Kosher Birds
Now these you are to hold detestable from fowl – they are not to be eaten, they are detestable-things: the eagle, the bearded-vulture and the black-vulture, the kite and the falcon according to its kind, every raven according to its kind; the desert owl, the screech owl and the sea gull, and the hawk according to its kind; the little-owl, the cormorant, and the great owl; the barn-owl, the pelican, and the Egyptian-vulture, the stork, the heron according to its kind, the hoopoe and the bat. (Vayikra 11:13-19)1
The argument for the “Oral Law” is that the Yisraelites would not know which birds are kosher. However, we are told in these very verses which birds are treif. Birds that were unknown to the Yisraelites, such as chicken and turkey, could be considered kosher or treif depending upon their characteristics as compared to known kosher birds (such as pigeons and turtledoves).
Seventh Day
(You) see that the Eternal One has given you the Sabbath, therefore on the sixth day, he gives you bread for two days. Stay, each man, in his spot; no man shall go out from his place on the seventh day! (Shemot 16:29)1
The argument for the “Oral Law” is that the Yisraelites would not know what is meant by “his place” or the distance that one is permitted to travel on Shabbat. First, you must understand that this particular verse is telling the Yisraelites that they are not to leave their places on the seventh day in order to gather in manna. The Yisraelites were already given enough manna for two days.
In addition, from a simple peshat interpretation of this verse we see that there is no distance restriction for a person to travel on Shabbat. “His place” simply means that one is not permitted to travel if it means that the individual and his family would be unable to properly keep Shabbat.
Work on Shabbat
For six days, you are to serve, and are to make all your work [מְלָאכָה], but the seventh days is Sabbath for the Eternal One your God: you are not to make any kind of work, (not) you, nor your son, nor your daughter, (not) your servant, nor your maid, nor your beast, nor your sojourner that is within your gates. (Shemot 20:9-10)1
The argument for the “Oral Law” is that the Yisraelites would not know what is meant by “work” which is forbidden on Shabbat. The word used in this passage for work (מְלָאכָה) is not meant to refer to common everyday physical labor. This type of work is that which is associated with creation as seen in Bereishit 2:2:
And on the seventh day God finished His work [מְלַאכְתּוֹ] which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.1
Therefore this verse can be understood as a restriction on creation – making something new and unique. We can also see that “work” on Shabbat refers to that which has religious or spiritual significance. This can be deduced from Exodus 31:1-11 where the building of the Tabernacle was referred to as “work” (מְלָאכָה) and was forbidden to continue on Shabbat.
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1Everett Fox. The Five Books of Moses. New York: Schocken Books, 1997.