The following is the second part of my post regarding Pharisaic Oral Law and Authority. The first part, concerning Pharisaic Halachah, can be found here:
http://www.texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?forum_id=15&topic_id=459444
Takanot: Enactments and Decrees of Law:
Takanot and Gezerot are enactments or decrees fabricated out of thin air, with no Scriptural support whatsoever, on the basis that the “Oral Law” allows for the Rabbis to do it. The new laws were then annexed to the Written Word as an addendum, by special Rabbinic authority. Takanah comes from the Hebrew root Tav, Kuf, Nun which carries many meanings such as “to make straight, firm, right, mend, repair, set in order, establish, confirm.” Takanot and Gezerot are designated “Commandments of the Rabbis.” It is said that they were legislated to cure violations of the Written Torah as the people became more lax in their observances.
Most takanot and gezerot (enactments and decrees) date back to at least the time of Hillel and Shammai. You can easily see some of this in Matthew 15:2 where the Pharisees sharply addressed Yeshua:
This is made even more clear in the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew (a 14th-century document redacted by Shem Tov Ibn Shaprut and attached to his polemic work, “Even Bohan” (the “Touch Stone”)) which is worded as:
Yeshua responded to the question by saying:
Keep in mind that a takanah (or enactment) was something that only the Rabbis could manufacture because only they had the self-made authority to do so, or as Yeshua said in Matthew 23:2, because “they have seated themselves in the seat of Moses.”
By the middle of the 2nd century CE, the takanot and gezerot had already become firmly rooted in daily Jewish life. Today, the takanot and gezerot are still considered authoritative, simply because they come with the weight of the “oral law” thus, they are called “mesorot” (from “mesorah”), meaning “to deliver” or “hand over).” The takanot are the handed-down commandments of men that Paul talks about in Colossians 2:8:
By adding numerous commandments to the already established written Law of Moses, and then requiring all Israel to obey the enactments, the scribes and Pharisees had essentially declared to all Israel that they were simply upholding an authoritative “second-revelation” Torah given to Moses. In this way, the Pharisees successfully maneuvered themselves into a position to judge Israel (Matthew 23:2) based on Deuteronomy 17:8-12. They called the product of their decrees, a “fence” (Hebrew: s’yag) around the Torah. As I stated previously in my first post, Judaism’s Pirke Avot (“Ethics of the Fathers”) put it in these words:
In the Mishnah (which means “repetition” or “a verbal teaching by repeated recitation,” also “traditional law”) Avot section 3:13, Rabbi Akiva is known to have said:
The “fence” that the scribes and Pharisees erected between themselves and everyone else served many purposes including that of forcing compliance to the “Oral Torah” and guarding the Written Word from unauthorized access. The written commandments had to be kept safely tucked away from the “unlearned” (‘uneducated”) men and women belonging to the am ha’aretz (“people of the land”) who were not educated in the Pharisaic oral traditions. At the same time, the people of the land were directed to obey a centralized Pharisaic authority lest the written Torah be inadvertently misinterpreted and misapplied. All common people of the land were deemed ignoramuses and unworthy Israelites and Gentiles (Eph 2:14-15, Matt. 23:13) because of their boorish simplicity. The fences of the scribes and Pharisees also served the purpose of allowing them to “improve,” “repair,” and thus add to and diminish from the biblical Law of Moses. As Lord Acton once said: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The takanot were not constructed for the good of the people, or for the good of the Torah (despite what some may wish us to believe). Instead, its primary purpose was to promote and establish central Pharisaic and Rabbinic authority and honor, just as Yeshua so correctly pointed out:
The scribes and Pharisees of Yeshua’s day (and later the Rabbis, who called themselves “elders”) were not bashful about their agenda:
In the Jewish Encyclopedia (Volume 2, p. 337) we learn this:
In the nearly twenty centuries since Hillel and Shammai, nothing much has changed. In Israel, Rabbi Baruch Paz of Yeshivat Beit El, wrote in an article entitled ”Adding, Uprooting, and Rabbinic Authority:”
Of course, if one reads Psalms 119:126 in its exact context, the message is completely different:
Psalm 119:126 doesn’t say that the Rabbis are to act upon His behalf and suspend the Torah! Instead, it calls for YHVH to act against those who want to destroy His Torah. The “they” of verse 126 are the arrogant (verse 122), the oppressors (verse 121), the wicked of the earth (verse 119), and those who stray from the statutes (verse 118). It is they who have made void the Torah. The psalmist is comparing the laws and regulations of the oppressors with those of YHVH – Your testimonies, Your judgments, Your salvation, Your righteous word, Your lovingkindness, Your statutes, Your law (Torah), Your commandments, and Your precepts.
Continuing his thoughts, Rabbi Baruch Paz writes:
Here, Rabbi Paz confuses halacha with takanah, perhaps because he does not consciously know the difference between the two, since Rabbinic Judaism has so thoroughly intertwined the two together. Certainly, during the lives of Yeshua and His disciples, halacha and takanah were not the same thing.
Rabbinic halacha is written scriptural verses of the written Torah that have been completely undermined or twisted to arrive at some legislation that supports the Pharisaic position of authority in Israel. A takanah, on the other hand, is a Rabbinic enactment that serves as a legal device designed to control the masses with no scriptural support whatsoever.
Rabbi Paz states further:
IT IS PERMISSIBLE TO LEGISLATE A VIOLATION OF THE TORAH, TO MAKE A TAKANAH??? Where is the evidence for this in the written Word? It is not needed because the Sages have declared that the Written Word is irrelevant when it comes to the takanot, because as Rabbis Paz says, it is merely “the preference of one Torah value over another.” However, the Torah says, “you shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it” (Deuteronomy 4:2). Sadly, this material is a foundation of doctrine for the majority of Orthodox Jews today.
For the leaders of Rabbinic (Pharisaic) Judaism, dating back to at least the time of the second temple, the written Torah of Moses was only considered to be a source of law to make new laws. Let me stress: to the Rabbis, the written Law of YHVH serves only as a source of law – it is not considered the Law itself.
With this in mind, let’s now take a look at a handful of examples of these Pharisaic takanot:
• Eighteen laws (gezerot, “decrees” or “measures”) of Hillel and Shammai that are added to the biblical Torah. These include countless stringent rules on maintaining personal ritual purity at all times (which has nothing to do with physical cleanliness). Conversely, one could become ritually impure (from a range of one to four, with four being the least impure), and thus not be allowed to touch holy things such as T’rumah (the holy food of the kohanim in the Temple). (b.Shabbat 13b).
• The law (takanah, “enactment”) of Hillel’s Prosbul, making the commandment of Deuteronomy 15:9 invalid in regards to giving loans and canceling unpaid debts in the Sh’mitah – seventh year of remission (Gittin 36a/b).
• A law (takanah, “enactment”) requiring courts of law to sit on Monday’s and Thursdays (Baba Kama 82a).
• Laws (takanot, “enactments”) regarding blessings over food, or other blessings where the word “V’tzivanu” (“and has commanded us”) is used in the formula (Berachot 33a).
• A law (takanah, “enactment”) to say Kiddush (a sanctification) blessing over wine used for Shabbat and holy days (Berachot 33a).
• A law (takanah, “enactment”) to perform havdalahs (separations) (Berachot 33a).
• A law (gezerah, “decree”) against setting food on a stove on Shabbat, lest one might be tempted to stir the fire (m.Shabbat 3:1).
• A law (gezerah, “decree”) against covering up food with material (on Shabbat) that generates heat (m.Shabbat 3:1). Shabbat laws (gezerot, “decrees”) against swimming lest one repair a swimming vessel or make a swimming bladder; a preventative measure against clapping the hands, slapping the thighs, or dancing, lest he repair musical instruments (Beitzah 36b).
• Laws (takanot, “enactments”) to pray with fixed (structured) prayers (Berachot 33a).
• A law (gezerah, “decree”) that one must give his purse or bag to a Gentile if Erev Shabbat falls upon him while on the road (Shabbat 17b).
• A law (gezerah, “decree”) against allowing a Jew to use the bread, wine, and/or oil of Gentiles (Shabbat 17b).
• Laws (gezerot, “decrees”) for a Jew who may have a Gentile occupying his dwelling (Eruvin 62b).
• A law (gezerah, “decree”) that the courtyard of a Gentile has the same status as that of a cattle pen (Eruvin 62b).
• A law (takanah, “enactment”) forbidding a wife from becoming unattractive to her husband (Baba Kama 82a).
• A law (gezerah, “decree”) prohibiting a Jew from using a winepress, ladle, or funnel belonging to a heathen (Avodah Zarah 74b).
• A law (gezerah, “decree”) that a Jew can contract ritual impurity that affects only the hands and the food that one eats (Shabbat 14b).
• Laws (takanot, “enactments”) supposedly by Ezra that clothes be washed on Thursday; that garlic be eaten on Friday; that a woman must comb her hair before performing immersion (Baba Kama 82a).
This is just a small sampling of the many takanot and gezerot that the scribes, and Pharisees (i.e. “the Rabbis”) created and set alongside the Written Torah of Elohim. Again, from the Babylonian Talmud, Eruvin 21b:
From Flavius Josephus, we get this piece of Jewish history:
This is the basis for Yeshua’s words in Matthew 5:17:
[This message has been edited by Bracy (edited 8/1/2005 1:55a).]
http://www.texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?forum_id=15&topic_id=459444
Takanot: Enactments and Decrees of Law:
Takanot and Gezerot are enactments or decrees fabricated out of thin air, with no Scriptural support whatsoever, on the basis that the “Oral Law” allows for the Rabbis to do it. The new laws were then annexed to the Written Word as an addendum, by special Rabbinic authority. Takanah comes from the Hebrew root Tav, Kuf, Nun which carries many meanings such as “to make straight, firm, right, mend, repair, set in order, establish, confirm.” Takanot and Gezerot are designated “Commandments of the Rabbis.” It is said that they were legislated to cure violations of the Written Torah as the people became more lax in their observances.
Most takanot and gezerot (enactments and decrees) date back to at least the time of Hillel and Shammai. You can easily see some of this in Matthew 15:2 where the Pharisees sharply addressed Yeshua:
quote:
Matthew 15:2: "Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."
This is made even more clear in the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew (a 14th-century document redacted by Shem Tov Ibn Shaprut and attached to his polemic work, “Even Bohan” (the “Touch Stone”)) which is worded as:
quote:
Matthew 15:2: Why do Your disciples transgress the takanot of the first ones (elders)?
Yeshua responded to the question by saying:
quote:
Matthew 15:3: Why do all of you transgress the words of Elohim for your takanot?
Keep in mind that a takanah (or enactment) was something that only the Rabbis could manufacture because only they had the self-made authority to do so, or as Yeshua said in Matthew 23:2, because “they have seated themselves in the seat of Moses.”
By the middle of the 2nd century CE, the takanot and gezerot had already become firmly rooted in daily Jewish life. Today, the takanot and gezerot are still considered authoritative, simply because they come with the weight of the “oral law” thus, they are called “mesorot” (from “mesorah”), meaning “to deliver” or “hand over).” The takanot are the handed-down commandments of men that Paul talks about in Colossians 2:8:
quote:
Colossians 2:8: See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
By adding numerous commandments to the already established written Law of Moses, and then requiring all Israel to obey the enactments, the scribes and Pharisees had essentially declared to all Israel that they were simply upholding an authoritative “second-revelation” Torah given to Moses. In this way, the Pharisees successfully maneuvered themselves into a position to judge Israel (Matthew 23:2) based on Deuteronomy 17:8-12. They called the product of their decrees, a “fence” (Hebrew: s’yag) around the Torah. As I stated previously in my first post, Judaism’s Pirke Avot (“Ethics of the Fathers”) put it in these words:
quote:
Moses received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua; Joshua to the elders; the elders to the prophets; and the prophets handed it down to the men of the Great Assembly. They said three things: Be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the Torah. (m.Avot 1.1)
In the Mishnah (which means “repetition” or “a verbal teaching by repeated recitation,” also “traditional law”) Avot section 3:13, Rabbi Akiva is known to have said:
quote:
Tradition (mesorah, and handed-down teaching) is a fence (s’yag) to the Torah.(m.Avot 3:13).
The “fence” that the scribes and Pharisees erected between themselves and everyone else served many purposes including that of forcing compliance to the “Oral Torah” and guarding the Written Word from unauthorized access. The written commandments had to be kept safely tucked away from the “unlearned” (‘uneducated”) men and women belonging to the am ha’aretz (“people of the land”) who were not educated in the Pharisaic oral traditions. At the same time, the people of the land were directed to obey a centralized Pharisaic authority lest the written Torah be inadvertently misinterpreted and misapplied. All common people of the land were deemed ignoramuses and unworthy Israelites and Gentiles (Eph 2:14-15, Matt. 23:13) because of their boorish simplicity. The fences of the scribes and Pharisees also served the purpose of allowing them to “improve,” “repair,” and thus add to and diminish from the biblical Law of Moses. As Lord Acton once said: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The takanot were not constructed for the good of the people, or for the good of the Torah (despite what some may wish us to believe). Instead, its primary purpose was to promote and establish central Pharisaic and Rabbinic authority and honor, just as Yeshua so correctly pointed out:
quote:
Matthew 23:5-12: "But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels {of their garments.} "They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men. "But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. "Do not call {anyone} on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. "Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, {that is,} Christ. "But the greatest among you shall be your servant. "Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.
The scribes and Pharisees of Yeshua’s day (and later the Rabbis, who called themselves “elders”) were not bashful about their agenda:
quote:
…and even on the view that precepts cannot nullify each other, that applies only to a Biblical [precept] with a Biblical [precept], or a Rabbinical [precept] with a Rabbinical [precept], but in the case of a Scriptural and a Rabbinical [precept], the Rabbinical [one] comes and nullifies the Scriptural [one] (b.Pesachim 115a).
quote:
A person must not say, “I will not keep the commandment of the elders because they are not from the Torah.” The Almighty says to such a person, “No, My son! Rather all that they decree upon you, observe! As it is written, According to the instruction which they teach you (Deut 17:11). Even I (YHVH) must obey their decree, as it is written, You will decree and He will fulfill it (Job 22:28).” (Pesikta Rabbati 3).
In the Jewish Encyclopedia (Volume 2, p. 337) we learn this:
quote:
Even when they (the Rabbis) decide that left should be right or right left, when they are mistaken or misled in their judgment, they must be obeyed (Rosh HaShanah 25a)
In the nearly twenty centuries since Hillel and Shammai, nothing much has changed. In Israel, Rabbi Baruch Paz of Yeshivat Beit El, wrote in an article entitled ”Adding, Uprooting, and Rabbinic Authority:”
quote:
Some rabbinical ordinances were enacted not for the purpose of protecting the laws of the Torah, but because the Rabbis saw an independent need to enact them; others, though were enacted as preventative measures , safeguards to prevent people from violating actual commandments of the Torah. At times the Rabbis even saw fit to uproot a Torah law in order to erect one of these safeguards….
…Rabbinical laws are established and based upon Scriptural passages for support. Temporary [rabbinical] suspension of any Biblical commandment is also considered Torah, for ”It is time to act on God’s behalf, suspend your Torah” (Psalms 119:126), such is not a violation of the commandment ”You shall not add to it nor diminish from it.” (Deut. 4:2)
Of course, if one reads Psalms 119:126 in its exact context, the message is completely different:
quote:
Psalms 119:118-128: You have rejected all those who wander from Your statutes, For their deceitfulness is useless. You have removed all the wicked of the earth {like} dross; Therefore I love Your testimonies. My flesh trembles for fear of You, And I am afraid of Your judgments. I have done justice and righteousness; Do not leave me to my oppressors. Be surety for Your servant for good; Do not let the arrogant oppress me. My eyes fail {with longing} for Your salvation And for Your righteous word. Deal with Your servant according to Your lovingkindness And teach me Your statutes. I am Your servant; give me understanding, That I may know Your testimonies. It is time for the LORD [YHVH]to act, {For} they have broken Your law. Therefore I love Your commandments Above gold, yes, above fine gold. Therefore I esteem right all {Your} precepts concerning everything, I hate every false way.
Psalm 119:126 doesn’t say that the Rabbis are to act upon His behalf and suspend the Torah! Instead, it calls for YHVH to act against those who want to destroy His Torah. The “they” of verse 126 are the arrogant (verse 122), the oppressors (verse 121), the wicked of the earth (verse 119), and those who stray from the statutes (verse 118). It is they who have made void the Torah. The psalmist is comparing the laws and regulations of the oppressors with those of YHVH – Your testimonies, Your judgments, Your salvation, Your righteous word, Your lovingkindness, Your statutes, Your law (Torah), Your commandments, and Your precepts.
Continuing his thoughts, Rabbi Baruch Paz writes:
quote:
It is clear, then, that according to Ravad a rabbinical enactment does not constitute a violation of the commandment ‘You shall not add [onto the Torah].’ What’s more, it is possible to consider them part of the Torah itself, for we find that rabbinical laws themselves are based upon scriptural verses, and if it were forbidden to add, this practice would not be followed. Ravad explains that the temporary suspension of Biblical commandments when necessary is also to be seen as Torah.
Here, Rabbi Paz confuses halacha with takanah, perhaps because he does not consciously know the difference between the two, since Rabbinic Judaism has so thoroughly intertwined the two together. Certainly, during the lives of Yeshua and His disciples, halacha and takanah were not the same thing.
Rabbinic halacha is written scriptural verses of the written Torah that have been completely undermined or twisted to arrive at some legislation that supports the Pharisaic position of authority in Israel. A takanah, on the other hand, is a Rabbinic enactment that serves as a legal device designed to control the masses with no scriptural support whatsoever.
Rabbi Paz states further:
quote:
For the sake of the Torah, the Sages are even permitted to enact permanent active violations of the Torah. After all, all rabbinical law rests upon the fact that the Rabbis evaluate things in accordance with Torah values. They say that these evaluations are actually part of the Torah itself, within the framework of the Torah, and that they are the natural development of the desire of the Torah. The Rabbis did not simply enact decrees and ordinances for the fun of it. They enacted them according to the needs and necessities of the Torah. This being the case, it is permissible to legislate a violation of the Torah (note: this is a takanah), for this is not really a violation as such, but the preference of one Torah value over another.
IT IS PERMISSIBLE TO LEGISLATE A VIOLATION OF THE TORAH, TO MAKE A TAKANAH??? Where is the evidence for this in the written Word? It is not needed because the Sages have declared that the Written Word is irrelevant when it comes to the takanot, because as Rabbis Paz says, it is merely “the preference of one Torah value over another.” However, the Torah says, “you shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it” (Deuteronomy 4:2). Sadly, this material is a foundation of doctrine for the majority of Orthodox Jews today.
For the leaders of Rabbinic (Pharisaic) Judaism, dating back to at least the time of the second temple, the written Torah of Moses was only considered to be a source of law to make new laws. Let me stress: to the Rabbis, the written Law of YHVH serves only as a source of law – it is not considered the Law itself.
With this in mind, let’s now take a look at a handful of examples of these Pharisaic takanot:
• Eighteen laws (gezerot, “decrees” or “measures”) of Hillel and Shammai that are added to the biblical Torah. These include countless stringent rules on maintaining personal ritual purity at all times (which has nothing to do with physical cleanliness). Conversely, one could become ritually impure (from a range of one to four, with four being the least impure), and thus not be allowed to touch holy things such as T’rumah (the holy food of the kohanim in the Temple). (b.Shabbat 13b).
• The law (takanah, “enactment”) of Hillel’s Prosbul, making the commandment of Deuteronomy 15:9 invalid in regards to giving loans and canceling unpaid debts in the Sh’mitah – seventh year of remission (Gittin 36a/b).
• A law (takanah, “enactment”) requiring courts of law to sit on Monday’s and Thursdays (Baba Kama 82a).
• Laws (takanot, “enactments”) regarding blessings over food, or other blessings where the word “V’tzivanu” (“and has commanded us”) is used in the formula (Berachot 33a).
• A law (takanah, “enactment”) to say Kiddush (a sanctification) blessing over wine used for Shabbat and holy days (Berachot 33a).
• A law (takanah, “enactment”) to perform havdalahs (separations) (Berachot 33a).
• A law (gezerah, “decree”) against setting food on a stove on Shabbat, lest one might be tempted to stir the fire (m.Shabbat 3:1).
• A law (gezerah, “decree”) against covering up food with material (on Shabbat) that generates heat (m.Shabbat 3:1). Shabbat laws (gezerot, “decrees”) against swimming lest one repair a swimming vessel or make a swimming bladder; a preventative measure against clapping the hands, slapping the thighs, or dancing, lest he repair musical instruments (Beitzah 36b).
• Laws (takanot, “enactments”) to pray with fixed (structured) prayers (Berachot 33a).
• A law (gezerah, “decree”) that one must give his purse or bag to a Gentile if Erev Shabbat falls upon him while on the road (Shabbat 17b).
• A law (gezerah, “decree”) against allowing a Jew to use the bread, wine, and/or oil of Gentiles (Shabbat 17b).
• Laws (gezerot, “decrees”) for a Jew who may have a Gentile occupying his dwelling (Eruvin 62b).
• A law (gezerah, “decree”) that the courtyard of a Gentile has the same status as that of a cattle pen (Eruvin 62b).
• A law (takanah, “enactment”) forbidding a wife from becoming unattractive to her husband (Baba Kama 82a).
• A law (gezerah, “decree”) prohibiting a Jew from using a winepress, ladle, or funnel belonging to a heathen (Avodah Zarah 74b).
• A law (gezerah, “decree”) that a Jew can contract ritual impurity that affects only the hands and the food that one eats (Shabbat 14b).
• Laws (takanot, “enactments”) supposedly by Ezra that clothes be washed on Thursday; that garlic be eaten on Friday; that a woman must comb her hair before performing immersion (Baba Kama 82a).
This is just a small sampling of the many takanot and gezerot that the scribes, and Pharisees (i.e. “the Rabbis”) created and set alongside the Written Torah of Elohim. Again, from the Babylonian Talmud, Eruvin 21b:
quote:
Rava expounded: My son! Be careful concerning Rabbinical decrees even more than the Torah. Because the Torah contains requirements and prohibitions, while the Rabbinical decrees: Anyone who violates a Rabbinical decree is worthy of death (Eruvin 21b).
From Flavius Josephus, we get this piece of Jewish history:
quote:
What I would now explain is this, that the Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their fathers, which are not written in the laws of Moses; and for that reason it is that the Sadducees reject them, and say that we are to esteem those observances to be obligatory which are in the written word, but are not to observe what are derived from the tradition of our forefathers. And concerning these things it is that great disputes and differences have arisen among them, while the Sadducees are able to persuade none but the rich, and have not the populace obsequious to them, but the Pharisees have the multitude on their side. But about these two sects, and that of the Essens, I have treated accurately in the second book of Jewish affairs (Antiquities 13.10.6.).
This is the basis for Yeshua’s words in Matthew 5:17:
quote:
Matthew 5:17: Do not think that I came to abolish (annul) the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish (annul), but to fulfill (put it on a firm foundation, interpret the Law properly).
[This message has been edited by Bracy (edited 8/1/2005 1:55a).]
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