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Flip to reveal answersWhat does the guide mean by the dual Torah?
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All 10 Flashcards — Sacred texts
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Question
What does the guide mean by the dual Torah?
Answer
Divinely inspired written Torah — the five books of Moses — and oral Torah, held to be God's explanation of the written Torah, passed to Moses but not written down.
Question
What is the Mishnah?
Answer
A collection of the oral law, compiled by the second century AD.
Question
How does the Talmud go further than the Mishnah?
Answer
By containing debates between rabbis, and theological, philosophical and ethical works — so it preserves disagreement rather than resolving it.
Question
Define halakhah and aggadah.
Answer
Halakhah is Jewish law in the Talmud, from rabbinical debate on the Torah's legal material. Aggadah deals with ethics and moral values, including narrative on exemplary figures.
Question
In what order were the parts of the Hebrew Bible accepted?
Answer
Torah first, then Nevi'im, then Ketuvim — oral transmission first, then committed to writing.
Question
What does Bava Kama 38b illustrate?
Answer
The development of the biblical principle of compensation behind "an eye for an eye" through rabbinic discussion in the Talmud.
Question
What is on a page of the Talmud?
Answer
The text with rabbinic commentary by Rashi and the law code by Maimonides printed around it.
Question
Which languages belong to which Jewish texts?
Answer
Hebrew for the Bible, regarded as the sacred language; Aramaic for the Talmud; the vernacular translation printed opposite the Hebrew in every siddur.
Question
How does Jewish development of the law continue?
Answer
Through law codes and responsa, a continuing process of rabbinic interpretation — though in Orthodoxy always going back to first principles.
Question
What new prayers does the guide note in recent prayer books?
Answer
Prayers relating to the state of Israel, the Holocaust and modern concerns.
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