When
- Talmud -
Is - Right
by Rachmiel Frydland
Let there be no misunderstanding.
We do not believe that the TALMUD is inspired by the RUACH
HA KODESH
(the Holy Spirit of God), or that it
is the Word of God. The Talmud does not claim
to
be the Word of God, but rather an interpretation and an explanation
of
the Law of God, the TORAH.
The Talmud, oral discussions and instructions relating to Holy Writ, is
supported in its conclusions and interpretations by the written Word of God,
the Torah, or by hoary tradition. When neither was available, final
decisions were suspended until there should arise again a prophet in Israel, or
until Messiah, preceded by Elijah, would come. Then all doubtful and
uncertain points which could not be decided previously would be settled.
Work of Wise Men
The final edition of the BABYLONIAN TALMUD, which includes the earlier work of
the MISHNA, took place around A.D. 500, a stupendous
creation over 500 years in the making; and in which all the learned of Israel
participated. From that time until the present, pious Jewish people took
great pride in mastering the "deep sea" of the Talmud."
Subject of Attacks
Many people have attacked the Talmud. Of such were the SADDUCEES, Jews
who were mentioned in the BRIT HADASHA (the New
Testament). They opposed PHARISAIC Jews. Later, similar teachings
against the Talmud were propounded by the KAIRITES, a
Jewish sect started in the eighth century by a Jewish leader, Anan ben
David. The remnants of this strong Jewish movement of the middle ages
have now settled in Israel. They oppose all Rabbinical traditions and
laws and claim that only the written Torah is authoritative - not the
interpretations and additions of the Talmud.
The MASKILIM, followers of Haskoloh,
the Jewish enlightenment and cultural movement of the 18th and 19th centuries,
attacked the Talmud for another reason. To them the Talmud prevented the
Jewish people from participating in the benefits of enlightenment. They
considered the Talmud a travesty but highly praised the Biblical Hebrew and
recreated it in a modern language.
Challenge to Our Thinking
It is not our purpose to take sides in these disputes. We are not obliged
to accept the authority of the Talmud, as the Talmud does not claim Holy Spirit
inspiration. However, we do want to point out some Talmudical
sayings that should challenge our thinking regarding our beliefs and attitudes.
Forty years before the Holy Temple was destroyed the following things happened:
The lot for the Yom Kippur goat ceased to be supernatural; the red cord of wool
that used to change to white [as a symbol of God's forgiveness) now remained
red and did not change and the western candle in the candlestick in the
sanctuary refused to burn continually while the doors of the Holy Temple would
open of themselves. [Tractate Yoma 39:b]
The Talmud takes this clearly as a sign of the departure of the SHECHINA GLORY from the Temple in Jerusalem. Surely
there is a great coincidence in that these things happened forty years before
the Temple was destroyed. This brings us to about A.D. 30; the time when
the Lord Yeshua (Jesus) died on a hill outside of Jerusalem. He called on
the people of Israel to believe in His Messiahship, yet the majority refused!
There is another wise saying of the Rabbis in the same Tractate of the
Talmud: Why was the first Holy Temple destroyed? Because of three
wicked things: idol worship, adultery, and murder.
But in the second Temple in which time the Jewish people were occupied studying
the Torah and doing good deeds and acts of charity why was it then
destroyed? The answer is: It was because of hatred without a cause to
teach you, that hate without a cause is equal to these
sins and that it is as serious a crime as the three great transgressions of
idol worship, adultery, and murder. [Yoma
9].
The Talmud does not answer the question, "Whom did we hate without a
cause?" If we hated the Romans, surely there was cause for it, as they
were pagans bent on destroying us physically, spiritually, and morally.
The Pharisees, we are told in history, were not hated but rather loved
people. Sadducees were not hated; they were a priestly party serving God
inside His Temple. But, there was One who indeed
applied the words to Himself! We read in the Brit Hadasha,
the life of the Lord Yeshua written by His followers.
If
I had not done among them the works which none other man did,
they had not sin; but now
have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
But
this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their
law,
They
hated me without a cause. John 15:24, 25
Could the quotation in the Talmud be a veiled allusion to the One who loved His
people, the sheep of His pasture, so much He gave His life for their salvation,
while we, His people, with our leaders, treated Him with hatred instead of
love? And the Rabbis want to tell us that this was the main reason for
the victory of pagan Rome and the destruction of the second Temple?
Let us look at the inspired Word of God. The Holy Book of TEHILIM (Psalms) says:
Yea,
mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted,
which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up
his heel against me.
Psalm 41:9 Hebrew
41:10
What humiliation and disappointment to be despised and hated without a
cause! We find in this Holy Book of Tehilim, a
more exact description of this hatred without a cause:
They that hate me without a cause are more
than the hairs of mine head....
I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's
children. . . .
The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
Psalm 69:4, 8, 9 Hebrew 69:5, 9, 10
These verses are quoted in the Brit Hadasha as part of
the Scriptures that have been fulfilled in the Lord YESHUA HA MASHIACH (Jesus, the Messiah). The great Rabbi, Saul
of Tarsus (Paul), a disciple of the famed Rabbi Gamaliel
wrote to the believers in the Lord Yeshua in the city of Rome and called on
them to suffer rather than to cause pain to others. Saul wrote:
For even Messiah pleased not himself; but as
it is written,
The reproaches of them that reproached thee
fell on me. Romans
15:31
God's Everlasting Love
and Man's Response
We could quote many other wise sayings from the Talmud, many telling of God's
everlasting love. We could quote many instances when the Talmud is
right. However, as stated in the opening paragraph - let there be no
misunderstanding - we do not believe that the Talmud is inspired by the Holy
Spirit of God nor does the Talmud make this claim. It is best to turn to
the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures as the
final authority. Here we are often reminded of God's love for our
people. Whether we are in Israel or in the DIASPORA, whether our Temple
is intact or destroyed, God still loves us with an everlasting love. We are
assured of this love of God in His Word:
The
LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying Yea, I have loved thee
with an everlasting love:
therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. . . . Thus
saith
the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day,
and the ordinances of the
moon and of the stars for a
light by night. . . . If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD then the seed of Israel also shall cease
from being a nation
before me forever. Jeremiah
31:3, 35, 36
We find the same thought in the Brit Hadasha:
For
I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery,
lest you should be wise in your
own conceits; that blindness in part is
happened to Israel, until the
fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And
so all Israel
shall be saved: as it is
written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer,
and
shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob ... as touching the election they
are beloved for the
fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of God
are without
repentance. Romans 11.25-29
Whether
we love in return or not, God does love us.
In
response to God's love we should be willing to obey Him. He definitely
calls us
to believe in Messiah Yeshua as the KORBAN
(atonement) for our sins.
See Isaiah 53, Psalm 22 and Zechariah 12
A Rabbi's Response
Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein of Tapio-Szele,
Hungary, responded with this testimony:
I, an honored Rabbi for the space of 40 years, am now in my old age,
treated by my friends as one possessed by an evil spirit,
and by my enemies as an outcast. I am
become a butt of mockers who point the finger at me. But while I live I will
stand on my watchtower,
though I may stand there all alone. I will listen to the words of
God, and look for the time when He will return to Zion in mercy, and Israel
shall fill the world with his joyous cry, "Hosanna to the Son of
David. Blessed is He that cometh in the
name of the Lord! Hosanna in the
highest!"
If we respond, the
Deliverer comes into our hearts,
removes hatred - replacing His
love in its stead.
By responding, we are the CHALUZIM (pioneers) for God and for our people.
How about you?
Have you received your Redeemer,
the Stone whom the builders rejected?
In Him is life, light and joy and in His sacrifice is
forgiveness of sin.
RACHMIEL FRYDLAND
- (1919-1985)
Rachmiel Frydland was
raised in an orthodox Jewish home in a village in Poland.
At
age nine he began the study of the Talmud. Later he enrolled in a YESHIVAH.
Puzzled
by the identity of the Messiah in Daniel 9:24-26, he
accepted Yeshua as Messiah.
By
God's grace he survived the great persecution of World War II, living on
the edge of
death under Nazi rule.
Mr. Frydland was truly a humble scholar-teacher who
lived to proclaim the Messiahship
of Yeshua in many
countries and languages. He shared his knowledge
of rabbinics and
Yeshua in books, articles and messages, many
which are available from
MESSIANIC LITERATURE OUTREACH.
GLOSSARY
BRIT
HADASHA - New Covenant.
CHALUZIM - Pioneers.
DIASPORA - The scattering of the Jews.
KAIRITES - A sect of Jews who accepted the Old
Testament as God's only authoritative word.
KORBAN - Atonement for sin.
MASKILIM - A sect of Jews who were followers of the
Jewish enlightenment of the 18th
and
19th centuries.
MISHNA - Collection of interpretations and
discussions of the law; a portion of the Talmud.
PHARISEES - A religious Jewish sect which believed in the resurrection.
RUACH HA KODESH - Holy Spirit.
SADDUCEES - A Jewish sect that denied the resurrection.
SHECHINA GLORY - presence of the glory of God Who
manifested Himself in the temple.
TALMUD - Collection of books containing Rabbinic
interpretation of the Old Testament.
TEHILIM - Psalms.
TORAH - Five books of Moses containing the law.
YESHIVAH - Jewish school for higher education.
YESHUA HA MASHIACH - Jesus, the
Messiah.
Reprinted
with permission of The Messianic Literature Outreach
www.messianicliterature.org
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