In the article "Its a Matter of Interpretation" I outlined the means for understanding the Jewish position on understanding the text of the Torah and the Tanakh as a whole. In it, I discussed how G-d gave the Written and Oral Torah as a single indivisible unit, that one is incomplete without the other.
I would like however to make some salient points. The claim made by many groups is that the Judaism of the Torah is entirely different to that of the Oral Torah. We see a world of Sacrifices, a Holy Temple, the Jewish people united in the land of Israel under a just Monarchy which is from the house of David. In terms of the Oral Torah, it seems that the Oral Torah is a Judaism that is about Jews worshiping in prayer in the Synagogue, in various parts of the world, without a Temple, disunited in the four corners of the world, it is largely a Rabbinic Judaism, governed and run by Rabbis who are modern inheritors of the judges and teachers of old. The picture is a stark difference from that of the Torah.
A Closer Look at the Oral Torah....
This is entirely a view that is premature, a straw-man, and superficial. We have to look deep into Rabbinic Judaism, and ask them a very clear and obvious question: "Where is what you do, mandated by the Torah?". The response is usually - the Oral Torah. But the sum total of the Oral Torah is really the Talmuds, Midrash and Kabbalah the three major aspects of the Oral Torah. These are rooted in Biblical Exegesis and are firmly implanted in the Written Word of G-d.
The Talmud's pages are replete with references to the Torah. In fact, it would be a fair estimation that on an average page of the Talmud, there are at least three to four Biblical references, that guide the process of exegesis.
The first Tractate of the Talmud - Berachos - blessings, starts with the mandate to recite the Shema "Deuteronomy 6:4-9", twice daily, and is discussed in absolute detail. The literal meaning of the verses is analyzed, dissected and addressed in the subsequent folios.
Torah Judaism is in essence going back to the Word of G-d, and more precisely the directly spoken words of G-d directly to Moses as embodied in the Torah. Every nuance, every action is predicated on a Biblical injunction in some form or another.
The Historical Aspect
However, the critic might argue that this 'version' of Judaism was settled at Yavneh in about 90 CE (90 years into the Common Era), this is the Judaism of the Pharisees, and has little to do with Pre-Yavneh Judaism, which was replete with other sects and groups which in the mind of many could be equally valid. The Sadducees (Tzadokim), or the Barthusians are some of these groups that claimed that the Rabbis right to interpret the Torah and mandate the festivals were incorrect. The Sadducees conducted various attempts to de-legitimate this throughout the period which was about 200-100 years before the Common Era (200-100 BCE). They started to attack witnesses who wished to notify the Great Sanhedrin (Great Law Court in Jerusalem of 71 Judges), of the appearance of the New Moon so that the Months could be established, and the Festivals carried out. They also attacked the runners sent from Jerusalem to inform the population of the New Month. This is recorded in the Tractate of Rosh Hashana 22b.
It seems from the Historical Evidence that there what might be dubbed a "Political Sect" called the "Pharisees" in the later part of the Second Temple Period (from about 100 BCE to 100 CE). However, it is the classical historical interpretation on Josephus that attributes a distinct sect as being politically and religiously based on the Scribes and Sages of the exiles that returned from the mandate of Cyrus the Great of the Persian Empire. For the period from about 500 BCE until 50 BCE, historians believe (based on Josephus), that four distinct sects emerged, the two - Sadducee and Pharisee, were borne out of a political, economic, and religious distinctions. [See Wikipedia's article ("Saducees") and ("Pharisees")]
The articles in Wikipedia are built on Josephus' interpretations of the various sects, and comes out that the Pharisee sect is the ancestry of modern Normative Judaism. It should be noted the that sources come from Jacob Neusner, Josephus and others, which are not necessarily supportive of Rabbinic Orthodoxy. The article makes sweeping statements about a period that was shaped by tremendous upheaval in Israel. The Maccabees, while they managed to wrestle the Temple from the Greeks, and managed to re-dedicate the Temple; they did not manage to totally abolish the Hellenistic culture from Jewish life. Many Jews had succumbed irretrievably to the Hedonistic Greek lifestyle, and as a result, had a marked influence on society as a whole. Add to this the Roman conquest by Pompei in 135 BCE, in which many Roman influences had come into the country, the schisms of the elite and wealthy against the backdrop of a people torn from exile, makes the climate very different from the pre-exilic Israel. A country dispossessed of its most valuable asset - its people, coupled with assimilation and the tyranny of foes makes the difficulty of living in such a climate to say the least is inhospitable. Josephus was writing in Rome, under the patronage of the Roman Caesars, to an audience that was far more well-off, in monetary and safety terms than their brethren in Israel. Josephus is also playing a unique history, using the history of the Sadducee sect as a spring board to legitimate his own Pharisaic up-bringing. The Sadducees comprised of the elite and corrupted Priestly Caste. However, we know that the Priests entered into the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur and some died and some did not, some were Sadducean and some were Pharisaic. To divide up Israel so neatly into unique and distinct Sects fails to appreciate the subtlety and climate of the time. The Wikipedia article ("Pharisees") claims that not a major sect had the majority, although it claims that the common people were supportive of the Pharisees, if not aligned politically nor religiously. If we understand that each sect was not neat, and that religion was not necessarily indicative of a political view (with the exception of the Sadducees in the later period which by enlarge represented a Priestly elite backed by Hellenized views, and ultimately would be supported by the Romans as a politically motivated sect), and we can view post-Maccabean Israel as filled with scribes and sages as simply representative of Judaism - since they inherited the structure and historical framework from the time of Ezra, then from that position, Ezra - being the last spiritual head of the last vestiges of pre-exilic Judaism, then the Pharisees represent normative Judaism as it was practiced from Ezra until the close of the Second Temple Period. It is Josephus' view and belief in sectarian Judaism and he puts it forward in his works; we need not subscribe to that perspective so readily, given the historical climate.
Historically then, we need not view the Rabbinical Judaism, and subsequently Judaism that we have today as being an outgrowth of Yavneh. We can see Rabbinical Judaism as normative Judaism as it was practiced from the time of Ezra.
Going back to the Torah
We can go back to what G-d says about a particular issue; this is key and fundamental - even if the critic finds difficulty with the historical discussion above, our recourse is to what the Torah teaches, and more importantly what G-d says to His people at Sinai - the Torah itself as the living Words of G-d Himself.
There are many if not thousands of statements in the Torah that are manifold and crystal clear as to what G-d wants. We need not revert to interpretation on these verses, since their meaning is perfectly clear. There might be deeper shades, but fundamentally, the plain, simple meaning is straight forward. We can look to these clear verses in the Torah itself as a direct understanding of what G-d says to His people.
In this respect we can now go back to the article: "I believe with perfect Faith" and review Deuteronomy Chapters 4-5 and take out the absolute clarity of thought and fundamental nature of these very important verses.
The Torah is the source of everything (see the article: "We heard G-d Speak!") thus the message is crystal clear as to what G-d expects of us and how He has mandated to His people how to act and live in this world.
