Jesus and the Oral Torah: Written and Oral Torah

Torah has always been the focus of rabbinic teaching. Unfortunately, the Hebrew word תּוֹרָה (tōrāh) is usually translated in English simply as “law,” which has created the impression that it has to do only with commandments. This is not the case at all. The Torah was given by God as a guideline for a whole way of life. A better translation would be “God’s instructions.”

Written Torah, תּוֹרָה שֶׁבִּכְתָב (tōrāh shebichtāv), consists of the instruction God gave to Israel at Sinai contained in the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Israel’s sages believed that in addition to this written revelation, Moses received further instruction, which was communicated orally. These added instructions were the beginning of the Oral Torah, תּוֹרָה שֶׁבְּעַל פֶּה (tōrāāh sheb^e‘al peh).