Torah sheba'al peh, the oral law, the oral Torah, and also the tradition of Torah sheba'al peh, which means the handing down the Torah sheba'al peh from one generation to another. Now we all know what Torah sheba'al peh is. Torah sheba'al peh is the oral Torah that was given by Hashem to Moshe Rabbeinu orally. We know that the Torah is divided into two parts: תורה שבכתב, תורה שבעל פה. You have the written Torah and you have the oral Torah. The written Torah refers to the חמשה חומשי תורה, the five chumashim, the five books of Moshe Rabbeinu, the five books of Moses as they call it. That's called the written Torah. Why that's called the written Torah is because these were words that Hashem dictated to Moshe Rabbeinu. It was actually Moshe Rabbeinu who wrote it, but they were dictated, the words were dictated word for word by Hashem. So these are the words of of Hashem. Then Hashem orally gave Moshe Rabbeinu the explanations of the Torah. And as the Rambam says in his introduction, that there is a pasuk that says התורה והמצוה, the Torah and the mitzvah that I give you, so the word Torah refers to תורה שבכתב, to the written Torah, and the word mitzvah refers to the Torah sheba'al peh, the oral Torah. So we know that Hashem gave Moshe Rabbeinu the written Torah, and He also gave it orally the explanations of the Torah which we call Torah sheba'al peh. Now besides the fact that we know that there was a that there is a Torah sheba'al peh, that there is an oral Torah, because we that's the foundation of the Jewish religion, but besides that, it makes sense to say that there is a Torah sheba'al peh, because Hashem gave us the Torah, and if there would only be Torah Shebichtav, it would almost be worthless. Because when you look into the Torah Shebichtav, into the written Torah, you really still do not know what to do. Most of the things the way they are written in the Torah Shebichtav, we do not know what to do. So there must be, logically speaking, there must be an explanation to what the Torah says. Just to use an example, and I'll use the example that the Alter Rebbe uses in Tanya, the example is, the pasuk says that לא תעשה כל מלאכה, on Shabbos you can't do any work. That's all it says. Now we have no idea what that means. Who knows what work means? What describes work? What are you allowed, what are you not allowed? It's very, very vague. So the Torah, Hashem, who giving us the Torah, wants us to keep Shabbos, He should explain Himself, He should say exactly what He wants. So obviously, when Hashem gave us the Torah, and He wrote לא תעשה כל מלאכה, He just wrote the words לא תעשה כל מלאכה, do not do any work. But it only makes sense that orally He gave over an explanation to Moshe Rabbeinu, who should give it over to the Yidden to explain what He meant when He said do not do any work. Every mitzvah falls in the same category. Just another example, tefillin. All we know about tefillin is the Torah says וקשרתם לאות על ידך והיו לטוטפות בין עיניך, you shall tie it for a sign on your hands, and for frontlets between your eyes, and that's all. What to do, what when, put what on your hand? Put a sign on your hand, what should you do, take a pen and write, mark a sign on your hand? And what do you do? We don't know, there are no details, nothing there. So obviously, it only makes sense that Hashem explained Himself, explained what He meant, and that is the Torah Shebaal Peh. In other words, He gave us the book which is has all the laws written very, very generally, and then He gave us the Torah Shebaal Peh to explain exactly what He meant. Now we do find, besides the logic of it, and besides we have in tradition, we know that Hashem explained the Torah, but there are hints in the Torah Shebichtav, in the written Torah, that there is a Torah Shebaal Peh. There are different places where we find the Torah hinting that there is a Torah Shebaal Peh. And one of the most famous places is considering the dinim of shechitah. To shecht. We know that one of the most important halachot in kashrut, in keeping kasher, is that you have to slaughter an animal. Now, what does slaughtering mean? How do you shecht? So the pasuk says וזבחת כאשר צויתיך, you shall shecht as I commanded you. Now we look in Chumash and try to find where He commanded in Chumash how to shecht. Not once does the Torah describe how to lishchot, and He says in חומש כאשר צויתיך, as I commanded you. So obviously, what that means is that He commanded him orally telling him exactly how you lishchot. So here we have a hint in the תורה שבכתב, in the written Torah, that there is a ציווי, there are commandments which are not written in the Torah. The explanation of all the commandments that we have in the Torah. That was written, that was given oral. Originally, when it was given orally, the halachah was, the law was, that you are not allowed to write it down. It was specifically given in two forms: תורה שבכתב, the written Torah, was to be written. תורה שבעל פה, the oral part of the Torah, was not allowed to be written. The rule is דברים שבעל פה אי אתה רשאי לכותבן. Things of בעל פה, you are not allowed to write them. They weren't allowed to write them. It was only in tradition that the chachamim had it, knew it, taught it to the people, and they gave it over to the next generation, the next generation, to the next generation. This was all transmitted orally. And basically, this is what it says in Pirkei Avot. We're learning Pirkei Avot now. משה קיבל תורה מסיני. משה received the תורה in הר סיני. ומסרה, and he gave it over to יהושע. יהושע gave it to the זקנים, and the זקנים to the נביאים, נביאים to the אנשי כנסת הגדולה. This was the transmission of תורה שבעל פה. But by the time it came to Rav Yehudah HaNasi, Rabbi, who's known as Rabbi, Yehudah HaNasi, he realized that if we do not start writing it down, it will be forgotten. People were not in such a high level that were able to remember everything, so he decided that you have to write it down. But how could you write it down when there is a law that דברים שבעל פה אי אתה רשאי לכותבן? Written thing you are not allowed to, and things of that are oral you're not allowed to have it written. But he found a pasuk, where the pasuk indicated, and he heard in Again, it was transmitted to him that this is what the pasuk meant. The pasuk says, and the pasuk in Tehillim actually, עת לעשות לה' הפרו תורתך. When it comes a time to do for the sake of ה', you could destroy the Torah. And he was told that what did this pasuk mean, that for the sake of ה' you could do something against the Torah? Well, it seems like this is the Conservative movement. They explain that in order to save certain things, they're allowed to do certain wrong things. But he had it given, told to him that what the pasuk meant was that if ever a time will come that the chachamim will see that if you do not write down the Torah Shebaal Peh, the oral Torah, it will be forgotten, then you are allowed to go against this one halacha of not being allowed to write Torah Shebaal Peh, and you should write it down. And that was Yehuda HaNasi did. He wrote down the Torah Shebaal Peh, which was in the form of Mishnayot. He wrote the Mishnah. And then afterwards, as an explanation on the Mishnah, came the Gemara, which explained what the Mishnah says. And then we have the different commentaries on the Gemara, and then we have the different sefarim that we had. And all that, as we know, is included in Torah Shebaal Peh. Which means that from Rav Yehuda HaNasi time on, the oral Torah was written down and was made into books, and now when we study Torah, most of the time we spend studying Torah Shebaal Peh, the oral Torah, rather than the written Torah. The written Torah is just the Chumash. And when we study Mishnayot, we study Gemara, we study all the other books, sefarim that were written by the Tannaim at the time of the Mishnah or by the Amoraim at the time of the Gemara, later on of the chachamim, all that is included in Torah Shebaal Peh.

This is very general. But when we start thinking about the details, it is very, very hard to understand exactly what this is all about. We just finished saying that the Mishnah is the oral Torah, the Gemara part of the oral Torah. Now what does that mean? When we learn a Mishnah, it says in the Mishnah that this and this person, this and this Tanna, is of this and this opinion, claims that this and this is the halacha. Now what do we mean that this is Torah Shebaal Peh? Torah Shebaal Peh, as we would understand it is, Hashem' told Moshe Rabbeinu orally certain laws. Now if you would have a book just of laws written down, that would make sense that first it was oral, and they memorized it, they memorized it, and then the time came when they wrote down. So Moshe Rabbeinu heard from Hashem' orally what tefillin is, for instance, that tefillin means you have to have two boxes, and they have to make be made of leather, and they have to be square, and they have to be black, and they have to have this parashiyot. All these laws. And that is written down. So if you'd have a collection of a hundred thousand laws, that would make sense. That is תורה שבעל פה. It was said orally by Hashem' to Moshe, Moshe told it to the Yidden, the Yidden told it to the next generation, next generation, next generation, finally they wrote it down, and that's what we have. But when we look into the Mishnah, that's not what the Mishnah is. The Mishnah says that Rav Meir says so and so and so. Did Hashem' say to Moshe Rabbeinu, Rav Meir says so and so, at that time there was no Rabbi' Meir yet. Did he say Rabbi' Akiva says so and so? So we're talking about an an opinion of a certain person, and that's what we learn in the Mishnah, then how is that the תורה שבעל פה? Certainly when we have a Mishnah where you have an argument between two Tannaim, between two Chachamim. One of the rabbis says this, one of the rabbis says this, and this is the Mishnah that we learn. So what does that mean? Hashem orally said to Moshe Rabbeinu, \"You should know that Rabbi' Akiva holds like this, and Rabbi' Meir holds like...\" Is this what Hashem said to Moshe Rabbeinu? Obviously not! So if that's not what he said, but then what's the Pshat? What do we mean when we say that when we study Mishnah, we are studying the oral Torah? This are are these the words of Hashem that Hashem said? And then we go on into the Gemara, and in the Gemara we have all kinds of interpretations in the Mishnah, and we have all kinds of discussions, questions asked, Hava amina, which means first thought, then the Gemara says you're wrong, we have a different Pshat, a different explanations, and then finally it comes to a conclusion, and when we study that Gemara, we know we are studying Torah! We are studying, and when we study that discussion, there's a question in the Gemara, the Gemara has an answer, and then the Gemara changes its mind, and it goes back and forth, all that, every word of that we know is Torah. Not תורה שבכתב, but תורה שבעל פה, it is the oral Torah. Now how is that the oral Torah? We're studying a question that a certain person asked, and then there was an answer that was given, then there was a question on the answer, and then finally it was changed, finally came this. All that are discussions of human beings, great scholars, true, great scholars. We're not talking about human beings, talking about Torah! Torah we say is the wisdom of God, Torah is the word of God. So here we're talking about discussions and questions and answers by different Chachamim, how is that the word of God? Certainly when we have like I said before the arguments, one says like this, one like this. So how is that Torah? What did Hashem say? And the Gemara says that when you have an argument between Shammai and Hillel, Beit Shammai uBeit Hillel, or Rabbi' Meir, Rabbi' Akiva, anybody, אביי ורבא, אלו ואלו דברי אלקים חיים! They're both the words of Hashem. What in the world does that mean? How could they both be the words of Hashem? What did Hashem say? There's an argument in a certain case, what is the law in this in this case? So one Chacham, one of the Chachamim, one of the rabbis says this case is Chayav, guilty, one says innocent. And they're both the words of Hashem? And when we study both opinions, we're studying Torah shebaal peh? How is it? What kind of Torah shebaal peh? We're studying an argument between the Chachamim! What did Hashem say? It is very hard to understand exactly what this means. And we say that all the commentaries that we have, it's all part of Torah shebaal peh. And you have arguments and things, how is it all part of Torah shebaal peh? How does this how is it included in Torah shebaal peh, the discussions, and the arguments, and the words? Then another thing, we find certain things that it says there is a doubt which way to do it, and therefore we do both. Now sometimes you can say certain things were forgotten and there's a doubt, certain things that happened once in a hundred years and nobody recorded it, and people forgot exactly how it's supposed to be done, so there is a doubt. Then there are certain things which are done daily by hundreds and thousands of people daily. How can there be a doubt how you're supposed to do it? Now this thing I mean, tefillin, we have an argument of how to make the tefillin, and that's why we have two types of tefillin: Rashi's tefillin and Rabbeinu Tam's tefillin. And there's an argument exactly how to write the parashiyot that you have inside, how to put them in, and that's why we have both. And those that are medakdek, they are extra careful with the mitzvot, wear both to be yotzei both. And they're called Rashi's tefillin and Rabbeinu Tam's tefillin. Now Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam lived what, 800, 900 years ago. Obviously, this argument did not start at the time of Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam, it's impossible, because tefillin was put on from the moment Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu that the Yidden have to put on tefillin. So the Yidden started putting on tefillin right away, he came down from the mountain, told the Yidden they have to put on tefillin, and they started making tefillin. According to some, some opinions that the mitzvah didn't start till they entered Eretz Yisrael, but whatever it, whenever it started, it started 2,500 years before Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam were born. And this is something that's done every single day by millions of people. So how is it possible that there should be a doubt, a question how to write the tefillin? When Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu, Torah shebaal peh, in Chumash it doesn't say, it just says וקשרתם... you should tie it on your hands and on your head, so we said for Chumash you wouldn't know, but Torah shebaal peh, Hashem told Moshe... Rabbeinu orally how to put tefillin. Moshe Rabbeinu came down, told the Jews how to make tefillin, they made tefillin. We had at that time people who were obligated to put on tefillin probably a million and a half, so they made a million pairs of tefillin. And from then on, tefillin was made for their children, their generations, millions of pairs of tefillin. So didn't they open up the tefillin and see exactly how the פרשיות are made? Didn't they know? How is it possible to be a question? It didn't start at the time of Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam, that for sure it didn't. Rashi just followed a certain opinion, and Rabbeinu Tam followed a certain opinion, but this is not a doubt that came up in their time. So how is it possible for a question to come up of how to make the tefillin if there was a Torah shebaal peh and this was handed down in tradition how to make tefillin? So what's the pshat that we have a question? And there are similar things like that. It says that why shofar we blow on Rosh Hashanah, we blow three kinds: shvarim, teruah, tekiah. And then we blow shvarim I mean, sorry, tekiah, teruah, tekiah, tekiah, shvarim, tekiah, and tekiah, shvarim, teruah, tekiah. And it says like this, from the Torah, on the way it's from Chumash, we have to blow tekiah, teruah, tekiah three times, that's all. A tekiah is a simple long sound, tuuu. What's a teruah? So it says they don't know what a teruah is. There are three possibilities what a teruah is: a teruah could be tu, tu, tu; a teruah could be tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu; and a teruah could be both together, tu, tu, tu, tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu, all together. Since we don't know which one it is, so we blow each one three times. That's why we have this the the you call it the thirty kolot, because we don't know. What is the peshat we don't know? When was it forgotten? How could it be forgotten? Moshe came down from Har Sinai, told the Yidden exactly what to do. He gave them Torah Shebe'al Peh, gave them over the whole oral Torah, told them exactly what to do. So he obviously told them you have to blow like this and like this and like this. And this is something that's done by all the Yidden. Let's say a million people listened to this the first Rosh Hashanah, the second Rosh Hashanah, the next Rosh Hashanah, their children, they grew up. I mean, and this is not done by something that's done by one person, if it's a din that happens in a certain case once in a blue moon as they say, and a certain person, so maybe they forgot it, they didn't know, could be. But something that happens constantly, how could it possibly be forgotten that there should be a doubt? And it actually says that there used to be a community that blew it one way, there used to be a community that blew the second way, a community that blew the third way, so what they did, they combined them all, let's blow them all! But obviously there was an argument which one it is. How could there be an argument which one it is? And we find other similar things. If Torah Shebe'al Peh means it was given down orally exactly, Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu, and Moshe Rabbeinu told the Yidden, and that's it, how is it possible? That is, it is not so simple.

Well obviously not so simple. We find an interesting story in the Gemara. Says in the Gemara that Moshe Rabbeinu saw the future. Hashem showed him the future. So he happened to see, among the things that he saw of the future, he happened to see Rabbi Akiva, who lived 2,000 years later, he happened to see Rabbi Akiva teaching תלמידים, that's what he saw. And Moshe Rabbeinu happened to be sitting in his class. And he wasn't even in the front row. Moshe had a row a little bit further up, I think it was the seventh row I think it says, that's where he received his seat. And he hears Rabbi Akiva speaking and somebody asked a question, one of the students asked a question, and Moshe is there and Moshe Rabbeinu himself didn't understand, didn't know, didn't know the answer, didn't understand. And he felt bad. Sitting there he felt bad that he didn't really know what was happening. Till finally Rabbi Akiva answered to the question that was asked that, you know where this din comes from? It comes from הלכה למשה מסיני. It was told to Moshe Rabbeinu in Sinai. Oh, so Moshe, everything comes from me, I don't have to feel so bad, so he didn't feel so bad. What does that mean? If everything came to Moshe from Moshe Rabbeinu, then what's the peshat Moshe Rabbeinu didn't know? Torah Shebe'al Peh means it was given to Moshe Rabbeinu, so Moshe Rabbeinu handed it over to the Yidden, transmitted to the Yidden, so obviously he knew. What's the pshat Moshe Rabbeinu didn't know? And then there's another question, which is a very interesting story. And if we don't know that explanation, well we shouldn't even repeat the story to people who don't understand and if we don't explain it, don't ever repeat it. But I'll tell you the story anyway. There's a story that is brought down in the Seder Hadorot. Seder Hadorot is a sefer written with from olden, it's like a chronological, after, you know, overview of all the generations from beginning of creation. They tell a story from the time of the Rabbeinu Tam. I think he lived about 800 years ago. Rabbeinu Tam had an argument with some of our friends about tefillin, but not the argument that he had with Rashi in tefillin, but a different, one of the one of the halachot of tefillin. He was so sure that he's right that he said to them, \"I'll prove to you I'm right. How will I prove it? I'll bring down Moshe Rabbeinu, and we'll ask him.\" All right? And Rabbeinu Tam was such a great tzadik, he did it. He brought down Moshe Rabbeinu. And then he asked Moshe Rabbeinu, \"Moshe, we'd like to know what's the halacha in this and this din?\" So Moshe Rabbeinu answered not like Rabbeinu Tam said. So Rabbeinu Tam turns around to Moshe Rabbeinu and says, \"משה, טעית, you made a mistake.\" Moshe Rabbeinu made a mistake? And he tells him, what does that mean? The whole Torah was given by Moshe Rabbeinu. He was the one that brought us the Torah. Every word of the Torah we take from Moshe Rabbeinu. How can you say Moshe Rabbeinu made a mistake? How is that possible? And if it's possible chas v'shalom that Moshe Rabbeinu made a mistake, so then any mitzvah that we do, maybe we're doing it wrong? We're doing it so-and-so because it was given to Moshe Rabbeinu. Maybe the whole thing is a mistake. Maybe he made a mistake in the beginning. Obviously, that's not possible that Moshe Rabbeinu made a mistake. And I'll explain why it's not possible that Moshe Rabbeinu made a mistake. Because by Matan Torah, when Hashem gave us the Torah, as the עשרת הדברות, when all the Jews were present and heard, they all heard that Moshe Rabbeinu should come up to Hashem, they heard Hashem say it, and receive the Torah. And Hashem said to the Yidden, in the presence of all the Yidden, that Moshe will come down and give you over My words. So when Moshe came down, we don't care what he said, because we were told by God to listen to Moshe, that's all. So we're not listening to Moshe because of Moshe, because we were commanded and we heard with our own ears from Hashem saying you should listen to Moshe. So obviously what Moshe said, Hashem had told us that he's going to say the truth. So we we know what Moshe said is right. There's no question about that, because we heard just like at Aseret HaDibrot we heard we heard Hashem. Our fathers told us that they heard from their fathers, this is all the generations, one from another, heard, until finally the first generation that heard from Hashem saying to us, \"Listen to what Moshe will give you over in My name.\" Okay, so whenever Moshe Rabbeinu came, we listened to him not because we trust Moshe, he's only one person, a human being, maybe he made a mistake, because Hashem told us, so we're listening to Hashem. So Moshe can't make a mistake. So what did Rabbeinu Tam say to him? \"Moshe, you made a mistake.\" That's not understood at all. Obviously, we need some general explanation here in this whole concept of תורה שבעל פה.

Let me explain it, in short maybe, but the general idea. There is a famous statement that we all are aware of: כל מה שתלמיד ותיק עתיד לחדש ניתן למשה מסיני. Anything that any proper student, any proper scholar, any new thought, new idea within Torah he's going to come up with was all given to Moshe Rabbeinu. Again, any new idea that any scholar is going to come and say was already given to Moshe Rabbeinu by סיני. Now, this statement seems to be a contradiction in itself. If it was already given to Moshe Rabbeinu, then it's not a new statement. It's not new, it was already given to Moshe Rabbeinu. And if it's something new that never was, then it wasn't given to Moshe, then it's new. Here we're saying anything new, which means that a student or a scholar is going to think of, learn a פסוק חומש, or think of an and come up with a peshat, a new idea that was not written anywhere, he didn't hear it from Moshe Rabbeinu, he didn't hear it from his teacher who heard it from his teacher going back to Moshe Rabbeinu, he made it up. And that's why we call it לחדש. לחדש means a new a new thought. So if he made it up, how do we say it was given by Moshe Rabbeinu? So it wasn't given to Moshe Rabbeinu, it's something new. On the other hand, we say everything was given to Moshe Rabbeinu. How does that work? The peshat is like this: after Hashem said the Ten Commandments, Moshe Rabbeinu went up to שמים, he went up to the mountain to Hashem, stayed there for forty days and forty nights. That's when Hashem taught Moshe Rabbeinu the Torah shebe'al peh, the Oral Torah. Let's think: what did Moshe Rabbeinu do there for those forty days and forty nights? Why did he need forty days and forty nights? If we're going to say that Hashem taught him the whole Torah, which means all the halachot, and He taught him all the interpretations, and all the things that we have in all the ספרים that we have, forty days and forty nights would not be enough. As good as a student Moshe Rabbeinu was and as good as a teacher Hashem is, it's impossible for a human being to absorb only in 40 days and 40 nights and he needs time also also to review. It's impossible to absorb all this knowledge that we have in literally hundreds of thousands of ספרים that we have. To say that he absorbed it all is impossible. The answer would be very simple. Well, it was a miracle. Hashem just put it into his head. Then the question is, why do you need 40 days and 40 nights? The miracle Hashem goes bup, and all of a sudden it falls into his head and he knows everything. You don't need time for it. The fact that it was 40 days and 40 nights, obviously there was time spent and it went through a natural natural way of of of learning. If it's a natural way of learning, how could he learn so much in 40 days and 40 nights? The answer is Hashem did not tell Moshe Rabbeinu every single halachah, every single law that exists. Not true. Hashem did not tell Moshe Rabbeinu every single idea of Torah that we know now as Torah. He didn't tell him that. What Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu were the general rules. Something Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu outright, yes, this is what you should do, and usually those are referred to as halachah leMoshe miSinai. It was a halachah given to Moshe. For instance, it says that the רצועות, the straps of the תפילין have to be black. There is no place in the Torah it's hinted, there's no way we know it. Halachah leMoshe miSinai. That was told by Hashem. So why certain things was told like that we don't know, but certain things Hashem told Moshe, yes, this is what you tell the Jews, they have to do so and so. Fine. Many of the things Hashem didn't tell Moshe Rabbeinu what the law is. He gave them certain rules, many, many rules, laws, and he said, based on these rules, use these rules and within these rules you will come out with a result. And that's what I want you to do. I want you, and then the chachamim who you will teach, to use these rules, but only these rules, not to go out of the framework of these rules, but with using these rules, use your brain and figure out, based on the rules, add and subtract and figure out and come to a decision what the halachah is. So, first of all, there are many halachot that were not even shayach then, things that came up, new technology that came up years later, I don't mean davka technology in modern times, even later on that in the time of Moshe Rabbeinu it didn't exist. So Hashem didn't tell Moshe Rabbeinu what's the law, just like I'm sure Hashem didn't tell Moshe Rabbeinu whether you're allowed to open a fridge on Shabbos or not. I'm sure he didn't talk to him about a refrigerator. But he gave them rules. Now, we know every morning we say, בשלש עשרה מדות התורה נדרשת, with 13 rules you could darash the Torah, but those are such general rules, they are 13, but in each one of these 13, you have detailed rules. There are so many rules how to learn the Torah that it took Moshe Rabbeinu, a good student as Moshe and a good teacher as Hashem, 40 days and 40 nights to review and to study and to know all the rules. In other words, knowing all the halachot that Hashem told him outright, and then gave him the rules. And he told him, you have to use these rules. One of the rules is that you have to use your seichel, that the chachamim have to use their logic taking the rules in consideration and what your logic tells you based on these rules, that you have that you have to do and you will come out with a decision. And that decision is what I want. So if it comes to a question of doing a certain mitzvah, we have to take the rules It's become In other words like this, he wrote the Chumash and he says, I'm giving you rules of how to work out the halacha from the Chumash. And you'll do you'll use your rules, based on this rule and this rule and that rule and all these rules, and you will apply that to this pasuk of this mitzvah, and when you use your seichel how it comes out, that's the way to do the mitzvah. That's what Hashem said, that's what I want. So when one of the chachamim, let's use an example, would take these rules and use his seichel and come out with a decision, let's think, is this a halacha given by Hashem to Moshe or is this a halacha that's made up by this person? Or if he gave any certain interpretation in a certain pasuk based on the rules, only based on the rules, is this something that we consider, well, this is what Hashem gave to Moshe, or this is something that the person made up on his own? Is it something new? I'll tell you, they're both true. You could use both expressions. It's new because it was never said exactly like that, but it's not new because it's all included in the rules, having all the rules together, it's included. I'll just to use an example, if someone will teach a student and he'll tell him say to him, you know, like this, If you double one, you will get two, and if you double two, you will get four, he's giving him the rules, and if you double three, you will get six. And the student sits down and works, uses his own brain, and he says, \"Oh, I double four, I'll get eight.\" Let's find out, let's think. Was he told by his teacher that four and four equals eight? Or is something that he said that was not told to him? They're both true. His teacher did not say it, so it's something that he said, new, something new. But it's not new, it was already given to him because it was included in the rules. And that's the peshat that everything that a talmid will be mechadesh, any new idea that a scholar will make, was already given to Moshe by Sinai. And the question we asked, was it new or is it given by Moshe Rabbeinu? The answer is both. If you come and you make up a rule or an idea not based on the rule, you come up with a law not based on the rules, then it's not Torah. Then you're making up your own thing, then it's human mind, then it's not Torah, that's nothing. And that's what nowadays people are trying to do, something reform, conservative, they come and say they'll make up, well we could change the Torah. They don't do it based on the rules of Torah, then they say, \"Well, we feel this should be different.\" That's not from Hashem, that's their own. That's out of the framework of Torah. If you have two chachamim, both using the rules, and one will come to one decision, and one will come to another decision, and they are both right. They are both the words of Hashem. Because if Hashem would have said, \"I want you to do it in this and this way,\" then there's no two ways about it, you can't do it in two ways, they can't be both right. Hashem did not say exactly how to do it. Hashem gave us the rules and said, \"I want you to use your seichel to work out through the rules.\" That's one of the rules that תורה לא בשמים היא. One of the rules is that the Torah is not in Heaven, meaning the Torah was given that we human beings should take the rules of Hashem and work it out. Human being meaning the chachamim who know the rules, but they're able to work it out. And that's the peshat when we learn a piece of Gemara, we learn a Mishnah, and in the Mishnah it says that in this and this case the law is this and this, דברי רבי מאיר, רבי מאיר says so. And we ask the question, how is this an Oral Torah? If this is Oral Torah, did Hashem say this, or this is the words of Rabbi Meir? Yes, what Rabbi Meir figured out with his seichel, based on the rules that was given by Hashem, that is the word of Hashem, that's what Hashem wanted. And when you learn in the Mishnah there's an argument between Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Akiva, they're both the words of Hashem. Because Hashem gave the rules and said, \"I want you to work it out according to your seichel,\" and each one according to his seichel worked it out, and those are the words of Hashem. And that's why the Gemara says אלו ואלו דברי אלקים חיים, they're both the words of the living God, they're both the words of Hashem. And when we learn the Gemara, and in the Gemara we have discussions, questions and answers about different subjects, and changes, every question and every answer is based on the rules given. And this question is because you're learning it with these rules, and according to this it comes out to decide it like this, then there is an answer like this. Meaning that it's all discussions within the the the formula that was given to us by Hashem. These are all part of Torah, that's what Hashem wanted. Hashem said, \"I'm giving you rules, I want you to study the rules, and I want you to formulate the rules. And the whole, all the discussions you will have based on these rules, and coming out and figuring out things, all that is my wisdom. That's what I put in it. And when you come to a decision, that's all my will. This is what I want and this is the decision I want you to have.\" That's why it says that the Gemara says there was an argument concerning a certain halachah between between Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Eliezer and the other chachamim. And Rabbi Eliezer said, \"I want to prove I'm right, let a voice from Heaven come out.\" And a voice from Heaven came out and said, \"הלכה כרבי אליעזר, that he's right.\" But Rabbi Yehoshua got up and said, \"אין משגיחין בבת קול, we don't care about the voice from Heaven, because Hashem gave us the rules and He said תורה לא בשמים היא, it's not in Heaven, He wants us to do it.\" And it says later on that one of the chachamim found Eliyahu, met Eliyahu Hanavi and asked him, \"What's Hashem doing now?\" So Hashem is smiling and says, \"נצחוני בני נצחוני, that you, children of mine, won over me.\" Even though from Heaven He said the law is so and so, but you are right because this is what the Torah is. The Torah was given so that you should work it out within the framework of these of these laws, of these rules, not otherwise. But that's what Hashem wants. By קידוש החודש, there's a specific din when it's when the chachamim had to decide when the first day of the month is going to be. So it says even if they do it wrong, Hashem says the way they will establish it, that's the way it's going to be. It says in the Midrash that the malachim came to Hashem and asked Him, \"When is going to be Yom Kippur?\" Hashem said, \"I don't know, let's go down to the בית דין של מטה, let's see what they're doing down there, let's see what they decided based on the rules that I gave them obviously.\" So This is what the Torah is. So all the questions that we ask: how is it possible that you should have arguments and they both should be right, and they both should be Torah? How could you say that the Gemara is Torah Shebaal Peh, what, did Hashem say every word of the Gemara? Well, certain things in the Gemara is actually transmitted from Hashem said to Moshe and goes on and on and on. But many of things were not. And they're still Torah because the discussions that we have within the laws, within the rules, those are all part of Torah. Now we can understand how it's possible there should be a question how to make tefillin. Probably what happened, we can't say for sure, but just to answer the question, to imagine how it worked, if Hashem would have told Moshe exactly how to make tefillin: this is what you do, this is how you write the parshiyot, and Moshe would come down and give over to the Yidden exactly how to do it, couldn't be a question. It's not like I said other things could have been forgotten, and it does say that certain laws that Hashem did tell Moshe Rabbeinu were forgotten, says in the ימי אבלו של משה, in the 30 days that they mourned after Moshe Rabbeinu, things were forgotten. But Hashem gave Moshe rules what to do in a case where a law is forgotten. What do you do? How do you work it out? We'll come back to it. It's all part of the rules. But anyway, certain laws were forgotten, but this couldn't have been forgotten, like I said before. How could you forget how to put on tefillin when there are a million pairs of tefillin daily? Probably what happened was Moshe Rabbeinu himself played two roles. Moshe Rabbeinu was the one that brought down the rules from Hashem. That's not Moshe Rabbeinu, that's Hashem, and Moshe Rabbeinu was the shaliach. Hashem said to us, \"Listen to Moshe. He will bring you the Torah shebaal peh. He'll bring you the rules.\" Now, the chachamim sat down after Moshe Rabbeinu brought the rules, so he brought down all the rules, based on that, they were supposed to work out exactly how to make tefillin. Now, when you sit down to work out how to make the tefillin based on the rules given by Hashem, it's possible that one chacham will work it out and his decision will be like this, one other chacham will work it out based on the same rules, but being that the rule is that you have to use your seichel, with his seichel it'll come out differently. Now, it's possible, see Moshe Rabbeinu himself, besides being the מקבל התורה, the one that received the Torah, Moshe Rabbeinu was also one of the chachamim. So Moshe Rabbeinu later on, after he brought down the rules, he himself sat down, took these rules, and based on these rules, was going to work out to see how to put on tefillin. Now, Yehoshua, I'm just giving an example, Yehoshua, but it could be anybody else of the chachamim of that time, could take the same rules and work it out and come out to a different decision. And they're both right. As bringing the rules, Moshe is the one. But afterwards, then every one of the chachamim, if he works it out properly according to the rules, could come out with his own decision. So probably what happened was that Moshe Rabbeinu came down, told them the rules, they worked out, somebody, Moshe, let's say, worked out that his tefillin came out like Rashi's, and Yehoshua, I would imagine, worked it out that it came out like Rabbeinu Tam. So right then and there, there were two pairs of tefillin. And it seems that the two pairs of tefillin started all the way from the beginning from when the mitzvah of tefillin started. And the same is with the shofar. Hashem did not say exactly what a teruah is, but based on the rules they worked out that a teruah, one worked out that a teruah is what we call a teruah, one is what we call a shevarim, one is what we call a shevarim teruah. And the same thing is many other things. Yes, in this ענין, in being that Moshe Rabbeinu was the מקבל התורה, so when he gave over the name, the words of Hashem, you can't contradict him. Hashem said, \"Listen to him.\" Then Hashem said, \"Take these rules and work it out.\" So Moshe sat down now working it out with his sechel as a human being, as a chacham. Then a other chacham who heard the same rules, now they're equal. Now they are the same. So therefore, when the Rabbeinu Tam brought down Moshe Rabbeinu, if the question would be what did Hashem say to Moshe, then Rabbeinu Tam couldn't say to Moshe Rabbeinu, \"You made a mistake,\" 'cause he's the מקבל התורה, he tells me what is Torah. It was a question that after he brought the Torah down and it's supposed to pasken halacha, it's supposed to work out, question was how to work it out. So Rabbeinu Tam says, \"In this case, you could say your opinion and I could give my opinion, and I hope my opinion is better than yours because I worked according to my sechel.\" And that's okay. Now when it comes to actually knowing what to do, you can't do both. Let's say one chacham works out one way, one chacham works out the other way. Certain things you could do both, like tefillin, you could put on Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam, you could put on both. But certain dinim, this is kasher or taref, can't be kasher and taref, how is it? So among the rules that Hashem gave us, there are rules what to do when there is an argument. Now they're both Torah because they both worked out with the rules, but when it comes lemaaseh, actually in action what to do, so there are rules. For instance, there is a rule: אחרי רבים להטות, that the majority rules. So that's one of the rules that when we have to, when we have these discussions, one of, there are many, many other rules. Now the truth is most of the rules we do not know. The chachamim in the in the Mishnah and the Gemara, up to the end of the Tannaim Time of the Gemara, they had in tradition all the rules that Moshe Rabbeinu had, and therefore they were able to establish the halacha. Then, people did not know all the rules. And therefore, we, after the time of the Gemara, we could only base halachot in understanding the Gemara or the Mishnayot. And all the commentaries in later generations are all only to understand what the peshat in the Gemara is, in order to come out with the proper halacha, but it's all based on the Gemara. We cannot use any rules and take a pasuk in Chumash and say, say, well, the rules say so and so, we'll work out the peshat in the Chumash. We can't do that. Because now, we don't know them all, and therefore, now we have to just understand the Gemara and understand the Mishnayot. And that's where the Rambam comes in and all the other commentaries, they're all to understand what the Gemara says. But this is, basically, the way it went. And therefore, when we learn a piece of Gemara, we're learning Torah shebaal peh, we're learning the oral Torah given by Hashem. And at the same time, in the Gemara, we learn about this person and that person, and this person said, because all that is discussions of according to the rules of Hashem, and therefore, all this is is the wisdom of Hashem, it's Torah of Hashem. And this is what we would call, some people would call rightfully and not rightfully, the evolvement of Torah shebaal peh. Now, it's a contradiction, it seems. What do you mean evolvement of Torah shebaal peh? Torah can evolve? If it was given by Hashem, whatever was given was given! And they use it against us, the non-religious people, those that try to make changes in our religion, say, \"Why are we different? Look at the Gemara! These are all decisions made by different rabbis. We're also, we'll make different decisions. We could also make decisions. Why Why do you say, if it would be given by God, we can't make any changes. It's not given by God. It's all human beings' decisions.\" And they say, \"Because it evolved! Torah shebaal peh evolved!\" On the other hand, how could you say Torah shebaal peh evolved if we're calling it Torah shebaal peh, meaning it was a Torah given orally by God? Not evolved! But in in one way it is true: the particulars, the details would evolve. And there's another another one more point I want to add in the concerning Torah shebaal peh of the Gemara, just for a moment, that besides understanding all the mitzvot based on the rules given, that we have to figure out exactly how to do the mitzvah, that's what the Gemara is all about. Whether these are questions that come up that never were dealt with, and therefore they used the rules to figure out, or questions that were forgotten, things like that, but besides all that, the Chachamim had the right, again, from Hashem, from the Torah, to add new laws. But not to make a new law as one of the 613, but they had right to make סייגים, fences around the Torah to add, and therefore we're obligated to keep it. And that's also part of the Gemara. Many, many things in the Gemara, and in the Mishnayot, and all the commentaries discuss מצוות דרבנן. מצוות דרבנן, and people might ask the same question, how could, when you learn about and you discuss a mitzvah given by the Chachamim, how could it be considered as Torah shebaal peh? Torah shebaal peh means a Torah given orally by Hashem. If these were mitzvot never given by Hashem, a thousand years or 1,500 or 2,000 years after the Torah was given, the chachamim of that generation decided to make a certain mitzvah, certain halachah. So it wasn't given orally by Hashem. So when we study that, we're studying what the chachamim, what this rabbi and this rabbi had in mind, or what they meant and how to do their mitzvah. But how do we call it Torah of Hashem that was given to us for us? The answer is the same: when they made these laws, it was all based on the authority given to them by Hashem with certain rules, what to do and when to do it. So when we're studying their laws, we are studying a discussion concerning what Hashem said, because these are all working out what the words of what Hashem said, generally speaking. So it is all included in Torah sheba'al peh. And this is what Torah sheba'al peh is for us, and therefore, when we study now, we get the reward that we're studying Torah, and we have to make a berachah before studying, because every word is really based on what Hashem said.

Okay, any questions? Confused everybody so much that means So it was always two. The question came up only in the time of Rashi? No, it did not! That's why, let me make it clear. He's like, in my zeide, in my zeide's tefillin, yeah. Even before All the way back. Before Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam, there were different communities. Some communities wore tefillin like Rashi, some like Rabbeinu Tam. The reason we relate it to Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam is because Rashi paskened this way, and the Rabbeinu Tam paskened this way. But it's not that they made it up. Some people did like this, and some people like that. Those were the only two possibilities? No, there are other small, small, like Raavad and Shimusha Raba and all, but this is what they paskened. But it seems that the difference in the tefillin dates back all the way to the midbar, when the Jews started putting on tefillin. That's when the two pairs of tefillin started. And it wasn't paskened until later generations. It says in Shulchan Aruch that it was only after Rashi's time that it was accepted tefillin like Rashi, that's why most people wear the tefillin of Rashi. Well, that doesn't mean I mean Moshe wouldn't put on two pairs of tefillin, he would have held one way, probably, and somebody Probably. Just like Rashi did not put on Rabbeinu Tam's tefillin, Rabbeinu Tam did not put on Rashi's tefillin. You see, Rabbeinu Tam was Rashi's grandson. Once when Rabbeinu Tam was a little boy, he was sitting on Rashi's lap, and Rashi we know used to sit in his tefillin all day. So as a little baby, he pulled the tefillin off his head. So Rashi said, \"Oh, when he grows up, he's going to argue against my tefillin.\" And that's exactly what happened. But not that he made up an argument, he paskent the other opinion, but these opinions and Rashi did not put on Rabbeinu Tam's, and Rabbeinu Tam did not put on Rashi's, and Moshe Rabbeinu, I don't know what he did. Maybe he put on both pairs of tefillin. Maybe if he respected the opinions of of Yehoshua, let's say, maybe he put on his opinion's tefillin, too, just to be sure. But he didn't have to; if his opinion was one way, he put it on, he put on one pair. The truth is they did find old tefillin from the time of the Beis Hamikdash, two pairs next to each other, one was like Rashi's and one was like Rabbeinu Tam's. So they want to prove from here that even in the time of the Beis Hamikdash they put on two pairs, but that's not a proof, because some say the reason they put it away, maybe because it was no good. But then you wouldn't find them both. Anyway, that's not but it's very possible that they did, that Moshe Rabbeinu put on two pairs of tefillin just to be yotzei. Not that there are two mitzvot of tefillin, the mitzvah is one, but to be yotzei, to make sure that you're doing the right thing, he put on. But Moshe or whoever it is has to pasken according to his seichel. You mentioned a halacha, there is a halacha in Sanhedrin, when they would take a vote, when they came to the Supreme Court they would take a vote, there were 71 members. So there's a din, imagine, there's a din that everyone is supposed to pasken according to what he thinks is right. Now what would be if you have one member of the Sanhedrin that has holds with high regard another member? Let's, I think that the halacha in this case should be kasher. But I know that this other member sitting over there holds treif, and I really think that he's very smart, and I really hold a lot of him, and since he says treif, I'll pray, I'll vote treif. There's an aveirah, it's a lav, you're not allowed to do that! Why? Because the halacha is that you have to pasken according to your seichel based on the rules. Now you repeat every time, I mean, I mention based on the rules, because the moment I say you have to pasken according to your seichel, so it's not Torah, it's your seichel! So a human being... No, it's your seichel taking the rules, and that's what Hashem wanted. The moment you go out, then it's not. Yeah, but that's not that we rule by, yeah, but it's, but that's not the rules of seichel, that's just the rules of acceptance. The judges who were the first to vote, and the older judges were the Not in age, but the one the one more, the greater ones at the end. Only when it came to capital punishment, not for another thing, just for capital punishment. Yes. Well, how do you know what comes directly from Moshe Rabbeinu and what Well, the truth is we don't really know, and we don't really care, because it's all the same. If it's taken with the rules, and it's worked out according to the rules that Hashem gave, that is the will of Hashem. So makes no difference to us. And by the way, now we don't know the rules anyway. You know, we just know the 13 general rules, we know we don't know, and therefore we cannot go back to the Chumash and work out the halacha. All the halachot were worked out already then. Then there was arguments, because they all knew the rules, but they couldn't figure it out. Now whatever was accepted then, that's why after the Gemara was finished, there's no way we could we could override. How about responsa during the...? That's all based The rules of the Gemara, we know. We know rules of halacha. like you mentioned on the on the refrigerator or So that's all based on the Gemara. We don't based on That, yes, that we That, and that's why it's all said, because now learning the Gemara is understanding what the chachamim said when they worked the rules out. And your Everything. It's all based on the Gemara, and it's all based on all these way of learning Gemara, way of learning the Torah gets brought down before, so it's all, but they didn't know all the rules to darash the Chumash. Hashem gave Moshe Rabbeinu rules how to take the pasuk and work out and darash that pasuk. But we can't darash the Chumash. What we know, how to learn the Gemara, and based on that, we learn the Gemara according to the rules of the Gemara, which is the discussion of the rules of Chumash, and that's the words of Hashem. Rules for all time. What to do if there's electricity, refrigeration Yeah, so the rule, when Hashem gave the rules, He gave rules which would include every possible case in the world ever will happen that will be figured out somehow. according to this. Like it says Moshe Rabbeinu, it says Yehoshua, and then כל תלמיד ותיק. I'd say that I don't know if he did, but I'd say it could be. Is it? No, no, no, not to pasken like that. And that's what he pasken'd. Right, and that's what he did. But if he would want if he would want to like give a respect, his opinion, too, because he knows that his seichel says like that. You're not allowed to pasken that way. But if he wants to himself do to be yotzei the both דעות, because if if it's something you can't do both, then you have to do like yourself, you can't do like him. But if it's something that you can do both If it's a shaila that if if if it's an issur, and I hold it's mutar and you hold it's asur, I'm allowed to be machmir and say not to. As a matter of fact, the Gemara tells a story with Elazar ben Azariah, that Elazar ben Azariah was allowed a cow to walk out with this and this thing on its horn, the other Chachamim said not, and he allowed it. And a neighbor's cow walked out that way, and he didn't stop it. He נענש for not stopping, even though it wasn't his opinion, because here he was able to be machmir. But if it would be a question he held to be he held to be machmir and others held to be meikil, he could say, \"I'll listen to them\"? He has to he has to be machmir according In other words, he can't go against, but he could respect the other opinion and follow their's, too. That's not a problem. So, I don't know what happened, I'm saying Moshe Rabbeinu could have said to Yehoshua, \"Well, you're your opinion, I think you're wrong because that's not, but since your opinion and your seichel is like that, I want to do it also.\" But if he couldn't do both, definitely he would do like his own. Both things are right and both are the words of Hashem'. The words of Hashem'. That's why to me, I hold one way. This is the way This is the way I have to pasken. I know that his opinion to him is right, but I can't do his opinion against mine because I have to pasken according to the seichel of myself. If I If I won't go against myself, I can do both, why not? But if it's going to be against me, I couldn't, because I'm I I hold like this and this is what my seichel tells me. Listen, it's not only a question like this, you know, there's so many arguments in different places that we don't we're not, because our halacha Our halacha, what happens when there's an argument, how do you pasken? So, here the halacha is like Rashi. Whatever the טעם, the truth is there's not a real real halacha that the halacha is like Rashi. It just says נתפשט המנהג. And that's why it's kedai to be yotzei both of them. I'm talking about the halacha. על פי קבלה, על פי קבלה it's a different thing, but the other ones it doesn't even say that this is like an opinion that's accepted an opinion. The other ones are accepted opinions, but the halacha is not that way, to be yotzei. This is not even accepted, I mean between Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam. Besides, על פי קבלה it's this is still not חכמה, בינה, or whatever. Well, Korach we know was from the greatest. But what he argued was against the principles, not against the the results. So to him, it was maybe maybe that's what That's how his mistake started, it's possible. That's a good point! Possible if it's how his mistake started. Openly he argued against what Moshe said in the name of Hashem'. Moshe said in the name of Hashem' that Aharon is supposed to be Kohen Gadol, and he argued against that. So he didn't argue against a peshat, or against a result based on a rule. He argued against the principle that Moshe gave over in the name of Hashem'. And Hashem' said whatever Moshe gives over in My name, that's clear. After that, when you start learning it, then you can learn with your sechel. And he argued against the principles. But could be that what started it off was, \"Oh well, if I can give my own opinion anyway after the rules, well then maybe I can go a little further.\" Maybe that's that that could be that.