The Talmud on Oral and Written Torahs

b. Berakhot 5a

R. Levi bar Ḥama said [that] R. Simeon ben Lakish said: [God said to Moses, “Ascend to me on the mountain and be there], and I will give you the stone tablets and the Torah and the mitzvah that I have written that you may teach them” (Exodus 24:12). The tablets are the ten commandments, the Torah is the five books of Moses. The mitzvah is the Mishnah; that I have written refers to the Prophets and Writings; that you may teach them refers to the Talmud. [This verse] teaches [that] all [aspects of Torah] were given to [Moses] from Sinai.

b. Megillah 19b

And R. Ḥiyya bar Abba said [that] R. Yoḥanan said: What is [the meaning of that] which is written: And the Lord delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words which the Lord spoke with you in the mountain (Deuteronomy 9:10)? This teaches that the Holy One showed Moses [all] the inferences [of] the Torah; and [all] the inferences of the scribes; and all [the new halakhot] that the scribes were destined to introduce.

b. Berakhot 8a

Rava said to Rafram bar Papa: Let the master say to us some of those outstanding statements that you said in the name of R. Ḥisda with regard to matters of the synagogue.

[Rafram] said to him: R. Ḥisda said as follows: What is [the meaning of the verse]: The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob (Psalm 87:2)? [This means that] the Lord loves the gates distinguished [metsuyanim] through [the study of halakhah] more than the synagogues and study halls.

And this [is expressed in that which] R. Ḥiyya bar Ammi said in the name of Ulla: Since the day the Temple was destroyed, the Holy One has only [one place] in His world [where he reveals His presence exclusively]; only the four cubits [where the study] of halakhah [is undertaken].

Abaye said: At first I studied in the house and prayed in the synagogue. Once I heard what R. Ḥiyya bar Ammi said in the name of Ulla: Since the day the Temple was destroyed, the Holy One has only [one place] in His world, only the four cubits of halakhah alone, I pray only where I study.

R. Ammi and R. Assi, despite [the fact] that they had thirteen synagogues in Tiberias, they would only pray between the pillars where they studied.

b. Bava Batra 12a–b

R. Avdimi from Haifa says: From the day that the Temple was destroyed, prophecy was taken from the prophets and given to the sages. Is that to say [that] a sage is not [fit to be] a prophet? [R. Avdimi seems to say that these are two distinct categories of people. The Gemara explains:] This is what [R. Avdimi] is saying: Even though [prophecy] was taken from the prophets, it was not taken from the sages. Amemar said: And a sage is greater than a prophet, as it is stated: And a prophet has a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12). Who is compared to whom? You must say that the lesser is compared to the greater. [ . . . ] R. Ashi said: Know [that this is so], as a great man makes a statement, and [the same statement] is [then] cited as a halakhah [transmitted] to Moses from Sinai in accordance with his [statement.] But perhaps [he arrived at this idea by chance], like a blind man [who makes his way] through a skylight. But does [the sage] not offer a reason [for his statement]?