Q&A: This Teaches That All of Them Were Given to Moses at Sinai
This Teaches That All of Them Were Given to Moses at Sinai
Question
This teaches that all of them were given to Moses at Sinai (Berakhot 5a). Rashi there writes:
This is Scripture — the Five Books, which there is a commandment to read from the Torah.
This is Mishnah — that they should engage in the Mishnah.
This is Gemara — the reasoning behind the Mishnah teachings, from which practical rulings emerge.
And from the plain sense of the Talmudic passage, it would seem to say that all of them were given to Moses at Sinai literally. But Rashi, at least on the face of it, is support for, or similar to, what you wrote: that only the tools by which the sages can interpret and expound were given, and not everything, of course. And that would be the main explanation of Rashi on the words "This is Gemara." But Rashi on "Mishnah" is still not so clear. What do you think, please, about Rashi’s explanation?
Answer
I didn’t understand. What’s the question?
Discussion on Answer
Either foundational lines of reasoning were given, or the permission to use reasoning was given; and what seems most plausible to me is that we should relate to the reasoning as though it was given at Sinai.
So too regarding the Mishnah. Either the principles were given so that we should engage in them, or we should treat them as though they were given at Sinai.
The question is: what does it mean that the reasoning was given at Sinai? Does it mean that not the entire Oral Torah was given, but only the lines of reasoning — that is, the tools for interpretation? And what does he mean in the entry on "Mishnah," "that they should engage in learning the Mishnah"? Was the engagement itself transmitted at Sinai?