What is the relationship between the oral Torah and written Torah?

Answer 1

The written Torah, is the five books of Moses; God gave it to the Jews at Mt Sinai. It is the holy Jewish text. The written Torah cannot be understood at face value; it can be interpreted on many different levels and Jewish scholars can quite easily and very happily spend hours, days and even weeks debating and discussing a single paragraph or even one sentence.

The oral Torah, or Talmud, was also given to the Jews at Mt Sinai. For some time, it was passed verbally from each father to his son, but eventually, it had to be put into written form. This took a long, long time, with Rabbis and scholars and theologians discussing and considering every point. The Talmud (in fact there are two) is a series of volumes and within are rulings and debates on how to actually *apply* Jewish religious law to everyday life. Almost every topic under the sun is covered. There are also proverbs, humour and folklore.

Thus the Talmud illuminates and 'fleshes out' the Torah. As one Jewish author wrote: 'If the Torah is G-d speaking to us, then we can say the Talmud is us answering!'

Answer 2

The "Written Torah" refers to the 24 books of The Bible. These were written by the prophets (and the first five books were actually dictated to Moses by God). The "Oral Torah" refers to the explanations, insights, spirituality, ethics etc. that the Torah alludes to and doesn't spell out. This information was presented to Moses at the Revelation on Sinai. He then taught it orally to Aaron, Joshua and 70 sages, who transmitted the information to the rest of the community. Over the next millennium, there was a strict system of transmitting this information accurately from generation to generation. When the Talmudic Sages realized that Jews wouldn't be living in Israel forever (the Roman Empire was inching its way towards Israel) and that people couldn't be relied on to memorize all the material, they began recording the Oral Torah in writing. The main books of that period are the Mishnah, Talmud (a.k.a. Gemarah), Midrashim and Zohar.

Answer 2

Torah has two facets: the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. The written Torah was given by G-d to Moses at Mt. Sinai and it contains the Five Books of Moses, Prophets and Scriptures. The Oral Torah was written down by the Rabbis after the destruction of the Second Holy Temple and it includes the Mishnah and the Talmud. The Oral Torah is essentially the Rabbinic discussion of the Written Torah.

Answer 3

Religious Jews live by the Torah, by obeying its commands and beliefs. There are hundreds of examples. However, the Torah "as is" isn't exactly what Judaism observes. Rather, It's the Torah together with the details provided in the Talmud, which is the Oral Law that was handed down together with the laws of Moses. Otherwise, the verses of the Torah often lack enough detail to be fulfilled as is.
For instance, the law of honest weights and measures (Leviticus 19:36) does not state if any deviation is permitted. How often do the scales need calibration? What is the penalty for overcharging? Etc.
The laws (Deuteronomy ch.17) concerning the judges (Torah-sages; Sanhedrin) do not say what exactly constitutes bribery (Deuteronomy 16:19). Is it bribery if I compliment a judge before the court case but do not give a gift? And myriad other questions: How many judges are a quorum for Torah-courts? Is there a time limit for court cases? Etc.
The laws concerning restitution for damages (Exodus ch.22) do not tell us if payment needs to be made for emotional stress.
The key Hebrew word in Exodus 22:4 can mean either fire or cattle. Which is it? Or is it both?
In Exodus 22:5, is there a difference in restitution between deliberate and accidental spreading of fire?
So the answer to your question is that the Torah (Hebrew scripture) summarizes our laws, while it is the function of the Talmud to expand upon the details, and to give us the precedents and Torah-tools for determining new cases in the future.

Answer 4

The writings of Judaism may be divided into several categories. These include: the Tanakh, the Talmud, the other works of our early sages, and the works of later Rabbis.

• The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) is also called "the Written Torah," in contrast to the Oral Torah.

The Written Torah is the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), containing the Torah itself and the rest of the prophetic books. "Tanakh" is a Hebrew acronym of T, N, K which stands for the three parts of the Tanakh: Torah, Nevi'im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings). In total, the Tanakh has 24 books.

Link: The history of the Hebrew Bible

• The Oral Torah is the body of tradition that was handed down orally for some 1800 years, and only after that put in writing, so as not to be forgotten in times of exile. The Oral Torah is contained in the Talmud, whose chief purpose is to clarify the laws of the Torah, and which is a multi-volume compendium of Jewish traditions, law, history, and sayings of the early Jewish Sages.
  

See the Related Link.

Link: More about the Talmud

Answer 5

Written is the written down one (self explanatory). Oral is the one passed down from person to person verbally.

Answer 6

The Oral Torah specifies details for the commandments of the Written Torah.