Transmission and Reception of the Oral Torah

The first mishnah in tractate Avot narrates the unbroken chain of transmission of the Torah—that is, the Oral Torah—from Moses at Sinai, through the Second Temple period, to the rabbis themselves. In doing so, it legitimates the idea and the authority of the Oral Torah, harking all the way back to the revelation at Sinai. Many have noted that this mishnah omits the priesthood from that chain of transmission, probably in a deliberate response to the Sadducees, who were associated with the priesthood and who rejected the concept of an Oral Torah (see PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES). In b. Gittin 60b, a term repeated in Exodus 34:27 is found to offer a scriptural basis for the rabbinic belief in both a written and an oral revelation, while the Talmud simultaneously articulates different rules for the transmission of the Written and Oral Torahs. This passage is also noteworthy because it suggests that God and Israel’s covenantal relationship is predicated on the Oral Law. Similarly, b. Yoma records a debate that interprets the plural torot (lit., Torahs) in Genesis 26:5 as referring to both the Oral and the Written Torah and thereby suggests that God’s covenant with Abraham was based on Abraham’s observance of both Torahs. These exegeses may be understood as the rabbis’ efforts to retroactively establish their own project and the legitimacy of the Oral Torah.

The fantastical story in b. Menaḥot 29b rhetorically asserts that the entirety of rabbinic interpretation was included in the revelation at Sinai—even the Torah that Moses himself did not know when transported to the study hall of the great Rabbi Akiva.

In b. Eruvin 54b, the rabbis once again imagine the transmission of the Oral Torah, mishnah by mishnah, chapter by chapter, from God to Moses, to Aaron, to Aaron’s sons, and to all Israel, all the while articulating the principles of pedagogy for a teacher of Torah. In Sifre Deuteronomy, the rabbis assert that learning Torah from even the lowliest Jew is like learning Torah directly from God.