Celebrating our First Quarter Century, 5742-5767 (1982-2007)
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THE WRITTEN AND ORAL TORAHS
by Rabbi Shmuel Silinsky (reprinted from the BNS Noahide list with the permission of Rabbi Shmuel Silinsky)
JERUSALEM, Yom Chamishi (Fifth Day - "Thursday"), 12 Sivan, 5759 (May 27, 1999), Root & Branch: A READER ASKS: A very unique thing about the Seven Noahide Laws which are enumerated is that they were deduced from scripture using the classical techniques of hermenutics -- indeed this was very strange to me at first -- I didn't understand how the rabbis could wring out the seven laws from a verse or two in the Torah! RABBI SHMUEL SILINSKY ANSWERS: We must start with the concept of the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. Both were given at Sinai. The Oral tradition from Sinai includes many levels, even the deepest Kabbalah. Both the Written and Oral Torahs were received by Moshe (Moses) and transmitted to the Elders. Both work hand in hand and are completely intertwined. Much could be said about why both an oral and written Torah are needed, but I think one of the easiest ways to comprehend the situation is the analogy that the Oral Torah is like a full lecture while the Written Torah is the notes to the lecture. There is a great deal that is only hinted at in someone's notes, but it alludes to a vast amount of detail. Everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) is hinted at somwewhere in the Written Torah. Very often the word "Torah" refers to the sum total, the the combination of Oral and Written Traditions. There are basically two approaches to understand the words of the sages in this regard. One is that they are showing where the Oral tradition is hinted at in the written Torah. In other words, there was a clear tradition handed down through the generations of the Mitzvos of B'nei Noach - from Noach to Shem and Ever, etc. This tradition detailed the 7 Mitzvos. Then came the giving of the Torah to the Jewish People at Sinai. The Mitzvos of B'nei Noach are included there also. Alas, that vast majority of humanity has forgotten that tradition of there predecessors. But the Torah, faithfully transmitted through the generations, has kept a record of that tradition. The Oral Torah included the information about those 7 mitvos. Those mitzvos are hinted at in the Written Torah. The sages, then, explain where the Oral Tradition would be hinted at in the Written Torah. When you find a reference to a mitzvah from a verse, it may well be just the hint in the Written Torah, and not the original source for the mitzvah. There is another way to look at the words of the sages. They, with their awesome knowledge of the Torah and divine inspiration (ruach hakodesh), were able to make conclusions that are beyond our capabilities. The Talmud includes both types of knowledge. My inclination is that something so basic as the 7 Mitzvos Benei Noach is from the first type (known tradition that is hinted at in the Written Torah). Decrees of the sages that are a fence around the Torah would be an example of the second type. It should be noted that the 13 Rules through which Torah is explained (often called Exegetic Principles) are all only applied with an existing Oral tradition, with the sole exception of the first: logical deduction from major to minor. To sum up: The Noachide laws existed long before the Sinai experience. The sages of the Talmud were explaining the existing tradition and showing where it is hinted at in the Written Torah. They were not enacting new laws. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Shmuel Silinsky |