by: Rabbi Avraham Feld of Jerusalem, Israel

We are about to go on a short journey into the realm of the legitimate keepers of the Torah. Those who put their minds, hearts, souls, and shoulders to learning the Holy Torah will discover that the landscape is vast and beautiful.  Enjoy.

Once a non-Jew asked the great and saintly Shammai:  “How many Torahs do you have?”  “Two”  he answered. “One Oral and one Written, as it says: 

"THESE ARE THE STATUTES AND JUDGMENTS AND LAWS [Hebrew: “Torot” or “Toros” i.e. the plural of Torah], WHICH THE LORD MADE BETWEEN HIM AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL IN MOUNT SINAI BY THE HAND OF MOSES” [LEVITICUS 26:46]. 

The non-Jewish fellow said, “I believe you concerning the Written but not in regards to the Oral Law. Convert me on condition that you teach me only the Written Law.” Shammai became indignant and sent him away. The man then went to the equally great and saintly Hillel who accepted him for the conversion program. On the first day Hillel taught the person the alphabet: Aleph, beth, gimmel, dalet, etc. On the second day Hillel reversed the letters. The prospective convert disagreed and said:  “Yesterday you taught me a DIFFERENT sequence.” Hillel answered, “My son, you are relying on me anyway so rely on me concerning the Oral Torah too.”

In other words we would not know how to pronounce the Hebrew Alphabet if not for the Oral tradition. Similarly in order to understand the Laws we have to rely on oral tradition. Without such a tradition even the written law would not be accessible.

Listen to this, my beloved friends, - our Rabbis and scribes only started putting vowels to Hebrew consonants between the 6th and 10th centuries. This is the opinion of archaeologists today. The earliest vocalized texts, 895 C.E., are the Cairo Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and 12 minor prophets). The twenty-four books of the Bible were vocalized in the Aleppo Codex, 930 C.E., almost ruined in the anti-Jewish pogroms in 1947. Also, the Leningrad Codex with the Hebrew Bible was dated at 1000 C.E. (Biblical Archaeology Review * (s, 1982)
Lawrence Keleman, Permission to Receive (Four Rational Approaches to the Torah’s Divine Origin), Targen Press.)

Torah scrolls were written from the Torah’s revelation at Mt. Sinai and throughout the 40 years of wandering without vowels  during the time of the prophets, as well. Complete, utter, absolute reliance was on the Oral Tradition. In the case of the Torah extra-textural, knowledge is crucial to determine the simple meanings of many texts and elucidation of G-d’s wishes. Three times, for example, the Bible says not cook meat with the three-letter Hebrew word chalav (milk). Chalav can be just as easily pronounced cheylev (animal fats). Without any authoritative Oral Law, we would not know the Divine command was not to cook with some animal fats. This passed on through many millions of people having no questions or doubts because of the clear Oral Bible, which specifies the three letter word to be milk.

Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz once went to visit his uncle Rabbi Avraham Yaffeu who was the head of the Novhardok Yeshivah. This Yeshivah was a college of higher Rabbinic studies that emphasized a particular type of Musar. “Musar”
means “reproval” and is the name applied to a rigorous ethical-spiritual movement in the Torah world. The aim was to hunt out and remove even the slightest hint of ulterior motivation in the service of God and humanity. Rabbi Chaim asked the Rosh Yeshivah (i.e. dean) who amongst his amazing student body was the most outstanding. Rabbi Chaim first showed him various brilliant students with high IQs and photographic memories. He then singled out one boy who was not absolutely the most brilliant. This young man, said Rabbi Chaim, is the greatest searcher. Namely he tries with every fiber of his being to seek out and know God’s words, wisdom, and will. He puts all his heart and soul into this search and so will excel beyond the others.  The student in question became Rabbi Yisroel Kanievsky (“The Stiepler”) who was renown for his Torah scholarship, community concern, and ability to perform miracles. He passed away only recently. This is the ongoing tradition that has never ceased.

Maimonides (Rambam) carefully records the generations since the Giving of Torah at Sinai until his own time 800 years ago. There had passed only 120 generations. We can even list them exactly.