Q&A: Article: The Oral Torah – A Philosophical, Historical, and Biblical Foundation for Its Authority
Article: The Oral Torah – A Philosophical, Historical, and Biblical Foundation for Its Authority
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I recently finished writing an article establishing the authority of the Oral Torah. It seems to me that it could be helpful to many people, and so I am publishing it here. In the article I tried to gather only the strongest arguments that have been made on these topics, as well as to develop some arguments of my own, and to bring everything together into one comprehensive picture. The article also makes use, among other things, of arguments you wrote here on the site.
It seems to me that many of the things written there are not known to most of the public.
Answer
Many thanks; more power to you. I quickly skimmed through the article and saw that it is very good. True, there is quite a bit to comment on, but at the moment it is hard for me to make time for that.
I will just say that the article is directed against the Messianics, but it is less effective toward secular people. It is based on assumptions, some of which are not accepted by them (such as the integrity of the biblical text and that all of it is from Sinai, the reliability of the prophets and their antiquity, and so on). This is not a criticism, of course. That is perfectly fine, but one should be aware of it.
May your strength be devoted to Torah.
Thank you.
Indeed, part of the article is addressed to someone who accepts the Written Torah in its entirety (it is impossible to prove the flexibility of the Torah’s language from its internal contradictions to someone who holds that it has several authors).
But it seems to me that it also offers an answer for someone who does not accept the integrity of the Bible. Chapter 7 shows the authority to shape and change the Torah, and together with Chapters 2 and 3 on authority, there seems to be a strong basis for accepting the Oral Torah.
Besides, if someone who challenges the integrity of the Torah still continues in practice to hold on to all its parts, then the traditional argument also addresses him.