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Possible Duplicate:
Why don’t we just follow the shittah of Moshe Rabeinu?

If the Oral Torah is Divine, how are there arguments in the Mishnah and Gemara?

(I have heard this question asked several times and I wish to be equipped properly to answer it.)

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AEML
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The laws could have been forgotten. 3,000 (!) halachos were lost in the time of the mourning for Mosheh (Rashi, Yehoshua 1:2). However, the only disputes were in matters of logic, but not in tradition (Tosfos Yom Tov, Avos 1:4).

b a
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  • If i would say this, they would reply: If they were forgotten then how do we know they are correct now? They are no longer necessarily Divine since these aren't the actual halachot given at Sinai – AEML Dec 23 '12 at 04:30
  • We don't know. In fact, we follow the agreement of the majority of rabbis even when there's a clear sign from G-d that the minority opinion is right (as in the case of the tanur achnai) – b a Dec 23 '12 at 04:36
  • What, then, is the source for following the majority? – AEML Dec 23 '12 at 04:37
  • @AaronLevian Exodus 23:2 – Double AA Dec 23 '12 at 04:40
  • ba What exactly is an argument of logic? Did some Tannaim hold of Non-Normal Logics? – Double AA Dec 23 '12 at 04:43
  • @DoubleAA The Tosfos Yom Tov continues the sentence by saying it's referring to the 13 things by which the Torah is expounded – b a Dec 23 '12 at 04:44
  • @ba So that includes the vast, vast majority of halacha! (Interesting BTW that he doesn't exclude Gezera Shava.) – Double AA Dec 23 '12 at 04:46
  • How do you explain http://www.hebrewbooks.org/shas.aspx?mesechta=3&daf=15b&format=text ? – ertert3terte Dec 23 '12 at 06:26
  • As this pretty much a duplicate of pzkd's answer to the older question of which this question has now been closed as a duplicate, I'm not merging this answer over to the other question. – msh210 Dec 23 '12 at 06:34