Shabbat
27. Instructor using lamplight in Shabbat;
28. A woman must bring a sin offering if she transports something in her apron 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
“Work” on Shabbat refers only to creating something new. “A melacha [act of work] is an activity which must be done in order to accomplish a certain desired goal. A melacha is something that a person does as a means to an end rather than as an end in and of itself.”2 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.2
If a lamp is already lit then there is no new creation and it may be used on Shabbat. If a woman accidently transports something in her apron she also is not “working” (that is, creating) something and is therefore not sinning. No “Oral Law” is needed when it is quite obvious that Shabbat has not been desecrated in either of these two instances.
Business
29. Right of a wine seller to mix strong wine into week wine;
You are not to have in your purse stone-weight and stone-weight, (both) large and small. You are not to have in your house efa and efa (both) large and small. A stone-weight perfect and equal shall you have, an efa perfect and equal shall you have, in order that your days may be prolonged on the soil that the Eternal One your God is giving you. For an abomination to the Eternal One your God is everyone doing these, everyone committing corruption! (Devarim 25:13-16)1
Even though these passage speak specifically about weights and measures it can be deduced that any type of illicit business practice is forbidden. If illicit business practices are forbidden why would God give Moshe an “Oral Law” that states that in the case of a wine seller he can in fact carry on with illicit business practices?
Tithes from Ammon and Moav
30. Jews living in Ammon and Moab must give Ma’aser Awni every seventh year.
At the end of three years you are to bring out all the tithing of your produce, in that year, and you are to deposit (it) within your gates. And when he comes, the Levite – for he does not have a portion or an inheritance beside you – and the sojourner, the orphan and the widow that are within your gates, they will eat and be satisfied, in order that the Eternal One your God may bless you in all the doings of your hand that you do. (Devarim 14:28-29)1
Ma’aser Awni is already discussed in the Torah so why would there be any “Oral Law” needed? In addition, the Yisraelites were not yet living in the lands of Ammon and Moab so why would God give a law to Moshe that was of no use to the Yisraelites and wouldn’t be for a number of years? The rabbis argue that this tithe must be brought to Yerushalayim and eaten there –
however it is quite clear from the Torah that this tithe is to be brought for the poor and Levite within their gates – that is, within their own communities – and not Yerushalayim.
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1Everett Fox. The Five Books of Moses. New York: Schocken Books, 1997.
2Melech ben Ya’aqov. “What is the Sabbath?” karaiteinsights.com. Karaite Insights, n.d., accessed 15 April 2012. [http://www.karaiteinsights.com/article/shabbat.html]