The Oral Law: a Brief Introduction to the Antiquity and Necessity of the Oral Tradition

What does it mean to read the plain meaning of the Hebrew Bible? Do the biblical prophets not speak in shrouded phrases? Does the Hebrew Bible not speak in allegory or metaphor at times? Does the simple reading of the text not imply a certain understanding of the historical and cultural context in which it was written? Can we accept the idea of a biblical text that requires an independent tradition to explain and provide the necessary foundation to even read the text in a correct grammatical form?These questions and the related answers cannot, in and of themselves, provide the foundations for the totality of the Oral Torah as the theological idea known today in Orthodox Jewish circles. The original questions posed and the answers to them can explain the fundamental arguments of the Written Torah’s dependency on external elements to provide meaning, applicability, and readability to the text.The idea of a biblical text that is supreme and outweighs all other sources of authority is accepted by many. This view, however, often precludes an understanding of the canonical process, and the nature of written texts, and their dissemination. Most importantly, it denies the reality that is presented in the biblical texts themselves on the nature of law and how it was applied and understood in ancient Israel.In this work, I am not so concerned with what the Oral Law contains. Even within traditional Jewish circles there is a debate regarding the extent of its contents. What is important is to establish why its existence is so fundamental to Jewish life.Oral traditions are fundamental aspects of many cultures. An intellectually honest approach to the Hebrew Bible quickly reveals a complex legal structure which includes an oral legal component. This book explores the idea of the Oral Torah and its critical role in establishing practical Jewish life.