What exactly are the Rabbinical writings in Judaism?

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t~tmLestatmt~t

New member
I know that some Jews believe that the Torah and the Rabbinical writings are equally holy. What exactly are they? Is that the stuff contained within the Talmud? And is the Talmud just commentary on the Torah?
 
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Stevenmmmmm

New member
Both "A Parcel..." and Ruth are correct, but they seem to disagree on what you meant by "holy."

They also left out all the Rabbinical writings that revolve around the Talmud, such as Rashi, Tosafot, and all the other Rishonim and Acharonim (lit. Early Ones - b4 the Shulchan Arukh=appx 1550; and Later Ones - from 1550-present).

In addition, Jews consider any work that discusses Torah (in the general sense, not just the Bible) as part of the Oral Torah. So any work on Halakha, such as Maimonides and the Shulchan Arukh, and all the works that revolve around them, are also considered "holy."

The Talmud is not exactly a "commentary" on the Torah. It's the main text of the Oral Torah, whereas the Bible (what you called the "Torah") is the Written Torah. The general term "Torah" refers to both. Orthodox Jewry considers both to be divine - the Written Torah is that actual word of God to the prophets, and the Oral Torah originated at Sinai as well. (There's a large debate that's been raging for centuries as to exactly how much of the Oral Torah is directly from God and how much is human invention; too much to go into here.)

The Talmud does do Biblical Commentary in many places, and most of the Laws discussed within it are based on Biblical verses, but the main goal of the Talmud is not Biblical Exegesis - it's to ascertain the Halakha, the Law.

This is a very large topic, and I highly recommend that you ask you Local (hopefully scholarly) Orthodox** Rabbi for more.
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**Reform Jsm assigns much less importance to the Talmud.
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To summarize:
The Rabbinical Writings is anything written by a Jewish scholar discussing the Torah. Torah is very broad, and includes the Bible, the Mishna and Talmud, Ethics, Jewish Philosophy*(*actually, some may disagree here), and more.
Orthodox Jewry views the Oral and Written Torahs as equal. Both are divine (debate as to how much). Both are sacred. Both are "holy."
The Rabbinical Writings include, but is certainly not limited to, the Talmud.
The Talmud is much more than a commentary on the Written Torah. It contains discussions about the Halakha, it contains Commentary on Biblical Verses, it contains Moral and Ethical lessons, and it even contains stories about the Rabbis.
 
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ConvertRuthAsher

New member
answer: No, Jews don't believe the rabbinical writings/Talmud are holy. They view them as what they are, discussion, debate and comments on the Torah by learned men. The Talmud is commentary on the Torah but very important in Judaism.

For example:
"Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy."

Okay - how do you do that? How do you make Shabbat holy? After generations and much debate, we have the candlelighting blessings, the blessings of bread, and blessings of wine, blessings on the family and instructions on how to do those blessings.

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Added: I downplayed the concept of "holy" as that is usually misunderstood, especially in R/S. I would use the term "revere" to describe the Jewish Talmud and writings and holy to describe the Torah. All too often the accusation is hurled around that Jews worship the Talmud and discount the Torah, which we know isn't true.

That's where my mind was.
 
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allonyoav

New member
No Jews consider the Rabbinical writings as holy as the Torah- that would be saying that the men who wrote them were the equal of G-d, a concept and statement no Jew would ever make!

Lets start with what the Talmud is:
The Talmud contains two main parts
Mishnah- the oral law handed down at Mt Sinai, by G-d, at the same time as he gave Moshe the written Torah. The written Torah cannot be understood or practiced without the Mishnah- but was onyl taught orally for a long time. When it was written down due to the exile and trhe fear it would be forgotten or distorted, it was written down as the teachings of the Rabbis of the previous era, as we are required to credit our teachers for the things they have taught us. They did not originate the laws- but to give honour to our teachers, we state when they told us a law in order that they be remebered and honoured for their knowledge. The line of transmission is stated in the first chapter of Pirkei Avos (ethics of the fathers), which is actually the Talmudic tractate of Avos.

The second part of the Talmud is the Gemorrah- Rabbinical discussions and explanations of the laws given in the Mishnah. here they teach not only what the laws are- but frequently also provide mystical, ethical, moral and spiritual guidance lessons that can be learnt from the laws. They also provide case studies, show the essential principles behind the laws, and how we can then extend and extrapolate the application of the law to new situations.

Other rabbinic writings are commentaries on the Torah, later commentaries on the Talmud, commentaries on other books etc.

IOn short, we revere and study the writings of the Rabbis intensely- they were much closer to the source and had teachings and sources which have been lost- leaving us reliant on what they recorded. Their writings are not holy, but we pay close attention to them in order to know how best to behave and conduct our lives
 
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