Why Do We Need The Oral Torah Fence Around A Fence From The Jewish Sages?

0:21I got a fantastic question as a follow-up to one of the things we mentioned in Stump the Rabbi number 36. That is such a good question that I figured I'd try to make a little short shiur about it to explain. Now, really the foundation of the question is why do we need the Oral Torah? The answer lies in the details found within the Gemara, and also the Shulchan Aruch, and then the Zohar, and the Midrashim, and many other writings that the sages have composed over the years about the details of the laws, the poskim. So, it's important to delve into these sources to appreciate the full scope of Torah teachings. and also the Shulchan Aruch, the Zohar, the Midrashim, and many other writings that the sages have written over the years about the details of the laws, the poskim. So,

1:29The question is, where do we need all of these extra books, if you will? This is the common question that comes from people who have not delved into the Oral Law or understand the significance of the Oral Law. With that being said, we're going to answer that question with a few other questions. First of all, what are the sources that we're supposed to do it? Now, everyone knows that God said to the sages that you have to put a fence around the Torah. But He didn't just say that. He also explained it in several other places. For example, in the book of Devarim, in chapter 17, verse number 9, He says that you shall come to the Kohanim, to the Leviim, and to the judges. Who will be in those days, and you will inquire, and they will tell you the word of judgment. You shall do according to the word that they will tell you from that place that Hashem will choose, and you shall be careful to do according to everything that they will teach you. According to the teachings that they will teach you and according to the judgment that they will say to you, shall you do; you shall not deviate from the word that they will tell you, right or left.

2:46So now, here we see that this is directly God's instructions, you know, said through the words of Moshe Rabbeinu. Uh, that, uh, God is actually telling us that we have to, in the later days—not just in the days of Moshe—but He says, in those days, meaning whatever day it is in the future. When there is a judgment, when there's an issue, when there's a question, you're gonna have to go to the Kohanim, to the Leviim, and to the judges. Meaning, you're gonna have to go to the sages, to the rabbis of that day, and listen to what they say. Ask the questions from them. And do whatever they say as if God said it. Be very, very careful to do everything that they teach you. So we see here that the Oral Torah is mentioned in many places in the Written Torah. Furthermore, the guidance and interpretation, if you will, of the law are being given to the sages, meaning that God is telling us that it's not black and white all the time.

3:58It's not black and white. It's not just, you know, just don't light a fire on Shabbat. There are many other things. But you're going to need to learn from the sages, and they will tell you exactly what's right and wrong. For example, one of the first questions that was asked is about polygamy. According to the Torah, polygamy is actually allowed. It's allowed according to the Torah. But about a thousand years ago, Rabbeinu Gershom put a takanah for all of Klal Yisrael that from that point on, polygamy is forbidden. It's forbidden for Am Yisrael. Even though it says in the Torah it's allowed, Rabbeinu Gershom decreed that it is not permissible. This was a significant ruling for the Jewish people. even though it says in the Torah it's allowed, Rabbeinu Gershom comes out and says, no, it's forbidden. How could such a thing be allowed? Well, it says here that the sages of that day are going to tell you the law based on the situation that's happening at that moment. So, now, there are exceptions to the rule, though.

5:06So what are the exceptions to the rule? The question was, wait a minute, how could polygamy be allowed? God said it's allowed. Okay, so fine. But then Rabbeinu Gershom said it's not allowed. Okay, fine. So now it's not allowed. Better now. Okay, but then you're saying that it is allowed again under certain exceptions. What kind of exception could we have that would allow polygamy again? So here come the sages, the genius sages, and they tell us that there are exceptions, because sometimes a person, and we actually had a case like this that we dealt with seven months ago, where someone came to us and said, listen, I've been married for many years, but unfortunately, his wife has some type of disease, and she has simply gone into a coma. for more than 15 years already. And he says, I met somebody and I want to get married. I want to be a kosher Jew. I want to marry. But am I allowed to get married? Am I allowed to go on a shidduch? And we said, yeah, you have to get a written permission, a special psak just for you from the Beit Din.

6:19uh and uh go to the head beit din of Eretz Yisrael uh and uh once they write it, you'll have it. So, long story short, he went to the beit din in uh Yisrael uh, Rabbi Yosef, I believe it was, uh uh. Either way, it says, yes, since there's verification from the rabbis that he is a rabbi where he lives, and the doctors and the medical records show that the wife is simply not functioning. Therefore, he cannot divorce her because he cannot give her a get. So, to leave him by himself is not, uh, the right thing to do, uh, so therefore they gave him permission to get married. Now, in essence, technically, that means that right now he is married to two women. He's married to two women, so that's an exception. That's an example of an exception that, uh, was made that allowed polygamy.

7:25Today, today, right now. So now, the point being here is that this shows what Hashem was telling us in the book of Deuteronomy—that you have to listen to the sages of that day because they're going to be able to interpret the law and tell you exactly how to apply it on a case-by-case basis because not everything is so simple. and tell you exactly how to apply to a case-by-case basis because not everything is so simple. Another example from the questions that were asked is, you know, we mentioned in the shiur that Iyov (Job) was punished by God. Then she says, wait a minute, you know, why was he punished? It doesn't really say in the verses that Job was tested because the Satan came to God and said that, listen, this Job is only serving you because you gave him everything. If you take everything away from him, then surely he won't serve you. So God says, okay, go test him; you can do anything you want to him, except kill him.

8:26And the Satan did it, and everyone knows the rest of the story, that Iyov (Job) obviously had a very difficult time, to say the least, but eventually passed the test. So the question is, where does this punishment come from? So the sages explained to us that in a Midrash Me'am Loez, Midrash Rabbah, and several other places that... Pharaoh had three advisors, if you will, that he used for guidance. And one of them was Bil'am, Bil'am the wicked. Another was Iyov, and the third one was Yitro. And he asked them, what should we do with these Bnei Yisrael? These Jewish people, what should we do with them? There are so many of them. They may join our enemies and fight against us. So Bilaam said, you should enslave them, you should kill them, you should torture them, and so on and so forth. Yitro said, no, you shouldn't do anything bad to them. And Iyov didn't say anything. So God paid measure for measure, like He always does, to each one of them.

9:31To Bilaam, he was eventually killed by Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aharon HaKohen in the battle. Then Yitro was rewarded by having Moshe as his son-in-law. He himself converted to become a righteous Jew, and he ended up converting his other children and descendants. And eventually, after all that, years later, he ended up coming back to Israel, and he ended up studying with his children in the Midbar Yehudah, the Desert of Judah, and all of them reached the level of Ruach HaKodesh. But Job, although his end was beautiful, ended up being tortured for a little while, being tested for a time. Why? Because he sinned by not saying anything. So here we see that although it says in the verses that Satan said to Hashem, "He's only serving You because of that." Then Hashem said, "Yes, you may test him."

10:42The Midrash here that the Sages explained to us is the reason why Hashem allowed him to do this. Meaning, you can't just, you know, because someone is doing good, just torture him for no reason. The reason why there was an opening to, in essence, justify this really difficult test that Iyov had, You know, where his children died, and he lost all of his money, and he got really sick. To get such a test was unlike any other, not just for the test's sake itself, but also because of the sin that he actually did commit. So we see here that examining the commentary of the sages reveals the reasoning behind what might appear to be chaos or confusion. When you delve into the sin of Adam HaRishon and Chava, it illustrates how Chava ate from the forbidden tree followed by Adam.

11:49We see that Adam really sinned because he wanted to serve Hashem. And we explained in the shiur that Adam wanted to learn to live forever, serve Hashem forever, but he couldn't do it, or at least he didn't know how he could do it if he didn't know how long he was going to live. So he figured, okay, the only way that I can assure myself to live forever is if I eat from the Tree of Life. Now, the Torah says in Chapter 2, verse 9, that the Tree of Life was in the middle of the garden. So, where's the middle of the garden? Where's the middle of the garden? He obviously didn't know where the middle of the garden is. He knew where the Tree of Knowledge is because he ate from it. So that's why it says that as soon as he ate from the Tree of Knowledge, God told the angels... let's, you know, kick him out of the garden lest he put forth his hand and take from the Tree of Life in chapter 3, verse 22. So we see that clearly Adam HaRishon did not know where the Tree of Life was, and the only reason he wanted to eat from it was because he wanted to live forever in order to serve Hashem. Now, the question is...

13:11How would we know this? We know this from the sages. The second thing also in regards to Adam and Chava is why did it even get to that point? How did we get to the point where we even dared to eat from there? What happened there is that we see from Chava in chapter 3, verse number 1, that the serpent went and tried to convince the woman, but how is he going to convince her? He said, "Let us be," and he said, "Wait, God told you not to eat from the tree." And she responds, "He said you should not eat nor touch it, lest you die." So Chava made a mistake here, where she added just a couple of words, saying... convinced the woman, but how is he going to convince her? He said, "Let us be." He said, "Wait, God told you not to eat from the tree?" And she responds, "He said you shouldn't eat, nor touch it, lest you die." So, Chava made a mistake here, where she added just a couple of words, saying... Don't touch. God didn't say don't touch. God just said don't eat. So because she made a human error, not necessarily intentional, just that she figured this is what God meant, or it could have even been a slip of the tongue, similar to when someone tells you, "Listen, I'm not available right now. So, whoever calls me, just tell them I'm not available." Here, there's an unwarranted elaboration, leading one to believe more was prohibited than actually was.

14:28against the tree. As soon as she touched the tree and didn't die, the serpent said, "See, you didn't die. Obviously, God likes you. It's just that He doesn't want you to eat from the Tree of Knowledge because that would allow you to know where the Tree of Life is and live forever." And the rest is history. pushed her against the tree, and when she touched the tree, she didn't die. So he said, "See, you didn't die. Obviously, God lied to you. It's just that He doesn't want you to eat from the Tree of Knowledge because that's going to allow you to know where the Tree of Life is and live forever." And the rest is history. So here the Sages explain to us that the minor mistake of her not adhering to the exact words—and the fact that she added a few words—led to the error. Now, is that the same thing as what happened with Avraham and Sarah?

15:38When Sarah tells Avraham, you know, since I can't have any babies, why don't you marry Hagar and have children with her? Now, on the plain, simple aspect of it, if you look at it, I mean, this doesn't seem like it was such a good decision. Why? Because... Look what happened: the children of Hagar are torturing us today, so maybe there was a mistake. Maybe there was a mistake that Sarah made. But the Torah tells us that it wasn't a mistake, and the sages actually explain how this was the will of Hashem. How do we know? Because when Sarah was telling Avram... ...uh go with Hagar she wasn't telling him uh because she, you know, didn't think that, uh, God, uh, you know, is going to, uh, deliver on His promise. She simply understood the basic, you know, uh, basic, uh, reality that she was living in—that she did not have a uterus...

16:43to bring a baby into the world. So, in order to to bring a baby to the world, so in order to you know, bring the blessing. We have to do our hishtadlut, we have to do our effort, marry Hagar and have kids with her, and then we'll raise them. So it's not that she used her logic like some people do, but rather she used the reality of the circumstance. She used the reality of the circumstance, where if you're missing a body part, you know, it’s...

17:45It's not a matter of interpreting the law to your liking. It's simply looking at things and seeing this is what it is. If a person doesn't have eyes, you're not going to ask them to watch a movie. If a person doesn't have legs, you're not going to ask them to run a five-mile exercise. That's in essence what was happening with Avraham and Sarah. We see from the verses that God tells Avraham to listen to Sarah because she is guiding him properly. The sages explain to us that Sarah actually had a higher level of prophecy than Avraham. Run a five-mile exercise, so that's in essence what Shimon was doing. We see from the verses that God says to Avraham, "Listen to Sarah, listen to Sarah." She guides you the right way. There, the sages explain to us that Sarah actually had an even higher level of prophecy than Avraham. So I was a very righteous person. I had a very high level of prophecy. So now, what's the conclusion of all of this? We see here that all of the stories, the plain simple meaning of the stories, if you just read the verses by themselves without the commentary, without the sages adding the details, the behind the scenes.

18:55are simply just something that you cannot understand the rationale behind it. You can't understand why Iyov (Job) would be tested with such a heavy test. You can't understand why Sarah would ever dare to say, listen, why don't you go marry another woman? You can't understand why Adam ...when discussing the story of Adam and Chava, one might wonder why they would even want to sin if they were already in Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden). It's difficult to comprehend why Chava made such a mistake. Without the commentary and the Midrashim provided by the Chachamim (sages), these details remain elusive. This commentary is a significant component of the Oral Torah, which serves as a protective barrier, a "fence around the fence," to help us understand and guard the mitzvot (commandments). How so? You see that... The sages explained to us that the Oral Torah was already given from the beginning of time. Adam HaRishon already had the Oral Torah. Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov had the Oral Torah. Moshe Rabbeinu received the Oral Torah and the different parts of it, the laws, and so on. However, as the Gemara in Masechet Chagigah and also in Masechet Sotah explains, Hashem left certain parts of it open-ended for the sages to analyze and learn from the Torah, ensuring its dynamic understanding through the generations.

20:10At Mount Sinai, Moshe Rabbeinu received, not every specific detail where it was a definitive "yes" or "no" for everything, but rather, he received the body of the law. Hashem left certain aspects of it open-ended in order for the sages to toil over the Torah, to learn it, and in essence, to get to the truth by toiling by their efforts in order to make them partners in the Torah because when you make somebody a partner in something, they care a lot about it much more than they would if they're simply an employee. This is similar to how He created men with uncircumcised... get to the truth by toiling in their efforts in order to make them partners in the Torah because when you make somebody a partner in something, they care a lot more about it than they would if they're simply an employee. It's the same concept with how He created man, initially uncircumcised. and having to do a circumcision as a Jewish person, circumcision on the eighth day. If you need the person circumcised, why create him uncircumcised? Because Hashem wanted to make man a partner in the creation, if you will. Same concept with the Torah itself, where part of the law, the foundation of the law, He gave to Moshe Rabbeinu, He gave to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, to everyone.

21:18but certain details of the law he left to the sages. He left it to us to learn and toil in order to reach the truth that way. Now, one of those laws is that the Oral Torah itself, all of what I just mentioned, was transmitted orally. That’s why it's called Oral Law, and it was actually forbidden for us to write it down. It's forbidden for us to write it. So from the time of Moshe Rabbeinu until Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, you're talking about well over a thousand years, something like around a thousand years or so, all of this was transmitted orally. There was nothing written down because it was forbidden from writing it down. But then at the time of Rebbe HaKadosh, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi saw that the law was being forgotten. because of all the persecution and also the degradation of the generations, where each generation is less intellectual and less capable than the one before it, he saw that now it's in our hands to preserve this law. The only way to preserve this law is by using the law to interpret certain things, which is...

22:45It was supposed to be oral law for the generations that were capable of doing it, capable of preserving it orally. But now that he sees that things are not being preserved, things are being forgotten, in order to preserve the law itself, he, in essence, said, okay, there is a permission in order for the sake of the Torah, not for the sake of people or even for the sake of his likings or anybody's likings, but for the sake of the Torah itself. We have to now write down the Oral Law. Something that was, in essence, forbidden for previous generations is now allowed for this generation because it's for the sake of preserving the law. Not changing the law, not modifying the law, not adapting the law for any reasons of desire per se, but rather, in order to preserve the law, they had to write down the law. So, uh, and that's how we have all of these books. There are countless books that we have for Israel. Uh, so here we see that this decree that God gave to Israel in the Book of Deuteronomy that we mentioned, where you have to go to the judges, to the Leviyim, to the Kohanim of that day, and they will help you. That fence around the fence, we see that that fence around the fence is not just simply, uh, saying allowed, not allowed, but also...

24:12For the sake of preserving the entire Torah itself. Because if it were not for the Oral Law, we would not understand anything, anything at all from the Written Law, from the Written Torah. We wouldn't understand how to read the verses because part of the Oral Law includes the vowel system. We wouldn't understand why Iyov (Job) was tested. We wouldn't understand why Adam HaRishon was tested, why Sarah... made a decision that she made, we wouldn't understand, quite frankly, anything. We wouldn't understand what it means to keep Shabbat, because the details of keeping Shabbat, or keeping kosher, or keeping family purity (Taharat HaMishpacha), nidah, or keeping pretty much any law, any one of the 613 commandments that Am Yisrael has to keep, we wouldn't understand any of them. ...wouldn't know how to do them, not just not understand them. We wouldn't know how to do them because it doesn't say how to keep Shabbat; it just says don't light a fire. But we know that that's not all there is to it. If you don't light a fire, does that mean you could do a lot of other things? No. So, the Oral Law explains that part. The only reason why we have the Oral Law the way we do today is because of that fence around the fence...

25:28which, in essence, allowed Rebbe HaKadosh, and then everyone thereafter up to today, to write down the oral law. So even the notes that a person takes today after they read a Sefer Torah or they watch one of our shiurim, or anything like that, when you write notes, that actually becomes part of the oral law. that becomes part of the Oral Torah. Meaning, when you write a book that's connected to the Torah, it becomes part of the Oral Torah. The point is that all of this note-taking was forbidden. The ability to write a book about anything that you want regarding the Torah was forbidden because everything was supposed to be transmitted orally. So now that we see that the Oral Law also allowed us to eventually write it down when that was the last option, we see here that we not only need the Oral Law but we simply would not understand anything in the Torah if it wasn’t for it.

26:38anything in the Torah if it wasn't for it. And that's why, Rabotai Yekarim, when you debate, for example, with people of Christianity, atheism, or anyone that simply wants to reject the Torah, you usually see them start off by attacking the Oral Law. The reason why is because, number one, They know that that is the foundation of all of Judaism and what distinguishes it from everyone else, such as the Christians, Catholics, Muslims, and so on. However, it also demonstrates that they themselves do not realize how much they need the Oral Law. Everyone needs the Oral Law because, once again, we are using it without even knowing. Because most people don't know how significant the Oral Law is and what comprises the Oral Law. So here we see that the Oral Torah is the foundation we need in order to understand everything. The ABCs of Torah, the Aleph Bet of Torah, everything in the Torah, requires the Oral Law.

27:45Thank you very much for listening. Have a Shabbat Shalom, Shabbat Mevorach. And B'ezrat Hashem, we'll see you in our shiur on Sunday in Sunny Isles, Florida. Kol tuv.

28:47Thank you.