“A.) Is there an existential difference between that Jewish Oral Tradition handed down over the centuries (or even millenia from the time of Moses until that Oral Tradition was codified) and Roman Catholic Oral Tradition passed on from Bishop to Bishop until it was later codified?”
I did not know there was a Roman Catholic oral tradition. Which Bishop did it start with and when?
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/812102/jewish/What-is-the-Oral-Torah.htm
The Torah has two parts: The “Torah Shebichtav” (Written Law), which is composed of the twenty-four books of the Tanach, and the “Torah Sheba’al Peh” (Oral Law).
God told Moses1 that he will give him “the Torah and the commandments.” Why did God add the word “commandments?” Are there any commandments which are not included in the Torah? This verse (amongst others) is a clear inference to the existence of the Oral Torah.
The Oral Torah was transmitted from father to son and from teacher to disciple
Originally the Oral Law was not transcribed. Instead it was transmitted from father to son and from teacher to disciple (thus the name “Oral” Law). Approximately 1800 years ago, Rabbi Judah the Prince concluded that because of all the travails of Exile, the Oral Law would be forgotten if it would not be recorded on paper. He, therefore, assembled the scholars of his generation and compiled the Mishnah, a (shorthanded) collection of all the oral teachings that preceded him. Since then, the Oral Law has ceased to be “oral” and as time passed more and more of the previously oral tradition was recorded.
The Oral Law consists of three components:
1. Laws Given to Moses at Sinai (Halachah L’Moshe M’Sinai):
When Moses went up to heaven to receive the Torah, God gave him the Written Torah together with many instructions. These instructions are called “Halachah L’Moshe M’Sinai” (the Law that was given to Moses on Sinai). Maimonides writes that it is impossible for there to be an argument or disagreement concerning a Halachah L’Moshe M’Sinai, for the Jews who heard the instructions from Moses implemented them into their daily lives and passed it on to their children, who passed it on to their children, etc.
Nicely said.
Perhaps the “commandments” were something else? Could one be engaging in mere or rampant extrapolation to say that “Tis verse is a clear inference to the existence of the oral Torah.” And you yourself say that it is inferred. It could mean something else.
Was the Oral Torah passed from father to son and teacher to disciple without any possibility of human error? Was this transmission absolutely perfect in every way, form and fashion, so that no possibility of error exists today?
Why not write it down then and there (at least part of it in Moses’ time) so as to eliminate this possibility of error?
“B.) If an Oral Tradition is carried from person to person over a period of time (from say 33 A.D. until 90’s A.D. - around the time of John’s death) and that New Testament Oral Tradition was being codified during that time period, is that codification different or greater in authority (given that it could have been subject to the Apostle John’s acceptance or rejection) than Oral Tradition that is/was codified over a much larger expanse of time - say from after John’s death up until the Counter Reformation?”
The Oral Torah was given to Moshe Rabbienu (Moses) at Mount Sinai 3,000 years ago along with the Written Torah. It was written down about 200 years after the Christian’s rabbi did his thing. Keep in mind that the Christian’s rabbi followed both the written and oral as well as the spirit of those words. And he encouraged his fellow Jews to do the same. He never said a negative thing about either the written or the oral, but he did have some choice words for the religious and political leadership who weren’t very consistent in their walk because of the influence of Hellenism at that time and also the fact that the Hasmoneans (from which the whole Maccabean revolt started against the Selucids some 167 years previous) were from the tribe of Levi and claimed the throne of Judah. Why they did this no one knows for sure.
About 100 years before the Christian’s rabbi came on the scene, Romans and other non-Jews started becoming very interested in the Torah. This suddenly increased after the death of JC to the point that questions were being raised by the rabbi’s students about whether non-Jews should follow Torah, should Jews eat non-kosher food, etc.
This was the start of the B’nai Noach (Children of Noah) movement.
The number of non-Jewish followers of the Torah exploded to the point where they started forming their own B’nai Noach congregations locally as well as in other parts of the Middle East. There were questions by these congregations about how they should follow the Torah. I don’t think JC’s students were ready for this but they did their best to answer their questions in replies by letter back (aka The Epistles).
I’m sure JC’s students used what they knew of the written as well as the Oral Torah to help these non-Jewish, God-fearing congregations in their walk. How much of it was transmitted to the Bishops, after Rome did a corporate takeover of the B’nai Noach congregations (under Constantin in 312) and converted them to churches of the Catholic Church, I don’t know.
When Moses went up to heaven to receive the Torah, God gave him the Written Torah together with many instructions. These instructions are called “Halachah L’Moshe M’Sinai” (the Law that was given to Moses on Sinai). Maimonides writes that it is impossible for there to be an argument or disagreement concerning a Halachah L’Moshe M’Sinai, for the Jews who heard the instructions from Moses implemented them into their daily lives and passed it on to their children, who passed it on to their children, etc.
Deuteronomy 4 tells us that Moses told the people of Israel to hear the statutes and decrees that he was teaching them to observe, and he concluded:
“However, take care and be earnestly on your guard
not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen,
nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live,
but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.”
I can imagine that when the people took possession of the land that the Lord gave them, they were very careful to observe the statutes and decrees that God commanded to Moses, that they committed them to memory, that they had their children and their children’s children commit them to memory, and that their children and their children’s children did the same until they were codified into the Torah.
Acts 2 tells us that the first Christians devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, and every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes.
I can equally imagine that these Jewish Christians likewise were very careful to observe the teachings that Jesus commanded to the apostles, that they committed them to memory, , that they had their children and their children’s children commit them to memory, and that their children and their children’s children did the same until they were codified into the New Testament and the Sacred Tradition of the Church.
Are you referring to Exodus 24:12, where:
Yahweh said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will give you the tables of stone with the law and the commands that I have written, that you may teach them."
Unless you are speaking of a different passage, I don't see where God was speaking of an Oral Torah/Law. Moses later explained to the people about what God gave to him:
"So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. "The LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might perform them in the land where you are going over to possess it. (Deuteronomy 4:13,14)
Again, I see no mention of an Oral Torah that Moses commanded be followed that was not also codified BY Moses.
A bit late on this, but what position relative to Scripture is the Gemerah held?