Sage Insight on the Oral Torah

(5) inasmuch as Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge: My commandments, My laws, and My teachings [lit. My Torahs].”

Rav said, and some say Rav Ashi said: Abraham our Patriarch fulfilled the entire Torah, even the mitzva of the joining of cooked foods, a rabbinic ordinance instituted later, as it is stated: My Torahs. Since the term is in the plural, it indicates that Abraham kept two Torahs; one, the Written Torah, and one, the Oral Torah. In the course of fulfilling the Oral Torah, he fulfilled all the details and parameters included therein.

(21) If the place where HASHEM has chosen to establish the divine name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of the cattle or sheep that HASHEM gives you, as I have instructed you; and you may eat to your heart’s content in your settlements.

(22) Nor shall you carry out burdens from your houses on the sabbath day, or do any work, but you shall hallow the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.

(7) They poured for the leader of the seder the third cup of wine, and he recites the blessing over his food, Grace After Meals. Next, they pour him the fourth cup. He completes hallel over it, as he already recited the first part of hallel before the meal. And he also recites the blessing of the song at the end of hallel over the fourth cup. During the period between these cups, i.e., the first three cups established by the Sages, if one wishes to drink more he may drink; however, between the third cup and the fourth cup one should not drink.

(12) HASHEM said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and wait there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the Torah [shebikhtav] and the mitzvah [Torah shebe'al Peh] which I have inscribed to instruct them.”

(5) On the other side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this Teaching. He said:

(3) Hillel says: “A hin full of drawn water renders the mikweh unfit.” (However, man must speak in the language of his teacher.) And Shammai says: “Nine kavs.” But the Sages say: “Neither according to the opinion of this one nor according to the opinion of this one;” But when two weavers from the dung-gate which is in Jerusalem came and testified in the name of Shemaiah and Avtalion, “Three logs of drawn water render the mikweh unfit,” the Sages confirmed their statement.

(5) The Gemara asks: What difference does it make whether Rav said taste or eat? The Gemara explains that there is no difference and that Rav Safra’s insistence teaches that one must say what he was taught in the precise language employed by his teacher without altering a single detail.

(7) The Gemara asks: If so, that is the same as our tradition, that in Rabbi Yoḥanan’s opinion the firstborn that were born in the wilderness were sanctified, and in Reish Lakish’s opinion they were not. For what purpose, then, did Rav Mordekhai inform Rav Ashi of his alternative version of the dispute? The Gemara answers that it teaches us that a person must say what he was taught in the precise language employed by his teacher.

(11) You shall act in accordance with the instructions [lit. Torah] given you and the ruling handed down [lit. which is said] to you; you must not deviate from the verdict that they announce to you either to the right or to the left.

The Sages taught: There was an incident involving one gentile who came before Shammai. The gentile said to Shammai: How many Torahs do you have? He said to him: Two, the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. The gentile said to him: With regard to the Written Torah, I believe you, but with regard to the Oral Torah, I do not believe you. Convert me on condition that you will teach me only the Written Torah. Shammai scolded him and cast him out with reprimand. The same gentile came before Hillel, who converted him and began teaching him Torah. On the first day, he showed him the letters of the alphabet and said to him: Alef, bet, gimmel, dalet. The next day he reversed the order of the letters and told him that an alef is a tav and so on. The convert said to him: But yesterday you did not tell me that. Hillel said to him: You see that it is impossible to learn what is written without relying on an oral tradition. Didn’t you rely on me? Therefore, you should also rely on me with regard to the matter of the Oral Torah, and accept the interpretations that it contains.

(11) ...A Persian once came to Shmuel and asked him, `Teach me Torah.' Shmuel showed him an alef and said, `This is an alef.' The Persian asked, `Who says that it's an alef?' Shmuel showed him a bais and said, `This is a beth.' The Persian questioned, `Who said it's a beth?' Shmuel then pulled his ear very hard. The Persian cried, `My ear, my ear!!' Shmuel then asked him, `Who says it's your ear?' `Why everyone knows that it's my ear.' Said Shmuel to him, `It is the same here, everyone knows that this is an alef and everyone knows that this is a beth.' On hearing this the Persian agreed to accept his words.

(1) Moses received the Torah [both parts - Written and Oral] at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. They said three things: Be patient in [the administration of] justice, raise many disciples and make a fence round the Torah.

(1) BY OUR MASTER MOSES BEN MAIMON OF BLESSED MEMORY
"Then should I not be ashamed, when I have regard unto all Thy Commandments". (Ps. 119.6.)
All of the commandments which were given to Moses on Sinai were given together with their oral explanation for, it is said: "And I will give thee the tables of stone, and the Torah and the commandment" (Ex. 24.12.); the Torah, is Holy Writ; and the commandment, its oral explanation. Moreover, He commanded us to observe the Torah by the word of the commandment; thus it is this commandment which is called Oral Torah.

(2) The whole Torah was written by Moses our Master, before his demise, by his own hand; and he gave a Book to each and every tribe, and one Book he deposited in the Ark as testimony, even as it is said; "Take this Book of the Torah and put it by the side of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there as a witness against thee" (Deut. 32.26.);

(3) but the commandment, which is the oral explanation of the Torah, he did not reduce to writing, but he charged the Elders and Joshua and the rest of all Israel concerning its observance, even as it is said: "All the word which I command you, that shall ye observe to do" (Deut. 13.1.); therefore, is this word of the commandment called, Oral Torah.

(4) Although the Oral Torah was not reduced to writing, Moses our Master gave instructions in its full scope at his tribunal-seat, to seventy Elders. Eleazar, Phinehas and Joshua, all the three of them received it from Moses; yet, unto Joshua, because he was the disciple of Moses our Master, he transmitted the Oral Torah and charged him concerning its observance. Joshua likewise continued throughout his lifetime to study it orally;

(16) Then יהוה said to Moses, “Gather for Me seventy of Israel’s elders of whom you have experience as elders and officers of the people, and bring them to the Tent of Meeting and let them take their place there with you. (17) I will come down and speak with you there, and I will draw upon the spirit that is on you and put it upon them; they shall share the burden of the people with you, and you shall not bear it alone.

(7) Rabbi Joshua said: I have received a tradition from Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, who heard it from his teacher, and his teacher [heard it] from his teacher, as a halakhah [given] to Moses from Sinai, that Elijah will not come to pronounce unclean or to pronounce clean, to put away or to bring near, but to put away those brought near by force and to bring near those put away by force....

The Pharisees had passed on to the people certain regulations handed down by previous generations, but not written down in the Law of Moses. For this they were rejected by the Sadducee party.

With regard to Torah study while standing, the Sages taught: From the days of Moses until the time of Rabban Gamliel, they would study Torah only while standing, as learning from one’s teacher is comparable to receiving the Torah at Sinai, during which the Jewish people stood. When Rabban Gamliel died, weakness descended to the world, and they would study Torah while sitting. And this is as we learned in a mishna (Sota 49a): When Rabban Gamliel died, honor for the Torah ceased, as standing while learning is an expression of honor for the Torah. The Gemara points out an apparent contradiction with regard to this very issue. One verse says: “And I sat [va’eshev] on the mount” (Deuteronomy 9:9), and another verse says: “And I stood on the mount” (Deuteronomy 10:10). The Gemara cites several possible resolutions. Rav said: Moses would stand and learn the Torah from God, and then sit and review what he had learned. Rabbi Ḥanina said: Moses was not standing or sitting, but rather bowing. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The term yeshiva is nothing more than an expression of remaining in one place, as it is stated: “And you dwelled [vateshvu] in Kadesh for many days” (Deuteronomy 1:46). Rava said: Moses studied easy material while standing and difficult material while sitting.

(22) Ben Bag Bag said: Turn it over, and [again] turn it over, for all is therein. And look into it; And become gray and old therein; And do not move away from it, for you have no better portion than it.