The Myth of "Halacha L'Moshe MiSinai"

A central claim of Talmudic Judaism is that there are certain laws that were given to Moses on Sinai, but never written down in the Torah. These mysterious laws were not known to the Kohanim, who had been given the Torah scroll of Moses and carried out the Temple services. Nor were they known to any of the Prophets in the TNK.  They only appeared in the late 2nd Temple period when the Perushim or early "rabbis"  started to enforce these so-called laws. One example is the Water Libation ceremony which was introduced into the Temple during the Sukkot festival. No mention of it appears in the Torah, which instructs what sacrifices to carry out during the festivals.   This alleged "Simchat Beit HaShoevah" caused untold damage to Israel, and the deaths of many people in the civil war between the Hasmoneans and the Pharisees.

If it is "their word against ours", how can either side prove their case?

Well it seems to this writer, that it is quite straightforward, if we have the shared assumption of the Torah being true. The Torah teaches "2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you."   (Devarim/Deut Ch.4), and again in Ch. 13.     Now, the proponents of the Oral Law might, and in fact do,  attempt to deconstruct this Torah law. And that exercise is ridiculous, it is like a thief trying to deconstruct "Thou shalt not steal".
They further claim that someone who denies the Oral Law is an "apikores" or Epicurean heretic, with no place in the World to come.  This claim is of the same nature as the claims of Catholicism who say those who do not believe in Jesus and accept him as Moshiach will endure eternal damnation in Hell.

But the notion of the "Halacha L'Moshe MiSinai" is actually rejected by what was given to Moshe on Sinai - namely the Torah itself.   In Devarim Ch. 30 it tells us that keeping to the written law willbe rewarded and we will be loved by God.

9 And the LORD thy God will make thee over-abundant in all the work of thy hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good; for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as He rejoiced over thy fathers; 

10 if thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law; if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.


 The belief in Oral law from Sinai is thus contradicted by the Written Law from Sinai.  The Torah says He will rejoice over us, as he did over out forefathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) for keeping to the Written Law.  The New Rabbinic Testament, like its ugly twin sister of Christianity, is threatening us with eternal damnation.  Therefore, one can believe in the Oral Law but only at the expense of denying the Torah itself. And, that is the sin of the Pharisees.