To: Emile Vidrine who wrote (22791 ) 11/29/1998 11:08:00 PM From: Zeev Hed Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Emile: your statement " I have many quotes from some of the chief Rabbis around the world that contend that the Babylonian Talmud is more important than the Torah.", is a lie, no Rabbi that I have met will consider the Talmud "above" the Torah. The Torah is the essence. The Talmud is full of opinions, many of which contradict each other. As a matter of fact, an interesting historic fact is that if a finding or ruling is given in the Jerusalmi, it is accepted only if there was no corresponding ruling in the Bavli. If there is a ruling in the Bavli it supersedes a ruling in the Jerusalmi if it is contradictory (which often it is). This only because the Bavli was "sealed" (499 C.E.) about 150 years after the Jerushalmi, and the latter rabbinical authorities simply assumed that the sealers of the Bavli had before them the Jerushalmi and when contradictions were present, accepted the Bavli, by the "sealing" act. What you do not understand is that the Gemara is nothing more then "judicial precedent" interweaved with "Agada" and some excess mysticism. No Rabbi will say that it is more importnat then the Torah, it is indeed just a "Gader" (a hedge) around the Torah, but that is not new. Rabbi Akiva's citation of Thou shall Love your neighbor as you love yourself "Shema", "VeAhavta Lereicha Kamocha".
