Foundational Concepts

Start here for foundational essays exploring authority for Torah-only observance, and interpretive aids

Foundations of Authority and Interpretation

Interpretive Aids

  • The Text, Inference, Analogy, and Interpretation

    Be careful to distinguish between text-based conclusions, reasonable textual inferences, and interpretive deviation from the text through analogy or metaphor.

    Sometimes the text invites metaphor, but other times we might analogize a different meaning or change meaning through metaphor where the text clearly addresses a specific meaning.

  • Portions Which Can be Read Literally or Figuratively

    Some portions can be read literally, for example binding teffilfin to your hand and between your eyes, or figuratively as metaphor as in binding Torah to your conduct and remembering Torah to orient what you perceive.

    Our job is to honestly attempt to understand and discover proper observance through the text.

  • Resolving Ambiguities: Community Best or Invitation to Struggle

    Torah does not answer every question and contains some ambiguity. That invites us to struggle with its meaning.

    How do you think God will grade our conduct if we adopt someone else’s interpretation without grappling with the law, versus conducting our own honest struggle to figure out what the law requires?

  • Atonement Addresses Errors in Application as Well as Interpretation

    We should not be discouraged from making our own struggle to interpret and apply written Torah. If we make a mistake, Torah allows us to atone.

Videos Addressing Torah-only Observance

Torah Basics

Rabbi Dan Moses gives an excellent basic primer on what the Torah represents, and how it relates to rabbinic tradition.

As Between Written Torah and Oral Law

Rabbi Israel Horowitz engages in a lively debate whether the Oral Law that is the basis of rabbinic tradition is the legitimate law of God, or is it manmade interpretation which impermissibly adds and subtracts from written Torah.

Oral Law Explained

The Jewish Learning Institute argues the written word is the least accurate way to convey a message if an oral tradition does not accompany it. Thus, the lack of detail in written Torah necessarily means the Oral Law must have been given at the same time.