Questions tagged [oral-torah]

Questions pertaining to the Oral Torah or Oral Law.

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Why do we follow the "basra'a" - later one?

We know in Shas that in various situations, when there is a machlokes as to how to pasken, we follow the opinion of he that was chronologically later. (Ex. see Tosafos to B'rachos 13b s.v. Amar Rava.) ...
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Source for the oral traditions in Megillas Esther?

I'm trying to understand where the Rabbis in tractate Megillah get their information. I thought that the way they interpret the five books of Moses was because they already knew all the laws and ...
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What was given on Mt. Sinai at each of the 40-day intervals

It's known that Moshe was on the mountain for 120 days and nights total, although I personally am not sure exactly what was given when. (I'm aware of this question How is the story of the Torah being ...
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Were there additional written scrolls given by G-d to Moses?

Yalkut Shimoni, claims that there was an additional written scroll - the Temple Scroll (?) - given by G-d to Moses and passed on to all the following generations to Shlomo, mimicking the first lines ...
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Do women have to have long hair according to Jewish law?

Does it say anywhere in the Oral Torah that women have to have long hair?
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New Sanhedrin - what will it do?

According to the Rambam in Hilchos Mamarim 1 and 2, a Sanhedrin has enormous power. Roughly speaking, it oversees a) oral traditions, b) rabbinical enactments, and c) drashos: derivations using the י&...
MichoelR's user avatar
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To what degree were Rabbi Akiva's five students responsible for preserving the Oral Law?

The gemara in Yevamos 62b says: They said by way of example that Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students in an area of land that stretched from Gevat to Antipatris in Judea, and they all ...
Aaliyah's user avatar
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Matan (Oral) Torah on Purim details

Following this question's comments, I wondered: In what form did the Jews "receive/accept" the Oral Torah on Purim, was there some kind of a ceremony, or nation-wide event, maybe some other one-...
Al Berko's user avatar
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Did God give Moses on Mount Sinai all future rabbinical decisions?

Which of these two is the correct Jewish teaching: (1) God gave the Written and Oral Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. On this basis, rabbis past, present and future derive what Jews must do. These ...
Maurice Mizrahi's user avatar
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Torah transmission according to the Rambam

the Rambam in the introduction to Mishne Torah counts 40 generations from Moshe Rabeinu to Rav Ashi (compiler of the talmud) in the transmission of the oral law and lists the names of these sages. ...
ray's user avatar
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is there an exact definition in halachah of what constitutes (1)‘racism,’ or (2)discrimination?

I'm doing some work about the legal definitions of ‘racism’ as part of a wider system of legally recognised forms of ‘discrimination,’ under the UK Equity Act 2010 and later legislation. I wondered if ...
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Is the 39 melachot concept halacha l’moshe misinai

Are the 39 categories melacha prohibited on Shabbat Halacha lemoshe misinai, or drash from the rabbis (deriving it from the juxtaposition of the Shabbat commandment to the mishkan)?
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Why connecting Information and Verses

There is a Pasuk in Shmot 24:12 that says: I will give you the stone tablets, the Law and the commandments, which I have written to instruct them. The Gemara in Berachot 5a explains that the tablets ...
Vyacheslav Yosef Dobrovych's user avatar
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Did Sanhedrin use Oral law along with Written Law

Did Sanhedrin use Oral law along with Written Law in their decisions?
Sujin's user avatar
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Are the commandments in Mishlei Torah she-baal peh that was later written down?

Shalom. I have for a long time been confused about what exactly Sefer Mishlei is. Were the commandments in this book - 'Acquire Chokhmah' / 'Get discernment' etc. - revealed to Moshe at Har-Sinai? ...
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Why wasn't the Oral law imbedded in the Written?

Why were the Mishnah or the Gemara not included in the 5 books of Moshe Rabbeinu? Why was the system made in such a way that, we the people, had to go dig up and find out for ourselves? What wasn't ...
Mars Sojourner's user avatar
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Do Karaites have the Kabbalah?

When studying the Kabbalah it is clear that the tradition of its wisdom did not start at Mount Sinai but dates back to the creation of the world (a hint here): וכתוב בשער הספר כי המלאך רזיאל מסר את ...
Al Berko's user avatar
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Is there possibly a requirement to write down your Chiddushei Torah?

There is a principal of "devarim shebichtav iy atah rashai le'omram b'al peh" - Torah that is written is not permitted to retell purely from memory. It is for this reason we do not permit the bal ...
Isaac Kotlicky's user avatar
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Did the Himyarite Kingdom (Jewish state from c. 380 CE till 530 CE) have the Talmud/Oral Torah? If they converted without it, are they valid converts?

The Himyarite Kingdom became a Jewish kingdom in what is today Yemen, from around 380 CE at the earliest and continued to be Jewish until around 500 CE with the 530 CE date being the very latest date ...
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