If It’s Not in the Bible, Where Did Jewish Law Come From? Rabbi Mordechai Becher - Living Inspired

If Jewish law comes from the Torah, why are so many Jewish laws seemingly nowhere in the written text? Where does the Torah tell us what tefillin actually look like? What exactly counts as “work” on Shabbat? How do we know that “afflict your soul” on Yom Kippur includes fasting? How do we even know how to pronounce a Torah scroll that contains no vowels or modern punctuation? And where does the Torah explain how shechita is actually performed? In this fascinating conversation, Rabbi Mordechai Becher explains why Judaism has never understood the Five Books of Moses as a standalone text. Follow us: https://www.hidabroot.com https://www.tiktok.com/@hidabrootglobal https://www.youtube.com/@Hidabrootcom https://www.instagram.com/hidabroot_global https://www.facebook.com/Hidabroot.global/ https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbCYZjl1CYoa4ulQIK2q Visit Rabbi Aron Sokol here: https://youtube.com/@RabbiAronSokol?sub_confirmation=1 Rabbi Mordechai Becher, originally from Australia, is an instructor at Yeshiva University and alumni Rabbi of Neve Yerushalayim College. He received his ordination from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem and holds an MA in Medieval Jewish History from the Bernard Revel Graduate School. He taught at Ohr Somayach and Neve Yerushalayim in Jerusalem and served in the Israel Defense Forces. Rabbi Becher has answered thousands of questions on AsktheRabbi.org, presents a Talmud class, Dimensions of the Daf, on cable TV with the Jewish Broadcasting Service and was senior lecture for Gateways for 20 years. Rabbi Becher’s latest book, Gateway to Judaism, published by Artscroll/Shaar Press, is in its tenth printing. He has taught in the USA, Canada, England, Israel, South Africa, Australia and Russia, and is a scholar in residence for Legacy Kosher Tours. He has led tours in Africa, Australia, Czech Republic, China, England, Hungary, India, Italy, Israel, Japan, Panama, Russia, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. 00:00 – Bible vs. Torah: Are They the Same Thing? 00:20 – Where Did All the Jewish Laws Come From? 00:42 – What Jews Mean by “Torah” 01:02 – The Written Torah Is Only the Beginning 03:00 – What Exactly Are Tefillin? 03:16 – What Does “Work” on Shabbat Mean? 03:42 – No Vowels No Punctuation 05:17 – Written Torah as Lecture Notes 07:00 – The Jewish People “Heard the Lecture” 07:34 – Ancient Tefillin & Mezuzah 08:24 – Why the Oral Torah Had to Be Preserved 10:44 – A Command the Written Torah Never Explains 11:41 – Why Oral Tradition Has Advantages 12:08 – You Can’t Learn Swimming From a Book 14:00 – Why Oral Torah Was More Secure 16:12 – How Oral Torah Created Jewish Study Culture 18:11 – Why Talmudic Arguments Are a Feature 21:14 – Torah Written on the Human Heart 22:07 – Why Flexibility Matters 24:51 – “Change Enough to Stay the Same” 25:32 – Can the Oral Torah Contain Disagreements? 30:10 – How Judaism Resolves Disputes 31:05 – Where Are Judaism’s Red Lines? 35:36 – Can Rabbis Add to the Torah? 38:04 – How Jewish Practice Becomes Binding 39:34 – The Chess Analogy 40:51 – What Makes Judaism Judaism? 42:39 – Why This Topic Is Only the Beginning #OralTorah #Torah #Talmud #Judaism #JewishLaw #Halacha #WrittenTorah #TorahStudy #JewishWisdom #RabbiMordechaiBecher #Shabbat #Tefillin #Sanhedrin #JewishTradition #ParshaInspired