Oral Law? The rabbis would say that direct evidence is unnecessary, since there has been an unbroken chain of transmission through the generations—from Sinai until this day—and so there is no doubt about the reliability of the traditions. And, they would argue, an oral tradition is presupposed throughout the Hebrew Scriptures.
“But,” you might protest, “is it not true that God based His covenant with Israel on the written Word?” (see Exodus 24:3–8; 34:27, among many other verses). The rabbis would agree with this statement to an extent, but they would emphasize that without the oral traditions, the written covenant cannot be understood. They would therefore state emphatically that there had to be an Oral Law in order for the written covenant to have been binding and applicable, both in ancient Israel and to this day. They would also argue that since the Oral Law was unwritten, one should not expect to find direct evidence of an unwritten law in written texts! (Does this sound slightly circular?)[28]
According to traditional Jews, it is the Oral Law that separates them from other religious faiths that also claim the Hebrew Bible as sacred Scripture—specifically, Christians—and it is the Oral Law that is especially beloved. As explained by Dr. Immanuel Jakobovitz, former Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom:
When our Sages asserted that “the Holy One, Blessed be He, did not make His covenant with Israel except by virtue of the Oral Law” (Gittin 60B), they not only propounded a cardinal Jewish belief, they also expressed a truth as evident today as it was in Talmudic times. The true character of Judaism cannot be appreciated except by an intimate acquaintance with the Oral Law. The Written Law, that is the Five Books of Moses, and even the rest of the Hebrew Bible, we share with other faiths. What makes us and our faith distinct and unique is the oral tradition as the authentic key to an understanding of the written text we call the Torah.[29]
Simply stated, there is no traditional Judaism without the traditions and no rabbinic Judaism without the rabbis.
Now, there is no reason to deny that traditions existed and developed in the life of ancient Israel—in fact, that is taken for granted and there is ample evidence to support this—but it is another thing entirely to argue that these traditions were divinely inspired, that they were given by God on Mount Sinai and that they were handed down in unbroken, authoritative form through the generations. That is a theory accepted only by Orthodox Jews. In fact, it is only ultra-Orthodox Jews who accept this concept in its literal totality.
What is ironic is that, eventually, the oral traditions were put in writing, and it is in their written form that they have been preserved. What makes this all the more ironic is that the Talmud stated that the written Torah was not to be transmitted orally and the oral Torah was not to be transmitted in writing (b. Gittin 60b). Nonetheless, as the oral traditions grew and as the living conditions of the Jewish people became more difficult—including persecution and dispersion—it was inevitable that these oral traditions were put into writing, and thus the Oral Law has been preserved through books. Orthodox Jews, however, would emphasize that even though the oral traditions have been put in writing for the last 1,800 years—and they continue to be put in writing—it is only in the context of a living community that these traditions can be fully experienced and understood, hence the need for ongoing oral instruction, explanation and example.
The many books of the Oral Law (see #7) contain discussion and amplification of the Torah laws; legal deliberations; new laws, customs and enactments; commentaries on the Torah and other portions of Scripture; folklore, parables, stories; and everything else that relates to virtually all aspects of Jewish life—all grounded in a rabbinic perspective.
According to traditional Jews, during the last two to three centuries b.c., the primary transmitters of the Oral Law were called the zugot, or “pairs,” referring to two prominent leaders in each generation. They were followed by the Tannaim, who lived in the first two centuries of this era (the singular Tanna means “repeater” or “teacher”; these teachers transmitted the primary traditions that were being passed down and developed). These were followed by the Amoraim, who lived in the third to fifth centuries (Amora means “sayer”; these teachers continued to develop the traditions and sought to integrate them further with the biblical text). Next were the Saboraim in the sixth century (Sabora means “reasoner”; these men were the final editors of the Babylonian Talmud). From the seventh to the tenth centuries were the Gaonim (referring to the leaders of the Babylonian academies); next were the Rishonim, in the eleventh to fifteenth centuries. (The term Rishonim literally means “earlier ones,” who were responsible for the major biblical and Talmudic commentaries, along with the development of the law codes.) From the sixteenth century until today are the Achronim (literally, “later ones,” in contrast with the Rishonim).
Traditional Jews believe that, generally speaking, there is a spiritual decline in every century, since each new generation stands at a further distance from the revelation at Sinai, as stated in the Talmud, “If the former generation was like angels, we are like men; if they were like men, we are like donkeys” (b. Shabbat 112b). This means that an interpretation, ruling or custom that was established by a previous generation—especially from the generation of the Tannaim or Amoraim—becomes virtually sacrosanct in the following generations.