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 deed that they should do… (Shemot 18:20)1
Rabbi Duran asks why Moshe would need to give further instruction to the chiefs of the people if all the mitzvot were given in the Written Torah. What, asks Rabbi Duran, was Moshe supposed to instruct them?2
First, if a man is given a written instruction manual is he no longer in need of further verbal clarification? Yes, it is possible but if the instruction manual is regarding something that he has never done and knew nothing about wouldn’t he be in need of further verbal clarification? This in no way means that there is an “oral instruction” that is given in addition to the written instruction.
Second, we read in Devarim 31:9: “Now Moshe wrote down this Instruction and gave it to the priests, the Sons of Levi, those carrying the coffer of the Covenant of יהוה, and to all the elders of Yisrael.”1 We can plainly see that Moshe ha-navi wrote down the Torah over the 40 years in the Wilderness. He did not write the entire Torah at Har Sinai since יהוה did not give the entire Torah at Har Sinai. So, if the Torah was given to Moshe over time he would have needed to teach it to the chiefs.
Legal Judgments
Rabbi Duran also points to the following scripture as proof for an “Oral Law.”2
When any legal matter is too extraordinary [פָּלָא] for you, in justice, between blood and blood, between judgment and judgment, between stroke and stroke, in matters of quarreling within your gates, you are to arise and go up to the place that יהוה your God chooses, you are to come to the Levitical priests and to the judge that there is in those days; you are to inquire and they are to tell you the word of judgment. You are to do according to this word that is told you, in that place that יהוה chooses; you are to take care to observe what they instruct you. According to the instruction that they instruct you, by the regulation that they tell you, you are to do; you are not to turn away from the word that they tell you, right or left. (Devarim 17:8-11)1
Rabbi Duran asks what knowledge can be “hidden?” The issue is that this is an incorrect understanding of the Hebrew word פָּלָא (pala) which means difficult, wonderful, or marvelous, but not “hidden” as Rabbi Duran claims. He also makes the statement that if there was no “Oral Law” the only basis for judgment is in the Torah which is open for anybody to study. He claims that the basis for a central court implies an “Oral Law” which serves as the basis for the court’s judgment.2
He is correct that the Torah is open for everyone to study. However, these passages tell us that we are to take care of judgments between ourselves whenever possible because the Yisraelites learned the complete Torah every seven years. If the judgment is not possible then the Yisraelites are to go to the Levites for assistance. If the judgment still cannot be rendered then the judge of that era was to be consulted. Only after these steps was the central court to be approached. This in no way indicates an “Oral Law” but instead indicates a mutli-level judicial system.
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1Everett Fox. The Five Books of Moses. New York: Schocken Books, 1997.
2Gil Student. “The Oral Law.” aishdas.org. The AishDas Soceity, 2001, accessed 15 April 2012. [http://www.aishdas.org/student/oral.htm]