What Is the Oral Torah?

We read in the New Testament that in the time of Jesus, the oral tradition, or the “tradition of the elders,” was in existence. For a Jewish rabbi, this tradition has just as much authority as the written Word of God. Christians and other Jews (known as Karaite Jews) do not believe the oral Torah or tradition carries the same level of absolute authority as the biblical canon. In the Gospels, we see that Jesus referenced the tradition of the elders on several occasions. He never quoted it as an authority, and in some instances, He rebuked the Pharisees for allowing their traditions to be held as equal with the written Word of God or even taking away from the written Word.

Mark the Apostle writes:

And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)—then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

—Mark 7:5–13, emphasis added

Adherence to this tradition at times made it hard for the Pharisees to follow the written Word. The simple fact is that Jesus made a strong distinction between the written, authoritative Word of God and the nonauthoritative traditions of the elders.

Does this mean every part of the Jewish tradition is wrong? Not at all. In fact, most of their efforts were directed at keeping people from sinning. Rabbis would take a well-known law of the written Word, such as the prohibition against adultery, and add new laws (“fences”) around it to help keep a person from sinning.

These fences became part of the oral law or traditions. For example, the Mishnah says in Kiddushin 4:12, “A man may not be secluded [alone] with two women lest he sin with them, but one woman may be secluded [alone] with two men.” It also says in Kiddushin 4:14, “Anyone who has professional dealings primarily with women may not be secluded [alone] with women.”

If you go to Israel today and interact with ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, you may see them be completely dismissive of a woman stranger in their presence. We might interpret this as being rude, yet for them, the oral tradition gives the previous instruction, and so if they follow it, they will never commit adultery and break the written commandment. They have built a fence around the law.

 Think of it like a cliff, where falling off the edge represents committing adultery. If you build a fence twenty feet from the cliff and never cross it, you will never even come close to falling off (in this case, committing adultery). That is part of their logic.

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