-----Original Message-----
From: Shomeir
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2004 5:44 PM
To:  House of Israel Newsgroup 
Subject: More food for thought on the Oral Law

Shalom friends,

It was recently pointed out to me that Rambam (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon) made the following shocking statements in his Introduction to the Mishna:

Here is the Rambam’s introductory words from the Rabbinic doctrine called “Lo BaShamayim Hi” (It is not in Heaven):

pp. 15-16: He who prophecies in the name... if he changes anything in the oral law, even if the plain meaning of Scripture supports what he says, for example, if he says, that when the Torah says 'you shall cut off her hand; [show no pity]' (Dt 25:12) that it literally means cutting off the hand and not a monetary fine as we are taught by the oral law, and that prophet attributes his statement to prophecy saying, 'The Holy-One, Blessed be He, told me that the commandment that says, 'you shall cut off her hand' is to be understood at face value, that prophet shall be executed through strangulation...

pp.27-28
"If there are 1000 prophets, all of them of the stature of Elijah and Elisha, giving a certain interpretation, and 1001 Rabbis giving the opposite interpretation, you shall 'incline after the majority' and the law is according to the 1001 Rabbis, not according to the 1000 venerable prophets. And thus our Sages said, 'By God, if we heard the matter directly from the mouth of Joshua the son of Nun, we would not obey him nor would we listen to him!" The Sages said further, "If Elijah comes and tells us, 'The levirate obligation is cancelled through a shoe (see Dt 25:9), we will listen to him [because this is what the Oral Law teaches], but if he says it is cancelled through a sandal, we will not listen to him [because this is contrary to the Oral Law].' ...And so if a prophet testifies, that the Holy-One, Blessed be He, told him, that the law of a certain commandment is such and such, or that the reasoning of a certain sage is correct, that prophet must be executed... as it is written, 'it is not in heaven' (Dt 30:12). Thus God did not permit us to learn from the prophets, only from the Rabbis who are men of logic and reason."

My response to this information was this:

I am not at all concerned by any of this; because, in presenting his hypotheticals, Rambam is using obvious hyperbole.  The point that he is making is that the oral law, like the written law, is not subject to revision at a later time.  Are you saying that you believe that the harsher judgment of "cutting off the hand" is the correct one?  Did not Yeshua and Paul also make extensive use of hyperbole, metaphor and other devices?  The oral law teaches that "an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth,..." is a requirement for monetary equivalence.  Are you saying that these are, instead, literal requirements?

Of course the person presenting this information intended to shock me by pointing out that this was 'from the Rabbinic doctrine called "Lo BaShamayim Hi." '  I immediately recognized this phrase from Deutronomy 30:12

Deuteronomy 30:9-16

9 Hashem your God will cause you to prosper in everything that you undertake; and He will cause the work of your hand, the fruit of your body, the fruit of your cattle, and the fruit of your land to do well.  Hashem will rejoice over you and prosper you just as he rejoiced over your fathers. 10 But only if you will listen to the voice of Hashem your God, and do His mitzvot and His regulations which are written in this book of the law, and turn to Hashem your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.
11 For this mitzvah that I am giving you this day is not hidden from you, nor is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up to heaven and bring it down to us, that we may hear it and do it?" 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will go over the sea for us and bring it back, that we may hear it and do it?" 14 But the word is very near to you; in your mouth and in your heart that you may do it. 15 You see, I have set before you, this day, life and good, death and evil; 16 In that I am commanding you to love Hashem your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His mitzvot, regulations, and rulings; that you may live and multiply.  Then Hashem will bless you in the land you are entering into to take possession of.

The bottom line is this.  Hashem gave us everything we need to keep His instructions perfectly.  How could I not believe in an Oral Law?

Kol tov,
Shomeir

Caveat Lector (Reader Beware!)  My emails are admittedly opinion pieces based on exhaustive research into Jewish teachings.  They are meant to provoke further study.

Help this ministry with a tax deductible donation. Click on the button below

[Home Page]