Oral law
Learn about this topic in these articles:
compilation
- In Judah ha-Nasi
…the centuries a body of Oral Law had developed. In order to preserve this tradition, Judah spent some 50 years in Bet Sheʿarim sifting the Oral Law, which he then compiled into six orders dealing with laws related to agriculture, festivals, marriage, civil law, the temple service, and ritual purity.…
Read More
Greek philosophy
- In Judaism: Philo Judaeus
…had some knowledge of the Oral Law, which was developing in his time, and he also knew of the Essenes, whom he praised highly.
Read More
Karaism
- In Karaism
…Jewish religious movement that repudiated oral tradition as a source of divine law and defended the Hebrew Bible as the sole authentic font of religious doctrine and practice. In dismissing the Talmud as man-made law substituted for the God-given Torah, Karaism set itself in direct opposition to Rabbinic Judaism.
Read More
Pharisees
recitation
- In Jewish religious year: Pilgrim festivals
…passages from Scripture and the Oral Law (Mishna) compiled in the late medieval period. An expanded liturgy includes Hallel, public readings from the Torah, yizkor (in many congregations), and musaf. The Book of Ruth is read at the synagogue service, possibly because of its harvest-season setting.
Read More
Sadducees
- In Sadducee
For the Sadducees, the Oral Law—i.e., the vast body of postbiblical Jewish legal traditions—meant next to nothing. By contrast, the Pharisees revered the Torah but further claimed that oral tradition was part and parcel of Mosaic Law. Because of their strict adherence to the Written Law, the Sadducees acted…
Read More
Talmud
- In Judaism: Sources and scope of the Torah
…them, carried down in an oral tradition over many generations, which acquired the status of oral Torah.
Read More