Q&A: A Halakha Given to Moses at Sinai
A Halakha Given to Moses at Sinai
Question
I saw that you wrote that in your view, a halakha given to Moses at Sinai is a normative statement, since some of these laws clearly appear to be later. Which laws given to Moses at Sinai seem late to you, and why?
Answer
I didn’t say that they seem late to me. I said that already in the medieval authorities (Rishonim), regarding some laws about which it is said that they were given to Moses at Sinai, it appears that they are actually rabbinic laws. Therefore, when something is said to be a halakha given to Moses at Sinai, this can also be interpreted on the normative plane and not the historical one. Certainly not all such laws are of that kind.
Discussion on Answer
"The use of animal hides for manuscripts was known in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia."
Wikipedia, article: Parchment
In the list of laws given to Moses at Sinai in Maimonides’ Commentary on the Mishnah, in the introduction to the Mishnah, it is mentioned that the prayer leader may see where the children are reading, even though the prohibition on reading is rabbinic. Likewise, the Rambam wrote there that no dispute ever arose regarding a halakha given to Moses at Sinai, yet he brings the area of a sukkah as a halakha given to Moses at Sinai even though that is a dispute among the Tannaim.
For example, that one writes only on parchment.
That can’t possibly go back to Moses at Sinai, even though it is apparently derived from verses.
Parchment was invented about 1,000 years later, around the time of Jeremiah, more or less.