Halacha L'Moshe MiSinai (Oral Law from Sinai)

Halacha L'Moshe MiSinai refers to laws that Moses our teacher received directly from God at Mount Sinai as part of the Oral Torah and transmitted to the Jewish people.

The Alter Rebbe explains that in a broader sense, the entire Torah is included in the definition of Halacha L'Moshe MiSinai. In his words: "...all Scripture, Mishnah, laws, and Aggadot were all told to Moses at Sinai. Even though in the Gemara names of Tannaim and Amoraim who stated particular laws are mentioned, such as 'Beit Shammai says such and such,' this is actually the word of God, a law that was told to Moses at Sinai that was later expressed by that particular Tanna or Amora."

Background

According to what is told in the Torah, when Moses ascended to heaven to receive the Torah, he stayed there for forty days. During those days, the Holy One, blessed be He, taught him the Torah, including the Oral Torah. As stated in the verse: "And I will give you the tablets of stone, the Torah and the commandment," where the interpretation is that "Torah" refers to the Written Torah and "the commandment" refers to the Oral Torah.

Those laws that are described as "Halacha L'Moshe MiSinai" are those that have been passed down to us generation after generation and from teacher to teacher back to Moses our teacher, who heard them orally from God and transmitted them to Israel.

These laws have no explicit reference in the Torah, and it is impossible to learn them through any of the hermeneutical principles by which the Torah is interpreted or through logical reasoning. This is different from the rest of the Oral Torah, which can be studied through the thirteen hermeneutical principles and similar methods.

Definition

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See Also

• Oral Torah
• Written Torah