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Re: orion DSS-Era Jews On Oral Torah - Part 1



On Sun, 20 Jul 1997, Yirmiyahu Ben-David wrote:

> 
> Torah sheBa'al Peh, however, appears to be accurate in that Torah sheBa'al
> Peh, I think, and unless someone can correct me, pre-dates all three of the
> problematic terms: Halakhah, Ma'aseh, and the "Book of Decrees."  Torah
> sheBa'al Peh, then, would cover all three versions deriving from Torah
> sheBa'al Peh: Halakhah, Ma'aseh, and the "Book of Decrees".
> Yirmiyahu Ben-David
> Paqid 16, Qehilat Ha-Netzarim (Nazarene Jews)
> www.netzarim.co.il
> Ra'anana, Israel
> 
The term torah shebe`al peh appears only in the Babylonian Talmud. Other
similar terms (two torahs, one in writing and one oral, etc.) appear in
the third century and later halakhic midrashim and the Palestinian
Talmud. Mishnah Avot speaks only of "Torah" being received and
transmitted. So whatever antiquity one wants to claim for an "oral
tradition of exesisi/learning/law" in ST times, that claim must be
separated from what the Rabbis called it. "Oral Torah" is a particularly
rabbinic term, linked up to the larger rabbinic model of tradition
originating in Sinaitic revelation. Marty Jaffee>