From: RABBI ED NYDLE
To:heb_roots_chr@hebroots.org
Subject: SHOULD RETURNING EPHRAIM OBEY TALMUD? BY RABBI ED NYDLE

Should Ephraim obey the Talmud?
BY RABBI ED NYDLE

Many people new to the Two Houses and Messianic Congregations
wonder if they should follow the Torah or the Talmud, and if the
writings in the Talmud are binding on Israel for doctrine and
practice. This article is written to set halakah for our congregation
(B'nai Avraham). Others may agree or disagree.

First let me quote from the Word of Yahweh in 2 Timothy chapter 3
verse16 an 17;"All scripture that is given through the inspiration of
Yahweh is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness; That the man of Yahweh may be thoroughly
furnished for every righteous work." Rav Shaul is telling young
Timothy by the Ruach Hakodesh that it is Scripture that is to be used
for doctrine. It is Scripture that is Yah-breathed and inspired. This
means the writers have the Ruach and believe in the Messiah Yahshua.
They are not unbelievers. This fact alone should settle the arguments,
but let us continue in the Scriptures to find the answer.

The Two Torahs?

The Jewish concept is that there are two Torahs .One is called
the written Torah, Torah sh'Bichtav and the other is the oral Torah
orTorah sh'be'al peh. The word Torah means, "teaching" and when used
in the plural in Hebrew simply means all the texts about a given
subject-not a dual Torah concept. So, the Torah is the "backbone" of
life for all Israel .You cannot have the Brit Chadashah (Renewed
Covenant) without the Torah. It is built upon the teachings found in
the Torah.By Torah in this article we are referring to the five books
of Moshe, not all the TaNaK.

More Information Needed

As one studies the Torah, he is confronted with the dilemma of
needing more information to fill in the gaps in the instructions given
to us in the Torah. I always use the example of the Torah of "Fringes"
or tzit-tzit from Bemidbar (Numbers) 15:38-41 to show the idea of more
instruction needed that can be HELPFUL but NOT BINDING on the Believer
in Yahshua. Is the Rabbinical instruction on the way of tying
tzit-tzit the ONLY way of performing this mitzvot? My answer (listen
to others scream) NO! It is helpful and most certainly gives us some
very good Torah pictures of our redemption through Yahshua and to help
us to remember the commandments of Yahweh.But is it the ONLY WAY to
tie the tzit-tzit? We are not told in the Torah how they performed
this commandment-only that they DID IT. How, we do not know.

According to the Jewish sages the Oral Torah was given to Moshe
on Mt.Sinai along with the written Torah. This was then passed down
from Moshe Rabbenu to Yahoshua, and so on. The Rabbis claim this gives
them the authority to interpret Torah or "to bind and loose" for each
generation (see Deut.17: 8-13). Or Torah must be updated for each
generation or society that has existed. The question we must ask
ourselves is "Do the Scriptures teach that there are two Torahs?" And
"What authority should we give to the body of literature known as the
Talmud?"

What does Scripture teach?

The Torah itself hints against any Oral instruction .In Deut.17:
14-20 Yahweh instructs the King of Israel to make a copy of Torah for
himself. He (Yahweh) NEVER instructs the King to make a copy of any
Oral Torah. The written Word is to be his guide for instruction and
authority.

The Torah that Hilkiah and Yosiyah obeyed was not the Oral Torah
.It was the written Torah that which did the deep, heart-change in the
people of Israel. It was this written Torah of Yahweh that was used to
make the changes-not some body of oral laws. The Set-Apart One of
Israel made sure He had all that was necessary and binding written
down for His people to follow. If the Oral Law was that important,
Yahweh would have had made sure it was written down and inscribed by
Moshe.

Let us read from Yahoshua (Joshua) 8:34-35;"Afterward, Yahoshua
read ALL the words of the Torah-the blessings and the curses- just as
they were written in the Book of the Law.There was not a word that of
all that Moshe had commanded, that Yahoshua did not read to the whole
congregation of Israel...."

There are two VITAL pieces of information in this reading. First,
it says ALL that Moshe commanded was read. And it includes ALL the
mitzvot (which the sages say is in the oral Torah)! The Hebrew word
for "commanded" is from the word tzaveh, the root of miztvot. So all
the miztvot needed are in the written Torah of Moshe.

Let us go to one more passage from Yahoshua-23: 6-8." Therefore,
be very strong to carefully obey and do ALL that is WRITTEN in the
Book of the Law given through Moshe, without turning aside either to
the right or to the left; By not mingling with these nations
(gentiles) that are left with you; by not pronouncing the names of
their gods (elohim), nor causing anyone to administer a vow in their
names. You must not serve them, and you must not bow down to them.

Verse 8 states;"You are to hold fast to Yahweh, your Father, just as
you have till now." If an oral Torah existed at the time of Yahoshua
then why did Yahweh not tell him to hold fast to it as well as the
written Torah of Moshe? It is because there was no oral Torah.

Yahshua and Oral Traditions

There are two things we can state concerning Yahshua and the Oral
Torah.The first is that He was familiar with it and number two, in
certain respects He followed it. It is clear through the study of
Scripture that Yahshua agreed with some of the interpretations of
Torah from the Oral tradition. But, agreeing with it or even
practicing some of it does not infer the "divine origin" of it or the
authority it holds over the Word of Yahweh!

Mark 7:1-8 reflects Yahshua's attitude towards oral traditions
if we examine it closely. Verse 3 says". holding the tradition of the
elders". This shows that Yahshua was being taken to task over the fact
that His talmidim DID NOT follow the traditions of the elders. Verse 7
then says" But in vain they do worship Me, teaching as doctrine the
commandments of men.' This strikes at the very heart of the issue we
are discussing. Yahshua found no problem with the oral traditions when
they provided insight or explanations of Torah that were true and
accurate. However, He was against the times when the oral Torah took
on an authority over or equal to the written Torah of Yahweh. By
saying what He did, Yahshua proclaimed the oral teachings the mere
teachings of men, NOT YAHWEH! What a rebuke to the Pharisees (those
with ears to hear, let them hear)! He was stating that HE DID NOT
believe the oral teachings were binding on the man of Torah.

Value of the Oral Torah

We do not accept the authority of the body of Jewish literature
known as the Talmud, nor do we view it as inspired of Yahweh. However,
there can be tremendous value in reading and studying the writings of
the rabbis and sages. It can be extremely helpful in helping us to
understand the life and times during the second Temple period. It can
also help us as Ephraim appreciate the fact all that our Jewish
brethren did to protect and preserve the Torah and rest of the
Scriptures. And it can also help us to understand how to apply the
commandments of the written Torah to our lives that are not clear in
the written text (mezuzah, the slaughtering of animals for kashrut,
etc.) We do not believe the rabbis instruction s on these things are
THE ONLY WAY to perform these commands, nevertheless they can be
instructive in helping us to perform them-AS LONG AS IT DOES NOT
CONTRADICT THE TaNaK OR THE BRIT CHADASHAH! Finally the oral writings
do provide us with a clear insight into the minds and hearts of the
Jewish sages that wrote them. It helps us as Ephraim to better
understand our Judean brothers and appreciate them.

HOW THEN SHOULD WE LIVE?

For the Israelite, the KEY issue is to live the written Torah as
Yahweh gave it, under the direction of the Ruach Hakodesh. We must be
very careful not to change the life-giving words of Torah into mere
man-made "laws" that literally suck the life out of the Torah and puts
unnecessary burdens on the lives of Believers (Romans 10:1-8). Yahweh
revealed His heart and mind in the written Torah.The writers recorded
it with 100% accuracy. No one has the right or authority to change it.
If any Halakah taught does not match up to the written Torah it cannot
bring life to the Believer.Any Halakah that is outside Torah IS NOT
TRUE TORAH!

Romans 10:2 teaches us that one can be zealous for Yahweh with a
zeal that is not based on knowledge. Does zeal establish or confirm
TRUTH? We must be very careful that we as Israelites do not turn the
Torah into some "legalistic' document to expose our Pharisaical spirit
and become self-righteous in our observance of it. Let us strive
together as Israelites to walk out our redemption in Yahshua in the
empowerment of the Ruach and in a Torah based life-style that reflects
the heart of Messiah Yahshua.

As I teach our congregation every week, I tell them that we can
have all the outer trappings right as far as Torah and do everything
exactly as dictated by the sages-BUT if our hearts are not right-then
we are nothing but white-washed tombs full of deadmen's bones (see
Matt.23). I encourage you my Brethren to read Mattithiyahu 23 very
carefully and pray for an understanding heart. Let us live not only
the letter of the law, but also the spirit of the Torah. It is now
written on our hearts (Jer.31: 31) not on tablets of stone. No one has
the authority to add to or subtract from it.

Tradition is good as long as it does not lead us into the
worship of other mighty ones (false names of idols) or have its roots
in Babylonian-pagan practices.

May Yahweh bless you in your understanding of this teaching and
the Scriptures given.

Shalom

Rabbi Ed Nydle

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