Q&A: Adding to the Words of the Torah
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Adding to the Words of the Torah
Question
How is it that the sages can add to what is written in the Torah? Who decides who is allowed to add commandments and who is not?
Answer
I did not understand the question. Do you mean to ask how they enact ordinances or decree decrees? (That is, why is this not a violation of “do not add”?) On this matter, see the dispute between Tosafot and Rashba in Rosh Hashanah 16b, and in Maimonides at the beginning of the Laws of Rebels (chapters 1 and 2).