HIS:Torah, The Oral Tradition,(SHEBE'AL PEH)

   IS THE SHEBE'AL PEH (THE ORAL LAW OF THE RABBIS) A TORAH?

   IS THE SHEBE'AL PEH INSPIRED BY THE ALMIGHTY?

   WAS THE SHEBE'AL PEH GIVEN TO MOSES AT SINAI BY G-D?

   DOES THE SHEBE'AL PEH OF THE RABBIS' EQUAL IN INSPIRATION

   TO THE "TORAH SHE-BIKHTAB" (THE WRITTEN TORAH)?

   These are the pertinent questions that we must answer.  According to
Rabbi Neusner, a foremost Talmudist, the Oral Tradition really begins
with Rabbi Akiba in the end of the First century, and reaches its
height in the second century under Judah HaNasi with the codifying of
the Mishnah, the central core of the Oral Tradition.

   The two main arguments that are used in Rabbinic Judaism to prove
that the Oral Tradition has its origins at Sinai are as follows:

   I) "That it is difficult, if not impossible, to make sense of the
written law, without an oral tradition" (Talmud Shabbat 31A).  Rabbi
Hillel, a Babylonian Rabbi who existed during the time of the Messiah,
even went further, to say that without an oral tradition, it is
impossible to even identify the letters of the alef-Bet (alphabet).

   II)"That there are principles of Oral Law which date back from the
same  time as the written law."

   I) The Rabbis had made note that they must now share the Torah with
the Nations of the world (due to the rise of Christianity), so that the
true people of G-d would become clouded.  Since the Rabbis' considered
that the gentiles had stolen Torah from them, the only way for G-d to
discern between the true people of G-d was through the  Sheba"el
Peh".(Tanh., Ki Tissa, 58b) When the Gentiles would say to G-d, we are
the true children of the L-rd because we keep the Torah,  the L-rd
would respond to them: "do you know my secret?" They would respond:
What secret.  and the L-rd responds, my children know my secret". (R
Judah, Pes.R. 14b) That secret is the Oral Tradition.

   II) The oral tradition are the codes and rules for observing the
Mitzvot that the Rabbis attribute to Moses.  They're statement "That
the teaching which came to us from the Mishnah of the Sages is of
identical date and origin with that which is derived by interpretation
of the Scriptural word, all is given by One G-d and communicated by one
and the same Prophet", must be rejected for while some statements of
Mishnah date back to the time of Joshua or even Moses, they were
discussions of how to handle certain leperous signs in the camp. 
Another dealt with the daughters of Zelophehad when they first settled
in the land of Israel.  These tractates were by the Rabbis considered
amongst the first Mishnayot.  And as we shall see in a later article
that even the framers of the Mishnah did not intend that they should
become Scripture but when the overwhelming majority of Rabbis began to
subscribe to the notion that the Mishnah was so powerful that it was
even more precious than the Torah.  (Num.R., Naso, xiv, 10.), the
framers of the Oral tradition succumbed to the majority and Oral
Tradition became the modis operandi of Rabbinic Judaism.

   Of course all this hinges on the Rabbinic theory that Moses did not
receive the entire Torah at Sinai (Exodus R.  41). Rabbi Akiba asks
rhetorically "and did then Moses learn the entire Torah" and he replies
"No, G-d taught him only the principles of Torah".  Also Sefer
Ha-Ikarim III, 23 states "It is not possible to claim that G-d gave the
Torah in such a way that it should provide for all times and all
events. Moses was given only the Principles.

    Of course Torah Davarim (Deut.) 31:24 states that Moses wrote them
all down.  The Book of Davarim gives testimony that the covenant
between the Almighty and children is what G-d dictated to Moses at
Sinai and Moses spoke to the Children of Israel to keep.  The warnings
to world wide dispersion for breaking the Torah She-bikhtab are a
sinister spector that still hangs over our people. (Ref>"The Oral Law
by H. Chaim Schimmel) and Rabbinic Anthology by Moses Montifiore)
