Daniel and other outstanding, brilliant, young Jews were recruited by Nebuchadnezzar to be trained to serve Babylon. The King sent the finest foods and drinks for these up and coming scholars, but they could not eat or drink of this kingly spread. Why? It was not pork or shellfish. There is however, a general Rabbinic prohibition not to eat Gentile produced food that had no Jewish supervision. Otherwise one could not know for sure that some non-kosher ingredients were mixed with permitted foods. In addition to Biblically ordained laws of Kashrut which deal specifically with permitted and non-permitted categories of food, the rabbis proclaimed further eating restrictions that had nothing to do with food categories but rather with matters of assimilation. Daniel and others kept to these decrees that forbade drinking wine with Gentiles and eating bread baked by Gentiles. These social barriers were put up in order to discourage and inhibit assimilation and intermarriage. These are non-Biblical, strictly protective Rabbinic decrees, which Daniel and friends kept, even at risk to their very lives. Daniel and friends and the nation of Israel have been guided by the same Torah injunction.
[Deuteronomy 17:8] IF THERE BE A MATTER CONCEALED FROM THEE IN JUDGMENT, BETWEEN BLOOD AND BLOOD, BETWEEN DECISION AND DECISION, AND BETWEEN PLAGUE AND PLAGUE,(EVEN) MATTERS OF CONTROVERSY WITHIN THY GATES, THEN THOU SHALT ARISE, AND GET THEE UP UNTO THE PLACE WHICH THE L-RD THY
G-D SHALL CHOOSE.
[Deuteronomy 17:8] AND THOU SHALT COME UNTO THE PRIEST THE LEVITES, AND UNTO THE JUDGE THAT SHALL BE IN THOSE DAYS;
[Even if he is not like other judges who were before him, you must listen to him; you have only the judge of your own time (Talmud, Rosh HaShanah 25)]
AND THOU SHALT INQUIRE; AND THEY SHALL DECLARE UNTO THEE THE SENTENCE OF THE JUDGMENT.
[Deuteronomy 17:10] AND THOU SHALT DO ACCORDING TO THE TENOR OF THE SENTENCE, WHICH THEY SHALL DECLARE UNTO THEE FROM THAT PLACE WHICH THE L-RD SHALL CHOOSE; AND THOU SHALT OBSERVE TO DO ACCORDING TO ALL THAT THEY SHALL TEACH THEE.
[Deuteronomy 17:11] ACCORDING TO THE LAW WHICH THEY SHALL TEACH THEE, AND ACCORDING TO THE JUDGMENT WHICH THEY SHALL TELL THEE, THOU SHALT DO; THOU SHALL NOT TURN ASIDE FROM THE SENTENCE WHICH THEY SHALL DECLARE UNTO THEE (TO THE) RIGHT (HAND), NOR (TO THE) LEFT.
[Deuteronomy 17:12] AND THE MAN THAT DOETH PRESUMPTUOUSLY, ON NOT HEARKENING UNTO THE PRIEST THAT STANDETH TO MINISTER THERE (BEFORE) THE L-RD THY G-D, OR UNTO THE JUDGE, EVEN THAT MAN SHALL DIE; AND THOU SHALT EXTERMINATE THE EVIL FROM ISRAEL.
[Deuteronomy 17:13] AND ALL THE PEOPLE SHALL HEAR, AND FEAR, AND DO NO MORE PRESUMPTUOUSLY.’
Take a good look at Daniel 1:3-16. Miracles were performed for Daniel and his friends because of their adherence to Rabbinic decrees. The Torah gives the sages the power to protect the Torah, to erect fences around the Torah. Much like a guardrail protects cars from falling off a highway or into a ravine below or a hedge of roses is to a garden. Numerous times the Torah says to guard and protect the Torah. Hence the erecting of protective degrees of Rabbinic origin is in harmony with Biblical demands. A Rabbinic law made to protect a Biblical law is not adding on the Bible. Just the opposite – it is fulfilling the Biblical injunction of protecting and guarding the Bible.
The Oral Tradition makes protective degrees to keep Jews from intermarrying. These included a ban on Gentile produced wine and cooked foods. Daniel, Chanayah and Mishael risked their lives rather than transgress Rabbinic ordinances. Also, in Daniel 3/6-13, Daniel was found praying three times a day, just as he had done before – it has something to do with the law. What law? Not so much Biblical law, but a Rabbinical law encouraging regular prayer. Yet Daniel, a prophet keeps it.
There are numerous examples of prophets who observed the laws of the Oral Torah. The following is a brief review of a few more. Exodus 20:22 says, “You shall make Me an alter of stone, but do not build it from hewn stone. If you lift up your iron tool upon it, you have profaned it.” Our Oral Tradition said that the rest of the building stones around the temple could only be used if the cutting had not been done at the Temple site. This is exactly the tradition that the Prophets kept during the construction of the first Temple (1-Kings 6:7).
In Leviticus 23:10 the Torah, speaking of the Omer waved offering, says that on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. Anybody who is hip to what is happening knows that Passover is also called a Sabbath. Thus the Torah means that the wave offering should be performed the day after Passover. Going back to the very dawn of our people, the book of Joshua (5:11) testifies to the correctness of that explanation.
Likewise, in the Book of Ruth (4:7), we see Oral Tradition in action. The Talmud teaches the legal mechanisms for exchange of monies and properties. Then here in the Book of Ruth we see money used as a vehicle for transferring ownership of land.
Our sages explain the problem of moving objects into the city from outside (on the Sabbath), in other words moving objects from public to private domains and vice versa. Just take a look in Jeremiah 17:21 and see how the Prophets upheld the intention of the biblical Sabbath laws as explained by the Oral Traditions.
Many times the prophets exhorted the people to keep the non-Biblical laws that emerge from the Oral Bible. As safeguards, these non-Biblical laws serve to protect, guard, and preserve Biblical laws. All of our traditions maintain that Divine Inspiration did not leave the sages. In the texts of the prophets can be found discussions relating to the applications of Torah laws. They support the explanations and elucidations of cryptic, vague, and otherwise non-intelligible Biblical commands. Again and again, the Torah tells us to listen to prophet or sage. Deuteronomy 17:8-11 and Leviticus 26:46 clearly imply there will always be sages to go to.
Our Oral Tradition tells us that all that was, is, and shall be, is hidden in the Torah; not only in a general way, but in a specific way as well. Concerning this secret truth, that we are incapable of fully understanding, the book of Job says, ‘Its measure is longer than the world.’
Chapter Six
PROPHETS; KEEPING RABBINIC JUDAISM