The Oral Torah

[2025-10-22 Wed]

1. Not all of the Torah was written down

The part that Moshe heard directly from God but did not write down is called the Torah Shebe’al Peh — the Oral Torah.
The Oral Torah explains and expands upon the Written Torah, helping us understand how to apply it.
- It was passed down through generations:
  1. Moshe (Moses)
  2. The Zekenim (Elders)
  3. The Nevi’im (Prophets)
  4. The Anshei Knesset HaGedolah (Men of the Great Assembly) in Babylon
  5. Tanaaim(People after the zuggot, they felt that they were just repeating it–They took the words of the sages)
  6. Amorraaim. They explained the mishnaiot. They did not argue on the tanaaim
- The sages often spoke both Hebrew and Aramaic.

The Sanhedrin was the supreme council and court of Jewish law.
- Nasi – The president or leader of the Sanhedrin
- Av Beit Din – The head of the court of law
The two final prominent leaders before the destruction of the Second Temple were Hillel and Shammai.
- Their discussions and disagreements were recorded and preserved.
- The Sanhedrin ensured that proper legal decisions were made and that justice was upheld.

Over time, the Oral Tora began to become very large
As time went own it became more and more difficult to remember the mishnah
The sages realizd that if the mishnah was not written down it would be forgotten
[Insert name] gathered the pieces of the tanaaim and wrote them down. These bits were called mishnaiot, and the collection of them were called the mishnah. Mishnah comes from the word שׁנה that means repeat
- After rabbi yehuda, the mishnah was locked so nobody could make changes to it
- The mishnah was very compact and the sages had to work hard to explain it
Other sages gathered parts of the oral torah and wrote it on their own. These were called beraitot, which come from the word "bera" that means outside. These bits were not included in the mishnah.

The aorraaim explained the misnah in dusccissions called "seguiot". The whole collection of them is called the "gemarah"
Like the mishnah, the gemarah was collected and written
Unlike the mishnah, the gemarah was written in hebrew and aramaic.
Mishnaiot are very short and copact