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Frequently Asked Questions on Soc.Culture.Jewish
Part 3: Torah and Halachic Authority
[Last Change: $Date: 1996/06/17 19:14:31 $ $Revision: 1.3 $]
[Last Post: Tue Mar 30 11:07:24 US/Pacific 2004]
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------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: ORGANIZATION
This portion of the FAQ contains answers to the following questions:
Section 3. Torah
1. [8]What is the Written Law?
2. [9]What are the books of the Jewish Bible (Tanakh)?
3. [10]Why, in the Tanakh, does G-d have so many Names?
4. [11]Who wrote the Torah?
5. [12]What is the Oral Law?
6. [13]How was the Oral and Written Law passed down to us?
7. [14]What is the Great Assembly (Anshe Knessest HaGedolah)?
8. [15]Who are the Zugot (pairs)?
9. [16]What is the Mishna?
10. [17]What is the relationship between the Mishna and the Torah?
11. [18]What are the Orders of the Mishna?
12. [19]What is the Tosefta?
13. [20]What is the relationship between the Tosefta and the Mishna?
14. [21]What is the Gemara and what is the Talmud?
15. [22]What is the Talmud?
16. [23]What is Talmud Yerushalmi?
17. [24]What is Talmud Bavli?
18. [25]What is Rashi's commentary on the Talmud?
19. [26]What is the Tosafot?
20. [27]Who wrote the Tosafot?
21. [28]What is the relationship of the Tosefta to the Talmuds?
22. [29]What are Baraitot?
23. [30]What are the extra-canonical (minor) tractates?
24. [31]What is a Midrash?
25. [32]What are Halakhic (or Tannaitic) Midrashim?
26. [33]What are the main Halakhic Midrashim?
27. [34]What are the main Exegetical Midrashim?
28. [35]What are the main Homiletic Midrashim?
29. [36]What are the Midrashim on the Five Megillot (aka The So-Called
Rabbot)?
30. [37]What are some other important Haggadic works?
31. [38]What is the Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Creation)?
32. [39]What is Sefer haBahir, The Bahir (The Book of Illumination)?
33. [40]What is The Zohar?
34. [41]What are the Major Codes of Jewish Law?
35. [42]What is the Rif (Hilkhot of Rav Alfassi)?
36. [43]What is the Mishneh Torah (Yad Ha-Hazaqah , Sefer Mehoqeq)?
37. [44]What is the Sefer Mitzvot Gadol (The Semag)?
38. [45]What is the Arba'ah Turim (The Tur , The Four Rows)?
39. [46]What is the Shulkhan Arukh?
40. [47]What is the Hamappah of Rabbi Moshe Isserles?
41. [48]What is the Kitzur Shulkhan Arukh?
42. [49]What is the Mishnah Berurah?
43. [50]What Other Codes of Jewish Law Are Used by Non-Orthodox Jewish
Movements?
44. [51]What is the Meaning of 'All is Futile' from the beginning of
Ecclesiastes?
45. [52]What does it mean in the psalm of Habakkuk when it says that
G-d hides His power?
46. [53]What is meant by G-d's throne and the Serphim worshiping him
in Isaiah 6:1-6?
47. [54]Why is G-d referred to in the plural in the book of Genesis?
48. [55]What is the Mekhilta on Deuteronomy?
Section 4. Halachic Authority
1. [8]What is "Halacha"? How is it determined?
2. [9]Traditionally, what are the levels of halacha?
3. [10]Traditionally, what are the different rabbinic eras?
4. [11]How can differing halachic rulings all be considered valid?
5. [12]How does the Conservative movement deal with Halachic
questions?
6. [13]What is the difference between two Orthodox rabbis who
disagree and an Orthodox and a Reform who disagree?
7. [14]Who is RAMBAM that is mentioned and what are his 13
principles?
8. [15]Who was Rashi?
9. [16]Who was the Ramban?
10. [17]What is Kabbalah and how can I learn about it?
11. [18]Who is allowed to study Kabbalah?
12. [19]Who was Rabbeinu Tam?
13. [20]What are she'elot u'teshuvot?
14. [21]What is the midrash halachah and the midrash agadah?
------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Question 3.1: What is the Written Law?
Answer:
The Written Law consists of the books of the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh.
It should be noted that the term "Bible" is more commonly used by
non-Jews, as are the terms "Old Testament" and "New Testament". The
appropriate term for Jews to use for the Hebrew Bible is "Tanakh".
Tanakh is an acronym for Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim.
The Torah is also known as the Chumash, Pentateuch, or Five Books of
Moses. The word 'Torah' has the following meanings:
1. A scroll made from kosher animal parchment, with the entire text
of the Five Books of Moses written in it by a sofer [ritual
scribe]. This is the most limited definition.
2. More often, this term means the text of the Five Books of Moses,
written in any format, whether Torah scroll, paper back book,
CD-ROM, sky-writing or any other media.
Any printed version of the Torah (with or without commentary) can
be called a Chumash or Pentateuch. However, one never refers to a
Torah Scroll as a Chumash!
3. The term 'Torah' can mean the entire corpus of Jewish law! This
includes the Written and the Oral Law, which includes the Mishna,
the Midrash, the Talmud, and even later day legal commentaries.
This definition of Torah is probably the most common among
Orthodox Jews. Usually you can figure out which definition is
being used by the context.
------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Question 3.2: What are the books of the Jewish Bible (Tanakh)?
Answer:
First, note that the Bible isn't the entire corpus of what we call
"Torah"; in fact, it's the smaller piece. In traditional Jewish
thought, the Torah (in the limited sense) is "merely" lecture notes --
the minimum needed to remember or rebuild the larger body of
knowledge. The non-written part we call Oral Torah (Torah shebi'al
peh). The word Torah in the narrower sense refers to the five books of
Moses, or to a scroll that contains those books. However, this is only
because we believe that the entire Torah -- using the word in its
broadest sense -- is implied by the words of its text. That includes
not only the ideas in the Oral Torah, but also the ideas in the
prophetic and inspired works that compose the rest of the Jewish
Bible. The prophets wrote down their words to increase their impact,
not because these were innovative ideas. Tradition has it that the
text of the Torah can be simultaneously understood on 4 levels: the
simple meaning (p'shat), as mnemonics based on extra or missing
letters, gematria, acrostics, etc... (remez), through scriptural
hermeneutics (d'rash), and on a philosophical and kabbalistic level
(sowd). The acronym of these four levels is "pardeis" (orchard) and is
associated with the concept of Paradise.
Also, note that the word "Bible" is more commonly used by non-Jews, as
are the terms "old testament" and "new testament", although
"scripture" is a synonym used by both Jews and non-Jews. The
appropriate term to use is Tanakh. This word is derived from the
Hebrew letters of the three parts that make it up:
Torah:
Books of Genesis (B'reishis), Exodus (Sh'mos), Leviticus
(Vayikra), Numbers(Bamidbar), and Deuteronomy (D'varim).
N'viim (Prophets):
Books of Joshua, Judges, I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, II
Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah,
Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habukkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah,
and Malachi. (The last twelve are sometimes grouped together as
"Trei Asar." ["Twelve"])
K'Tuvim (Writings):
Books of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth,
Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel (although not all
that is included in the Christian Canon), Ezra and Nehemiah, I
Chronicles, and II Chronicles.
It should be noted that the breaking of Samuel (Shmuel), Kings
(Melachim), and Chronicles (Divrei hayamim) into two parts is strictly
an artifact of the Christian printers who first issued the books. They
were too big to be issued as single volumes. Because every one
followed these de facto standards, the titles of Volume 1 and Volume 2
were attached to the names. The division of the Tanach into chapters
was also done by medieval Christians, and only later adopted by Jews.
Many Christian Bibles have expanded versions of several of these books
(Esther, Ezra, Daniel, Jeremiah and Chronicles) including extra
material that is not accepted as canonical in Judaism. This extra
material was part of the ancient Greek translation of the Tanakh, but
was never a part of the official Hebrew Tanakh. Jews regard this extra
material as apocryphal. Among Christians, there is a difference of
opinion. Catholics regard this material as canonical, while many
Protestant sects regard this material as Apocrypha. What is and is not
regarded as Apocrypha varies among the many Christian sects. Some of
the most famous Apocryphal stories are closely associated with the
book of Daniel, and indeed are printed as part of that book in some
Christian Bibles. These stories include: Susan and the Elders, The
Song of the Three Children, and Bel and the Dragon.
There are other books mentioned in Torah. For example, Joshua 10:13
refers to a book of "Jasher". Are such books part of the Jewish canon?
No. Do they exist? There are many books on the web that claim to be
such lost books. However, there are many sites (such as
[5]http://answers.org/Bible/jasher-book-of.html that points out that
many of them are hoaxes.
------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Question 3.3: Why, in the Tanakh, does G-d have so many Names?
Answer:
Traditional Jews answer that each name represents a different aspect
of G-d, similar (l'havdil) to the way the U.S. President is known as
"President," "Commander-in-Chief," "Chief Executive," or "Mr.
So-and-so" depending upon the role he's playing at the moment.
("L'havdil" denotes that the writer acknowledges a distinction between
the sacred and the secular.)
------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Question 3.4: Who wrote the Torah?
Answer:
Ah, yet another easy question. :-)
The traditional view is that G-d gave the Jewish people the entire
Torah; hence the Torah is the word of G-d. As described above, the
Torah consists of a written and an oral portion (although much of the
oral portion is now written down). Of the written portion:
* The first five books (Pentateuch, Chumash) were dictated by G-d to
Moses, while Moses was in a conscious and aware state.
* N'viim (the Prophetic writings) were transmitted by G-d to the
prophets by various means (such as by a dream or vision) and
transcribed by the prophet in his (or her) own style and wording.
G-d communicated with all prophets (except Moses) through dreams
or visions. These writings are considered a level "below" that of
Moses. Specific laws are not derived from the Prophets, except
through examples of how a mitzvah was actually performed. There
were many more prophets in the history of Israel than are recorded
in the Neviim. See Section 12.11 [5]"Who were the prophets?"
* K'Tuvim (Sacred Writings) were the result of "Ruach HaKodesh"
(roughly: "Divine Inspiration"), which is one level below
"prophecy". Visions from the writings are more mystical and may be
complete allegory. Unlike prophecy, they do not have to come true.
The Rambam defines a number of different "levels" of prophecy
(based on the method through which the prophet received the
message and the clarity with which he/she received it) and points
out that they do not have to function on the same level at all
times. For example, many people include Daniel among the prophets
while his book is in K'Tuvim. Other examples are King David and
Tehillim or Jeremiah and Eichah (Lamentations).
The Liberal movements hold less with the notion of the Torah being the
actual word of G-d, and more with the notion of the Torah being of
divine inspiration, written in the language and context of its time:
* Conservative. The Conservative movement teaches that the Torah is
not one long quote from G-d, but rather is a human document that
was written in response G-d's revelation of himself to us at Mount
Sinai. Within the Conservative movement are basically two schools
of thought with regards to the content of Revelation:
+ Rabbi Solomon Schechter is a good example of the
traditionalists, who explicitly taught that G-d not only
revealed his existence, but G-d also presented Israel with
specific ideas and commandments, although the form in which
these were given is something beyond what language can
describe. Whether or not 'words' were used to convey ideas is
irrelevant: What is relevant is that meaning was conveyed.
Thus, the text of our Torah is a record of a human response
to the Divine commandments.
+ Rabbi Elliot Dorf is a good example of the modernists, who
explicitly teach that G-d did not reveal specific ideas or
commandments in any propositional form. Rather, G-d revealed
his existence, but did not impart any propositional content
to Moses or the later Prophets. Instead, the Torah is a
literary document that was produced as a result of Israel's
encounter with the Divine. Thus, any laws contained within it
can only be considered as semi-Divine in origin, as they do
not express G-d's will, but rather express our best attempt
at understanding what G-d wants of us.
* Reform. Reform Judaism uses the idea of progressive relevation.
The Torah may be the product of divine inspiration, but it was
written in the language and context of its time, and must be
continually reinterpreted into today's language and context.
* Reconstructionist. Reconstructionist Jews believe that the Torah
was not inspired by G-d in any way and is more the folklore of the
Jewish people, albeit a folklore that is of the greatest
importance. However, they do claim that the traditional mitzvot in
the Oral and Written law are more or less binding, but for reasons
of cultural significance only. It should be noted that some of
today's new Reconstructionist rabbis are publicly questioning this
theology, and our adopting a more traditional stance, although
this trend has not yet made any real inroads among its laity.
------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Question 3.5: What is the Oral Law?
Answer:
The Torah makes it clear that it was being transmitted side by side
with an oral tradition. Many terms and definitions used in the written
law are totally undefined. Many fundamental concepts such as shekhita
(slaughtering of animals in a kosher fashion), divorce and the rights
of the firstborn are all assumed as common knowledge by text, and are
not elaborated. Some specific examples:
* In describing the proper way to slaughter animals for food, the
Torah writes "If the place which G-d your L-rd has chosen to place
His name there will be too far from you, then you shall kill of
your herd and of your flock which G-d Lord has given you, as I
have commanded you." (Deut 12). However, the Torah doesn't record
that earlier commandment anywhere.
* When it comes to divorce -- the bible never discusses the laws
outright, they are assumed in passing in a discussion about when
remarriage would be allowed. (Deut 24:1-4)
* There is a reliance on sages for interpreting the law in Exod
18:36 and in Deut 17:8-3.
Another story related to this: R' Akiva was 40 years old before he
took an interest in Torah study. He joined a class of little children
studying the Hebrew alphabet. On the first day, the teacher taught
that such was an alef, and such was a beis, etc... On the second day,
the teacher went through the alphabet backwards -- starting with tav
and working down to aleph. R' Akiva asked the teacher, "But didn't you
teach it the other way yesterday?" "And how do you know that that was
the right way and not this one?"
There's an alternate version, perhaps of the same story. This one is
told about a non-Jew who came to Shammai and said that he wanted to
convert on condition that he would accept only the Written Law.
Shammai, realizing that the non-Jew was mocking him, chased him away.
The non-Jew then went to Hillel with the same condition. The first
day, Hillel taught him alef, bais, gimel, dalet. The second day, he
began by calling the same characters tav, shin, raish, kuf. The
non-Jew objected, "But didn't you tell me yesterday that these were
alef, bais, gimel, dalet?" Hillel responded, "You see that even the
names and sounds of the letters can only be understood by an oral
teaching. How much more must the Torah itself be understood only
through the Oral Law." The non-Jew then began studying completely and
honestly.
And an experimental proof: There were numerous movements that tried to
follow the written Torah alone: Baithusians, Saducees, Karaites,
etc... Each, without fail, eventually evolved its own tradition about
how to understand the text. Pure fundamentalism about the verses,
letting each man interpret for his/herself, has yet to provide a
consistant structure. The Torah requires more information than it
gives in the text alone. [Note that even Reform uses traditional
interpretations of the verse; it is not the interpretation of the
verse that is subject to individual choice in Reform, it is whether to
incorporate the practice].
There are a number of examples in the rest of Jewish scriptures that
show consistancy with conclusions contained in the Oral Torah based on
the Pentateuch. In other words, things the prophets assumed about
Jewish law that aren't in the text:
* Zacharia 7:2 and 8:13 refer to the Rabbinically enacted fasts to
commemorate the fall of the first Temple.
* Nechemia 13 notes the Rabbinic prohibition against buying or
selling things on the Sabbath.
* The book of Ruth only works with the Oral Torah that limits the
prohibition of Deut 23:3 to remarrying Moabite men. Otherwise, how
could Boaz marry Ruth -- a Moabite convert. Ruth also relies on
Oral Torah laws on kinsman redeemers and the conversion ritual.
The term "oral law" thus reflects the knowledge about how to fulfill
the laws and regulations of Torah that was transmitted orally, from
generation to generation. The Oral Law can be thought of as a body of
jurisprudence and procedure that accompanies the statutes of the
Written Law. It is believed to have been passed down from the time of
Moses, restored after the first exile by Ezra and Nehemiah, and
finally written down by the academies at Yavne and in the Galilee in
the two generations following the destruction of the Second Temple in
70 CE. It consists of specific interpretations and elaborations of the
Written Law, and some commentary on the principles by which the
Written Law can be expounded.
There are Jews called Karaites, recognized by the state of Israel as
100% Jewish but heretical, who reject the Oral Law, as did the
Sadducees of the time of the Second Temple. One objection to their
`purism' is that they have been forced by practical necessity to
develop interpretations and methods of textual analysis of their
own---you simply cannot have law without jurisprudence. This being the
case, most traditional Jews accept the authority of the Oral Law that
has come down to us as (at the very least) the closest we can come to
Torah from Mount Sinai.
------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Question 3.6: How was the Oral and Written Law passed down to us?
Answer:
The traditional view is the the Written Law was given to Moses at
Sinai, and has remained unchanged since that time. At the same time,
according to the traditional view, the Oral Law was dictated but not
written down, in order to provide clarifications of Torah. To some
extent, this is necessarily the case; the Written Torah mentions some
core laws (e.g., the identities of kosher and non-kosher species,
shechita [slaughtering], the kinds of activities prohibited on
Shabbat, how Yom Kippur is observed, how the shofar is blown, what
t'fillin [phylacteries] are, what is a sukkah, marriage and divorce)
only briefly, without any of the requisite details. In many such
instances, the Oral Torah has special status, and is referred to as
"halakha l'Moshe mi'Sinai" (literally, Law to Moses at Sinai), and has
the same immutable status as the Written Torah itself. Another factor
"forcing" the recognition of the Oral Torah was the need for the basic
halakhic principles of the Written Torah to extend and adapt (within
limits) to societal changes; cultural and social changes demanded
halakhic decisions, and these halakhic decisions had to be transmitted
across generations. Deut 17:8-9 tells the people to "go the the judge
who shall be in those days;" the rabbinic tradition thus explicitly
commands adherence to the Oral Torah and to rabbinic authority.
We do not know much of the early history of the Oral Torah, but much
of it (e.g., the basic structure of the Amidah liturgy, and the basic
principles of halakhic exegesis) is ascribed to the Men of the Great
Assembly (539-332 BCE, the era of the Second Temple and Persian rule).
Subsequent development of the Oral Law took place in the era of the
Zugot ("pairs" of scholars who served as spiritual and intellectual
leaders of the Jewish community under political domination of the
Greeks and Hasmoneans; it was in that period that the Sadducees, who
substantially rejected the authority of the Oral Torah, arose. But the
varieties of modern Judaism derive from the Talmud, in which the
essential principles of rabbinic Judaism were more fully discussed and
developed. If the Oral Torah was indeed given to the Jews at Sinai at
the same time as the Written Torah, how does one explain the talmudic
disputes? There are at least three possibilities, and they are not
mutually exclusive. Perhaps the Oral Torah was transmitted
inaccurately, and the task of the rabbis was to reconstruct it.
Alternatively, the halakhic principles of the Oral Torah were used by
the rabbis to derive new laws, and to apply old laws to novel
situations. The third possibility is that the Oral Law gave the rabbis
the right (perhaps the responsibility) to legislate.
Non-traditional movements have different positions on the origin. Some
hold with the "documentary theory", which has four authors. Some hold
with divine inspiration. Others believe in divine inspiration, written
in the language and context of its time. However, all agree that the
Written and Oral Torah contain eternal truths that apply as well today
as when the documents were committed to parchment, and that study of
both is critical.
------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Question 3.7: What is the Great Assembly (Anshe Knessest HaGedolah)?
Answer:
According to traditional Jewish historiography, this was an assembly
of 120 rabbis that ruled in the period after the time of the prophets
up to the time of the development of rabbinic Judaism in 70 CE. They
bridge a period of about 2 centuries. The tradition teaches that they
redacted the books of Ezekiel, the twelve minor prophets (The Trei
Asar), and the books of Daniel and Esther. They also composed the
Shemonah Esrah, the standing prayer (Amidah) of 18, later 19, prayers
that is still recited by Jews today. They canonized the Tanakh (Hebrew
Bible). Most importantly, they enacted a democratization of Jewish
education, making the Torah the possession of all, instead of just the
priestly class.
Historically, the Great Assembly described in Nehemiah 8-10 was a
public assembly of Jews who returned to Israel after the exile in
Babylonia. In this gathering the leaders and people of Israel
rededicated themselves to the Torah as their inheritance and code of
law.
------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Question 3.8: Who are the Zugot (Pairs)?
Answer:
After the relative calmness of the period of Persian rule, the Greek
occupied Eretz Yisrael. For over a century the land was the
battlefield for warring armies of the Ptolemies and Seleucids. As a
result, the Jewish homeland was politically, economically, and
spiritually torn apart. During these times, Jewish leadership was in
the hands of the Zugot.
The term 'Zugot' refers to the two heads of the Sanhedrin (Great
Assembly). The Sanhedrin was the successor to the Great Assembly, and
it functioned as the legislative body of the Jewish people. At the
head of the Sanhedrin was the Nasi (President) and second to him was
the Av Bet Din (Father of the Assembly). For a period of about two
hundred years, these Zugot were the spiritual guides of Jewish life
and the transmitters of the Oral Law. These Zugot were:
* Yose ben Yoezer of Sereda, Yose ben Yohanan
* Yehoshua ben Perahyah, Mattai (or Nittai) or Arbel
* Yehudah ben Tabbai, Simeon ben Shetah
* Shemayah, Abtalion
* Hillel the Elder, Shammai
------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Question 3.9: What is the Mishna?
Answer:
The Hebrew verb 'shanah' literally means 'to repeat [what one was
taught] and is used to mean 'to learn'. The term 'Mishna' basically
means the entire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and
developed before 200 CE, when it was finally redacted by Rabbi Yehudah
haNasi (Judah the Prince). He is usually simply referred to as
'Rabbi'.
Prior to the time of Rabbi, all Jewish Law was transmitted orally; It
was expressly forbidden to write and publish the Oral Law, as any
writing would be incomplete and subject to misinterpretation and
abuse. However, after great debate, this restriction was lifted when
it became apparent that it was the only way to insure that the law
could be preserved. To prevent the material from being lost, Rabbi
took up the redaction of the Mishna. He did not do this at his own
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