Parshat Re'eh: Why Do We Need the Oral Law?

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We know the significance of the Written Law. It appears in the Bible, after all. But why do we need the Oral Law, too? Isn't the Written Law more than enough?

[@lisamoorefryedesjardins1628]

Wow, wow! I just can't get over how things fit so well, how they make so much more sense when tbe torah is explored in this way. What an awesome Father we have!

[@Law9223]

What about these verse? Gen 18:7 - And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. 18:8 - And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.

[@ritchiewhite9601]

That was before it was mentioned not to do so.

[@MFPhoto1]

Abraham promised the strangers a small bit of food and water, and then prepared a feast. A feast would not have been a quick meal. The meat would have been eaten an hour or more after the dairy. The written Torah only gives the minimal information so not to waste words.

[@travisallen4907]

@@MFPhoto1 go back and read again. It says Abraham placed all 3 foods before the angles and they are the meat and drank the milk.

[@travisallen4907]

@@MFPhoto1 I don’t interpret the tankah but to “boil a kid in its mother milk” doesn’t make sense but what we understood from this is that we shouldn’t cook a baby goat that is still living of his mother milk. A baby goat that’s not developed. When yah asks for sacrifice he asks for the best of the cattle, and when u eat, u should chose a a healthy male first born goat. So I guess boiling a kid in his mother milk means don’t kill a goat that just been brought into the world. When yah was displeased with the isrealites sacrifice, he said they don’t sacrifice the best of their cattle, but they were choosing the worst, because they were selfish. Do you think yah wanted a baby goat to be killed?

[@MFPhoto1]

@@travisallen4907 The milk and meat would not be put before the guests at the same time. Remember the Torah is not meant to be a book of history, so exact and minute details are left out. As for boiling a kid in its mother's milk, the idea of doing so is somewhat abhorrent. This is a negative mitzvah, negative in the sense telling us what not to do, teaching us a level of compassion. You can probably get a clearer explanation from a rabbi.

[@ipell5280]

Thank you for this application of the oral law's in interpreting the written code. The best explanation I ever heard on the Kosher prohibition of mixing dairy and meat was from a Jewish businessman. He said, "God, being a God of Love, would want to make sure a kid was never eaten together with its mother. That would be an abomination." I can see how any such practice would be repulsive. I've never eaten a cheeseburger since, just in case. God being Love Itself would never want such a horrible violation of a Principle of natural Law - that of Love being the origin of Life.

[@jlupus8804]

From what I know, the Israelites weren’t supposed to boil the goat (a specific animal they pointed out) in milk because that’s what the canaanites did as a rite of passage into adulthood. So I think the spirit of the text is to avoid cruel/unusual punishment of the animal, not to not kill it, or not to mix milk product with meat product.

[@MSHOOD123]

exactly

[@ioofmoore5940]

It is stated in torah, "do nit boil a cake in its mothers milk" that is the reason we can not mix meat and diary

[@TailsSpain]

An actual positive way of looking at it. Very inspiring

[@johnsenvnts]

Respect for the animal products that we eat makes us aware of our interdependence with other creatures on the planet that the LORD G-d made for us all to share. I see the compassionate, merciful nature of G-d in this oral interpretation of the Torah regarding not mixing an animal's meat with the milk that nurtured it while alive.

[@mghleira]

Good explanation dear Rabbi. It helped me a lot - personally I mean.

[@phatvegan1691]

THANK YOU, Rabbi and Team!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Digging_deeper_with_Birdie]

Genesis 18:7-8 The Message (MSG) "Then Abraham ran to the cattle pen and picked out a nice plump calf and gave it to the servant who lost no time getting it ready. Then he got curds and milk, brought them with the calf that had been roasted, set the meal before the men, and stood there under the tree while they ate."

[@jlupus8804]

2 perspectives: grand ideals and filters of those ideals How: written and oral Torahs

[@shazee2009yt]

Very nice! Thanks.

[@joshuadc82]

Good video expressing the idea but doesn't the written Torah say not to add or subtract laws and ordinances from it?

[@AlephBeta]

joshua c Check out the discussion board for this video; it might shed some light on your question. If not, join in and ask away! goo.gl/5hBcHF

[@joshuadc82]

+Aleph Beta- Torah Videos thanks

[@James66662]

+Aleph Beta the torah says dont add or take away from the word HERE JUST 2 WAYS ORTHODOX jews change the law give me answers here 1 milk and cheese why is fish and diary allowed yet chicken and cheese are not allowed both come from diff animals 2 tzitzit the torah says have a tread off blue on tzitzit , u rather not even wear tzitzit because it CLEARLY SAYS HAVE A TREAD OFF BLUE , HOW MUCH EASY IS IT , thats the only way to fullfill the mitzvh no blue dont use it imagine having a convo with G-d ask u why did u break my law for tzitzit , are u then gonna say wait G-d u know i could'nt find the blue tread which comes from a snail do know stupid this sounds u need a snail to keep this mitzvah ( just think about this logic as an individual, G-d give u a brain use it to think ) the torah doesnt say if u dont find blue its fine use any color its SAYS HAVE A BLUE, so just by this using white only tzitzit irrespective your ways on how u get /find/what blue you use shows u now change what torah says

[@sheilaelanajelen2228]

i agree its very stupid and counterintuitive to break a doara rita in order to create an unneeded "fence"

[@travisallen4907]

@@alansharonpisarek1789 I keep teaching this but they don’t listen that they’re breaking a divine command of not adding to the Torah. They feel their rabbis were so revered their words are equal to gods. Some of them say the rabbis even spoke to good. Ridiculous set of people. So smart but yet so dumb.

[@WookbooKtheeKpopTrucker]

Great idea here. TODAH THANK YOU I am a Messianic and am being blessed by your wisdom an insights in your videos. I appreciate your Jewish perspective and knowledge as I grow to know more how to follow Torah. At first I didn't care for the Talmud oral law. But there is insight in it I have found. Even if I see it as commentary of the Torah by the Sages. I read other books or sermons on the Bible, why not Talmud? Plus when I found out the Hebrew word for Yeshua's disciples was Talmudym, I was even more ok with the Talmud. I dont know everything but learn wisdom from those that know more. This meat and dairy issue was always puzzling to me especially if you just read the Torah. Todah so much for giving the spiritual meaning to this. I'm considering not mixing meat at dairy now. It reminds me of vegans or vegetarians. Sure some eat that way because they may hold animals equal to humans. But I can respect when people want to respect life. All life. Before the flood we were vegetarians. And when all of creation is restored the wolf will lay with the lamb. We will be vegetarians again. What is sin? Missing the mark of Torah? More like missing the mark of perfection and wholeness of the Garden of Eden. Every sin to pulling us further away from God, further away from life. Not saying eating meat is wrong, but being vegetarian is spiritually one step closer to the Garden. I like meat too much to become vegetarian but I do try to pray before every meat I eat. Thank that animal for giving its life to give me life. We are so far removed from sacrifices. Most of us are far removed from farming and killing animals ourselves for food. We lose some of the respect for life. First we lose the sanctity of animal life, then that can lead to losing sanctity of human life. Again Todah, this was a great video. A question I have. One reason I didn't have a problem with a cheeseburger was when God visited Abraham in Genesis 18. He prepared a meal for Him of meat and dairy. If God and Abraham mixed them why shouldn't we? Is there something I'm missing in this narrative?

[@sudhalatha3292]

Jewish commentators explain that Abraham first served dairy and then he served meat. And it is customary to wait six hours between dairy and meat, but one can eat dairy and meat in a single meal but before eating dairy after meat he should thoroughly wash his mouth and hands and remove all meat and then he can indulge in dairy. Iam not imposing my belief on you, God forbid I should do it. Do as HaShem guides you..

[@alg11297]

I don't know much about poetry but quoting Emily Dickenstein on doing a deed seems misplaced as she lived her entire life alone, and rarely left her house.

[@ipell5280]

That could be why she is so aware of intentions dying before they are ever carried out.

[@davidadixon]

Context is everything. When you pull a verse out of context, you can bend it to mean anything you want. The commandment not to boil a kid in its mother's milk is given 3 times. In all three cases, the context is not about food, but about giving to YHVH what is owed to Him. Exo 23:17 Three times in the year every one of your males shall appear before the Adon YAHWEH. Exo 23:18 You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven. And the fat of My feast shall not pass the night until morning. Exo 23:19 The first, the first-fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of YAHWEH your Elohim. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk. AND... Exo 34:25 You shall not slaughter the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, nor shall the sacrifice of the Passover Feast pass the night until morning. Exo 34:26 You shall bring the first of the first-fruits of your ground to the house of YAHWEH your Elohim. You shall not boil a kid in the milk of its mother. AND... Deu 14:21 You shall not eat of anything that died of itself. You may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it. Or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people to YAHWEH your Elohim. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk. Deu 14:22 Tithing you shall tithe all the increase of your seed that the field yields year by year. Deu 14:23 And you shall eat before YAHWEH your Elohim in the place which He shall choose to cause His name to dwell there (Jerusalem), the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first-lings of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to fear YAHWEH your Elohim all your days. Now, in this final case (Deuteronomy 14:21) some may argue that the verse does talk about eating food. However, as any Orthodox Jew knows, the chapter and verse marks do not appear in the original Torah - they were placed there by a Christian who was trying to make the Bible easier to index. Notice in Deuteronomy 14 the phrase "For you are a holy people to YAHWEH your Elohim." This is a bookend, that brings an end to the thoughts expressed above. What do I mean by that? Well, look at the start of this chapter... Deu 14:1 You are sons to YAHWEH your Elohim; you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. Deu 14:2 For you are a holy people to YAHWEH your Elohim; and YAHWEH has chosen you to be a people to Him, a special treasure out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Deu 14:3 You shall not eat any abominable thing. Verse 2 also has the phrase "For you are a holy people to YAHWEH your Elohim". This is the starting bookend. Everything in between those to instances of that phrase is about what sort of animals canbe eaten, and which cannot. However, this third instance of "do not boil a kid in it's mother's milk" appears AFTER that ending bookmark. It is not meant to be associated with the commandments above, but rather, with the commandments below it. A better placement of the verse mark for this section would have read as this... Deu 14:21 You shall not eat of anything that died of itself. You may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it. Or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people to YAHWEH your Elohim. Deu 14:22 You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk. Tithing you shall tithe all the increase of your seed that the field yields year by year. Deu 14:23 And you shall eat before YAHWEH your Elohim in the place which He shall choose to cause His name to dwell there (Jerusalem), the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first-lings of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to fear YAHWEH your Elohim all your days. When you place the verse mark directly after the phrase "or you are a holy people to YAHWEH your Elohim", it then separates "boil a kid" from the context of the thoughts (on what animals are to be eaten) found above it, and now connects it instead to the context of the two verses below it concerning offerings to YHVH... making it match up with the context of the other two instances of "boil a kid" found in Exodus. This phrase has absolutely nothing to do with food. It is an idiom. It is a way of saying "don't be stingy" or "don't be cheap", as in... "Don't be so cheap that you would boil a kid in it's own mother's milk" The idea being that you should have separate animals for milking, and separate animals for meat... instead of being cheap and having only one animal serve both purposes. Likewise, when you appear before YHVH to offer your Firstfruits and your tithes, do not be cheap and offer inferior products to YHVH (taking your Firstfruits store form the same lot that you keep your old store in). Make sure you have set aside your true Firstfruits for Him, and offer those... don't be so cheap that you offer Him your old store instead of your new store. This is all a prime example of how off-base many of the oral laws found in the Talmud are.

[@my2cents49]

Almost none of those verses were about mixing meat and dairy (the kid and milk). Also, are you aware that the Hebrew word for dairy is literally the word for milk - as in, it says im the text not to boil (cook) the lamb with dairy. Dairy and milk are the same thing. It's *English* that differentiates them linguistically. Jews aren't going to take the time to read through this long rant of a comment. You should be trying to learn something from Jews if studying Jewish texts. To insist otherwise is both arrogant and ignorant.

[@BertGraef]

thanks.This makes much more sense.

[@BertGraef]

@@my2cents49 I did read the "rant". Makes a hell of a lot more sense than what the rabbis teach.

[@yngvedavidsson]

What about Ashera and the destiny?

[@my2cents49]

Should've turned off commenting for this one to keep away all the ridiculous Christian trolls...

[@powellmachineinc3179]

Cheese comes from milk cows, hamburgers come from beef cows, do not add to or take away from these words I am commanding you today!

[@pninafrank9972]

Huh e doesnt address why on shabbat meat has become almost compulsory.for any festivity.why isnt vegetarianism promoted now.

[@yngvedavidsson]

What about Ashe

[@robbihuffine6626]

Gee, I wonder why the Angels didn't rebuke Father Avraham for serving them Milk and Meat..!

[@rakheldandy5339]

Robbi Huffine Because Abraham’s guests were first served readily available ‘milk’ foods, while the more lengthy preparation of meat (kosher slaughter, salting the meat to remove the blood, then washing it) that way the guests had a little something to enjoy while waiting for the main meal- we could say at a guest house we had oerderves and cocktails before the main meal.

[@mikemagnus9447]

@@rakheldandy5339 But the Torah said that he first slaughtered the calf, then served it, WITH the milk products, to the Angels. Besides, he had no idea of the Oral Torah - The TORAH itself hadn't even been given yet! Yeah, sure, some traditions from Noah or Adam, but the entire kashrut laws as we have them back then? Doubt it.

[@ehochner]

@@mikemagnus9447 Slaughtering the meat was the beginning of a process that would take a while until the meat could be eaten (as the blood and fats need to be removed and then roasting) in the interim they ate dairy

[@mikemagnus9447]

@@ehochner That's true... And you wouldn't want your guests to be starving, would you... ?

[@phatvegan1691]

I'm NOT educated in the Rambam, and have only just started reading from The Stone Edition Torah. (In English) Would you consume animal flesh every day? Wouldn't that in some way make the idea of slaughtering animal meaningless? Shouldn't animal flash consumption only happen on the occasion.? I would appreciate thoughts on this. If someone reads this and gets upset, please forgive me there was no intent.

[@rapturebound197]

Wasn't it Eve who first added to what G-d said when she responded to the serpent?! You could say that was the first instance of an "oral" torah. How well did that work out? NEVER add or subtract from what G-d says. Take Him at His word!

[@MFPhoto1]

The two cannot compare. Eve's words were here own, and the oral Torah is from G-d. Gen. 26.5 mentions Torah in the plural. See comment above. Would He put it in His Torah if it weren't true?

[@my2cents49]

Christians are so arrogant it's embarrassing...

[@maggoli67]

Never eaten a beef patty with a beef cow's cheese...

[@jonhenning]

I can't argue against the application of of Torah into our daily lives but when we normalize that application doesn't that keep us from growing?

[@kingdomtruther6922]

Yeshua rebuked the pharisees over and over for their oral laws....

[@sudhalatha3292]

You don't understand the motive of the Oral law. If you really want to follow Torah's commandment of not eating a kid in its mother's milk not as interpreted by the rabbis then you should become vegetarian, because you never know if the milk in your lamb and yogurt is actually from the mother of the lamb you are eating. The oral gives you a safety mechanism. Walk as He guides you, God forbid, I should impose my belief on you..

[@lea-marikriel4461]

Sorry it just doesn't make sence to add to torah, because of Deuteronomy 12:32. And the WORD said simply don't boil a young goat in it's mother's milk. Point

[@MSHOOD123]

milk and meat not together, that's just one of the many RABBINICAL prohibition, not God's. We all know that Abraham offered meat and curd together and God ate them together.

[@4thday892]

the milk and meat idea and interpretation is rather new - 10th century from Rashi - how the heck then do you say this was transmitted since sinai.... most of the laws and instructions are given with the perspective that God was trying to establish differences between His people and the other people who did such things as cook baby goats in the milk of its mother - a Cannanite ritual common in the land. This is just one example of many that were given to make sure Israel was separated and holy from other nations The oral law is no different than Paul's epistles - additions and twisting of scripture

[@twobirds1817]

so why do we eat meat or drink milk at all if in the garden we just ate fruit.Its not like in the times now we will die if we didnt.Maybe back then they needed to eat these things to survive but we dont.I don't eat much meat or milk now but I am really wondering if I should eat it at all.I am not kosher but I am thinking about doing it However like I asked originally why do we even eat these things at all.If any one can answer what they think I would appreciate people's thoughts about this thank you.

[@MFPhoto1]

Eating meat was allowed as a concession to human weakness.

[@littlefelipeg]

From everyone who holds to the oral Law and has given his preference to it. You say that the Rock [God] has given Israel two Laws,One which is written, and one which was preserved in your mouths.If this is as you say,Then indeed your deeds are but falsehood and rebellion against God. The Holy One YHWH has given you an oral Law,So that you would recite it orally,For, say you, He had deemed it, in His wisdom, an important oral command.Why, then, did you write it down in ornate script? Had the Merciful One YHWH wished to write it down, He would have had it written down by MOSES...HELLO??? Now did He not give it to you to be studied orally, And had He not ordained it not to be inscribed in a book? Yet they altered God's alleged words and wrote it down, And instead of studying it orally they transferred it into writing. How, then, can their words be believed, seeing that they have offended grievously? They cannot withdraw from his contradictory path. They wrote down both Laws, thus adding and taking away the Commandments of the Almighty YHWH. Where, then, is the oral Law in which they place their trust? THE TORAH WAS WRITTEN DOWN...I HAVE A VIDEO PRESENTATION ON THIS.

[@sethdonahue3441]

This video at the start is wrong ,the oral Torah was not given to Moses at Sinai, it was added later . They broke the Law by adding . like Rome's priest's they add their interpolation to the scriptures , it makes them needed. and then you don't need the holy spirit to teach you. deut 4 :2 and Matt 15: 1-3.

[@duke-swtmate4154]

+seth donahue The talmud is man's law, not God's law. That is why Jews are totally wrong if they thing keeping the talmud is God's will. Either you live according to the Tora or you do not. And Jews do not if they keep the laws made by men.

[@littlefelipeg]

+Duke - SWT Mate Im Karaite and I keep the PURE TORAH....NO TALMUD...TORAH IS PERFECT...I HAVE A VIDEO ON THIS.

[@deadtoselfShema]

Hey Duke - SWT Mate, you really need to re read Seth Donahue's note you replied to. Your note agrees with what he said, but with a he is wrong perspective. In other words your note to him says he "Seth" is agreeing with the video, and he is not.

[@JewishJewels1]

Please explain why Jesus said to obey the Pharisees because “they sit in he seat of Moses”?

[@wesleyogilvie8105]

@@JewishJewels1 Matthew 23:1-4, Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. When the Pharisees were sitting in the seat of Moses they were reading from the Word of God, but in practice they kept their man made laws and traditions and imposed them on others.

[@noahsark987]

Do not add to the written Torah. It was written for a farmer, shepherd, and any uneducated person to understand.

[@MFPhoto1]

You mean don't add references to a man-god?

[@MagnificentCastles-bj3fg]

Please read Gen 18:8, the Jews got it wrong

[@noahsark987]

Cows are not sacred animals. They are clean and meant to be eaten. This oral Torah has stupid laws the Rabbi made up like the Pharasees who were condemned by Yeshua.

[@MFPhoto1]

The oral Torah is mentioned in the written Torah. Gen. 26.5: "Because Abraham obeyed My voice, and observed My commandments, My edits, and My Torahs." From here we learn two things. Abraham knew the Torah prophetically, and that there were more than one Torah -- the written and the oral. Otherwise, why would the word Torah be plural? Why use "Toratoy" instead of "Torah?"

[@Yedidiyah]

@@MFPhoto1 Because the Torah is made up of multiple torahs (laws or instructions). For example, in your city you must obey THE LAW in order to not be punished. The collection of LAWS (plural) are identified under a singular definition (THE LAW). Or if you say that you are a LAW ABIDING CITIZEN, are you suggesting that you are only abiding by one law? Or course not, you are referring to the totality of the law. In the Torah there isn't a just a singular law or instruction, but instead a series of laws or instructions that are categorized under a singular title, "Torah". It's eisegetical to imply that the verse is referring to an Oral Torah when it in fact makes no mention of one. What other verses do you find that mention an Oral Torah?

[@MFPhoto1]

@@Yedidiyah When Hashem tells Moshe to make the seven branched menorah, He says to make it just the way Moshe was shown. It does not say what Moshe was shown. This was an oral instruction not written down.