Went to Wednesday Night Church Tonight...

Is the New Testament the Same as Written Torah? Question 40

I apologize in advance but I have a whole bunch of questions and I'm just going to throw them out there:

Israeli Military is Gearing Up

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Spiritual Exercises for the Ten Days of Awe (Cajun)

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A Refutation of the Divine Command Theory of Rabbinic Authority

There is a view gaining ground in the Messianic movement that credits Rabbinic Judaism with Divine authority--we'll call the Divine Command Theory [DCT].  The proponents are not even aware of the danger of this position--that it leads inexorably to the view that Halachic Codes have greater authority for practice than the New Testament!

Sounds crazy?  How could a Messianic ever allow a non-inspired text to have authority even over the New Testament?  I will now explain to you how it is not only possible but that it is already happening and may in fact be too late for some of the largest Messianic organizations.

First, I shall explain the implicit Rabbinic rationales for DCT, respond to those rationales, and then I shall explain the particular Messianic rationale for DCT which attempts to use Matthew 23 as a grant of Divine Authority to Rabbinic writings and respond to it.

The Rabbinic rationales for DCT are as follows:

(1) Power to Interpret Jewish Law.  Deuteronomy 17:9 refers to the "judge who is in office in those days" which is taken to mean that the institutional heads of Judaism have absolute authority to interpret Jewish Law.  Since the writings of the Sages were composed by the institutional heads of Judaism, the Rabbinic writings represent the official interpretation of Jewish Law;

(2) Power to legislate Jewish Law.  Numbers 11:16-17 refers to the establishment of the proto-Sanhedrin, a collection of leaders who are given "the spirit which is upon [Moses]".  The Sages of Rabbinic Judaism, while not having sat on the Sanhedrin, are a substitute for this institution and fulfill its role;

(3) Power to legislate/interpret Jewish Law (alternative theory based on Rabbinic writings carrying the authority of accepted practice).  Even if the Rabbis are not a substitute for the Sanhedrin or other judges, their writings have nevertheless undergone a transmutation of authority from personal to institutional by the process of their writings being endowed with the authority of accepted practice.  In Judaism, de facto authority is de jure authority.  Therefore, the Rabbinic Writings in partnership with contemporary communities, have collectively fulfilled the office of Moses.

Response to the Rabbinic rationales for DCT:

Of these rationales, the strongest by far is the third.  The other two don't work because Rabbinic Authority could never meet the criteria for the institutions referred to in Deuteronomy 17 and Numbers 11 and even if it did those institutions had very narrow jurisdiction and were not responsible for the legislation of halacha.  But the third rationale attempts to overcome these weaknesses by proposing that the real authority behind the Rabbinic writings is the authority granted from the contemporary institutions of Judaism--the authority of accepted practice.  If the end-product of Rabbinic Judaism--the Codes--have been accepted by a consensus of contemporary Jewish communities then that would make the Codes the de facto authority for halacha.

It's important to understand that Moses himself was bound by the Written Torah.  He was prohibited from making unConstitutional legislation, legislation that violated the letter or spirit of the Written Torah.  In other words, Moses was prohibited from going against the Divine will.  This means that he had to put into place measures to ensure that subsequent holders of the Mosaic office (i.e. various institutions) would not overstep their Constitutional authority.

One of these Constitutional safeguards was the prohibition of writing down the oral tradition (Gittin 60b).  Presumably, the fear was that a written oral tradition would finalize that which was intended to be continually evolving and, in the process of finalization, render unConstitutional errors permanent.

The Written Torah specifies that the oral tradition was a verbal dialogue:

"Every word [davar] which I am instructing you, you shall do it," (Deut. 12:32).

and:

 "..in each generation, the head of the court or the prophet of that generation would take notes of the teachings which he received from his masters for himself, and teach them verbally in public," (Rambam, Intro to Mishneh Torah).

There was deemed to be an ongoing dialogue between the halachist of each generation and G-d Himself:

  "A Talmudic expression of the dialogic view of revelation is the interpretation of the verse in Proverbs (1:8): 'Hear, my son, the instruction of they father, and forsake not the teaching (torat) of they mother,' where 'father' is said to refer to God, and 'mother' is said to refer to the community of Israel (Knesset Yisrael).  In this view, the Torah is revealed directly by God as well as through the community of Israel.  Torah is the product of an ongoing dialogue between God and Israel.  Accordingly, the dialogic view perceives the prophet as a 'partner in the work of revelation.'  An example of this perspective is the text, 'Rabbi Judah says: ...the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses:  Behold, I shall speak to you and you shall answer Me,'" pg. 25, In Partnership with God by Byron Sherwin.

The vertical dialogue took place between the halachists of each generation and G-d;  The horizontal dialogue took place between the teachers and their students.

Rambam describes the initial links in the chain of horizontal, oral transmission:

"Even though the Oral Law was not transcribed, Moses, our teacher, taught it in its entirety in his court to the seventy elders. Elazar, Pinchas, and Joshua received the tradition from Moses. [In particular, Moses] transmitted the Oral Law to Joshua, who was his [primary] disciple, and instructed him regarding it.

Similarly, throughout his life Joshua taught the Oral Law. Many elders received the tradition from him. Eli received the tradition from the elders and from Pinchas. Samuel received the tradition from Eli and his court. David received the tradition from Samuel and his court," (Intro to Mishneh Torah).

And Rambam goes on to describe the continuation of the transmission through the prophets, etc.

If it had been possible to effectively finalize the halacha in a code, would not these great men have codified the halacha?

It was because codification of halacha was impossible that they continued to transmit the oral tradition through the oral, dialogic process.

It's also important to understand that the dialogic process involved machloket (debate).  This active, critical process (as opposed to passive reception) ensured that any errors that came up could be resolved.  Debate was also seen as a necessary check to despotic tendencies which might eventually erode the supremacy of the Written Torah.  Nahmanides was a firm supporter of debating the supposed unquestionable authority of the Sages:

"...in thirteenth-century Spain, Nahmanides (Moses ben Nahman) expressed this view in his glosses to Maimonides's Sefer Ha-Mitzvot, 'Notwithstanding my ardent desire to be a disciple of the earlier authorities, to establish and maintain their views, to [adorn myself] by making their [views] a gold chain about my neck and a bracelet upon my hand, I shall not serve them as a 'donkey carrying books.'  I shall explain their methods and appreciate their value, but when their views cannot be comprehended by me, I shall debate before them in all modesty, I shall judge according to what appears best in my eyes...for God gives wisdom in all times and in all ages,'" (In Partnership with God by Byron Sherwin).

The Messianic Rationale for DCT:

The Messianic rationale for DCT is based on Matthew 23:1-4 which says:

"Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying 'The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:  All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.  For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers."

Messianic proponents of DCT view this as a carte blanche authority for "normative" Judaism (i.e. the de facto authority of Judaism).

Response to the Messianic Rationale for DCT:

The response to this is twofold:

(1) Yeshua endorsed the pre 70 C.E. halachic system in which oral transmission was still employed.  For the reasons stated above, it is unlikely He could've endorsed the end-product of Rabbinic Judaism--codified halacha;

(2) The other problem with this view for Messianics is that Rabbinic halacha preempts all matters in which Messianics might like to someday establish their own halacha.  But if Messianics accept the divine command theory of rabbinic authority then they forfeit the right to establishing halacha that contradicts codified halacha--in effect, they grant the Codes a higher authority than the New Testament!

I've gotta run but I'll talk more about this later.  Hope everyone had a lovely Rosh Hashanah!

Instances Where Yeshua Violated MODERN Rabbinic Halachah

So Gene asked a great question (I love a good question).  He asked:

Online English Translation of Shulchan Aruch

So this is a good resource for a number of reasons:  (1) it contains all the halachah of Rabbinic Judaism and (2) the author, Shlomo Ganzfried (1804-1896), was careful to note the SOURCES of the halacha.  So he refers to Written Torah and Rabbinic sources.  Very, very, useful.

You can find it here.

Just click the link and scroll down to where it says "Hebrew and English" translation.  Oh, the other helpful thing to know is how Shulchan Aruch is structured.  So check out that wikipedia link for a brief overview.

Oh, one more thing.  I've recommended that we all start with the topic of Shabbat and then eventually move on to other topics (e.g. Tzitzit, Tefillin, etc).  Shabbat is the foundation for everything so it seems like a good place to start as we look for principles for a Messianic halachah.

In Shulchan Aruch, you'll find that there's four major sections/volumes.  Shabbat is covered in volume Orach Chayim, chapters 72-96 I believe.

Enjoy!

Nachmanides Disagrees with Gene Shlomovich About Rabbinic Authority

So Boaz, Gene, UMJC, many others all repeat the mantra "The Rabbis hold the authority of Moses" (paraphrase).  But is this really what Yeshua meant in Matthew 23?

To answer this question, let's first consider how Yeshua approached halacha.  We'll look at Shabbat as an example:

What Does it Mean that Paul was a Pharisee?

Here's a little fun fact for you.  Did you know that the defining quality of a Pharisee was that he believed in the twofold nature of Torah (i.e. the Written Torah and the Oral Torah)?

Check this out:

Boaz Michael: A Misuse of Rhetoric

[UPDATE:  I've changed the title of this post in order to be gentler toward Boaz]

Boaz wrote recently:

"Instead of attacking Christianity, Messianic Gentiles would do well to focus on what is good about Christianity. This is necessary for several reasons, not least of which is the fact that Messianic Gentiles, as stated above, are Christians. Just as important, though, is the impact this positive attitude will have on any effort to bring Christians to recognize the Jewish roots of their faith," (attributed to Boaz Michael from an early manuscript of the forthcoming book "Tent of David", pgs 50-51).

I'd like to talk a little about deception and persuasion and then come back to this statement by Boaz Michael.

How to Remember Ambassador Stevens

For those who don't know, Ambassador Stevens, our ambassador to Libya, was killed yesterday by Libyan extremists.  You can read about it here.  Also killed were three staff members.

This is a sad day.  Ambassador Jeffries said it best to a friend of mine recently as they were leaving a function at the State Department.  Speaking of the brave men and women who serve at the State Department, he said, "These are the people that are working each day to keep us from going to war."

I was angry when I heard about what happened to Ambassador Stevens.  I wanted revenge.  But then I remember why he was over there.  He was not only doing his duty to protect Americans but he was doing something that honors G-d.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God," (Matthew 5:9)

Keep the family members of the fallen in your prayers today.  Those families paid a terrible price so that we can all enjoy some measure of peace.

(More or Less) Complete List of Shabbat Passages in Tenak and New Testament

Introduction to the Mishnah: Tractates Shabbat and Erubin

The Mysterious Number 40

Rabbinic Abuses of Casuistry: How Rabbinic Halacha Negates Written Torah and its Spirit

Rabbinic Abuses of Casuistry:  How Rabbinic Halacha Negates Written Torah and its Spirit

"Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Mark 7:7).

"Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 'The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.5 Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long'" (Matthew 23:1-5).