Jewish Written and Oral Tradition
within the Covenant

This is a summary of the sources of Jewish tradition from a generally Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox perspective and then slightly critical assessments. The main sections are:

Hebrew Bible (containing Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuvim) and

Halachah (Oral Torah) (containing Mishnah, Babylonian Talmud, Jerusalem or Palestinian Talmud, Responsa, Codes, Bet Din and Halachah now) and

Aggadah (Teachings) (containing Kabbalah, Ethics and Character).

 

 

 

 

Hebrew Bible

The Bible breaks down into:

Torah

5 books of Moses

Nev'im

Books of the Prophets

Ketuvim

Holy writings

The three make up the whole Hebrew Bible or

Tanakh

 

Torah

Containing Commandments, Ethics, Historical form

Genesis

Bereshit

Exodus

Shemot

Leviticus

Vayikra

Numbers

Bemidbar

Deuteronomy

Devarim
Repetition of the Torah Mishnet Torah

 

Nevi'im

Books of the Prophets

Joshua

Judges

Samuel

Kings

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Ezekiel

12 shorter books

 

Ketuvim

Holy Writings

Esther

Daniel

Ezra

Nehemiah

Chronicles

Psalms

Proverbs

Ruth

Ecclesiastes

Job

Song of Songs

 

The Bible combines mythic history and more reliable history, given little or at best patchy evidence for Abraham and Moses. Although written in the order of Law and then Prophets, from a standpoint of revelation, scholarship suggests prophetic utterances leading then to Law, and much is from Babylonian exile. What matters is the story. The Covenant continues to this day.

 

Halachah

Going with God or Oral Torah (Law)

Orthodox Jews believe that when God gave Moses the 613 written mitzvot (commandments) he also gave Moses the interpretation given in the Oral Torah

 

Mishnah

Mishnah means learning by repetition.

Seeds

Zeraim

Appointed Festival Times

Moed

Women

Nashim

Damages

Nezikin

Sacred and Holy Matters

Kedoshim

Purities

Taharot

 

Talmud

 

Babylonian Talmud

Being Gerema (completion) added to Mishnah.

 

Jerusalem Talmud

Similar earlier process at 400 CE in Jerusalem as in Babylon but less large and prestigious.

 

Responsa

 

Codes

 

Bet Din

 

 

Halachah now

 

Reform and Liberal Jews do not accept that Moses received both the written and oral Torah at Sinai. This combination is an essential part of Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox thinking. Biblical criticism follows on from this basic assumption - Orthodoxy is not fundamentalist but has its basic revelatory assumption.

 

Aggadah

Teaching and Explanation of the Tanakh

 

Kabbalah

Book of Splendour

Zohar

 

The idea of Kabbalah or Qabala has also appealed to Pagans. This is the notion of secretive, special, intrinsic knowledge contained in the precise words and their arrangement of the Bible and other traditional worded elements. It brings forward the content of numbers and prediction. The secret of the future of the world is contained within. It also reflects in Christianity the notion of the Bible as magical, to be opened at random to reveal a special message (almost in the manner of Sikh readings). In Pagan terms the words are said in the precise order and the magic is released. Whilst Jewish faith certainly connects words and world, this is mainly knowledge (including direct and emotional) over magic, and that knowledge contains routes to God through his revelation.

 

Ethics and Character

 

 

Contents:

Hebrew Bible (containing Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuvim)

Halachah (Oral Torah) (containing Mishnah, Babylonian Talmud, Jerusalem or Palestinian Talmud, Responsa, Codes, Bet Din and Halachah now) and

Aggadah (Teachings) (containing Kabbalah, Ethics and Character)