The Mishneh Torah (“Repetition of the Torah”) subtitled Sefer Yad HaHazaka (“Book of the Strong Hand,”) is a code of Rabbinic halakhah (Jewish religious law) authored by Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, also known as RaMBaM or “Rambam”), one of…
Rabbinic Judaism – Yahadut Rabanit – grew out of Pharisaic Judaism and has been considered the mainstream form of Judaism since the codification of the Talmud Bavli. With the redaction of the “Oral Law” and the Talmud Bavli becoming the…
What is Judaism? Sources: 1Alieza Salzberg. “Judaism after the Temple: Coping with destruction and building for the future.” MyJewishLearning, n.d. [] 2I. Epstein. “Tractate Gittin.” [] 3American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. “Tradition.” Jewish Virtual Library, 2008. [] 4I. Epstein. “Tractate Berachot.” []…
Calendar Rabbi HaLevi asks what month is being referenced in Shemot 12:24: “Let this new moon be for you the beginning of new moons, the beginning-one let it be for you of the new moons of the year.”1 We clearly…
Returning to Egypt Still another argument for the “Oral Law” is that Uriyyahu returned to Mitzrayim.2 Now there was another man who prophesied in the Name of the Eternal One – Uriyyahu son of Shema’yahu of Qiryat-hayye’arim, He prophesied concerning…
Martyrdom Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi points to the prayer of Dani’el and asks why Dani’el would risk his life to pray if there is not a mitzvah in the Torah to actually pray. Without an “Oral Law” to explain martyrdom there…
The term “Jew” – Yehudi in Hebrew – can mean various things depending upon the context and the time period the term is used. Originally a Yehudi would have been a member of the Tribe of Yehuda. The original Yehudim…
Instructions Rabbi Shimon ben-Tzemach Duran points out the following passage as proof of an “Oral Law.” You should make clear to them the laws and the instructions, you should make known to them the way they should go, and the…
Rabbinic Judaism (specifically Orthodox and Conservative) offers to the world the idea that the “Oral Law” – as enthroned in the Talmud – was given to Moshe at Har Sinai along with the Written Torah. Orthodox and Conservative Jews claim…
