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Oral Torah and Rabbinic Mitzvot


Question:

What is the Oral Torah? Was it all told orally to Moses at Sinai, or does it include Rabbinical additions?



AskTheRabbi.org answered:

In general it is very important to understand that the Torah and Jewish Law is far more than what is found in the Written Bible. The Written Bible is the "skeleton" but there is another enormous body called the Oral Torah that is the "flesh" and from which the vast majority of Jewish Law is formulated. It is not possible to understand Jewish Law and the obligations of each person by only reading the written part of the Torah.

I am not sure that there is a resource that lists only the Laws that were given orally (as opposed to the Rabbinic Laws as well) however one of the Laws that appears in the Written Torah is to listen to the Rabbis. That means that, according to the Torah we are fulfilling the edicts of Jewish Law by following the Laws that the Rabbis have mandated.


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