Editing Jewish principles of faith (section)

===Oral Torah===
{{See also|Oral Torah|Talmud}}
With the exception of [[Karaism|Karaites]], Jewish tradition does not assert that the text of the Torah should be understood literally. Rather, Rabbinic tradition maintains that God conveyed the Torah's words and the Torah's meaning. God gave rules on how the laws were to be understood and implemented, which were passed down as an oral tradition. This oral law was passed down from generation to generation and ultimately written down almost 2,000 years later in the [[Mishna]] and the two [[Talmud]]s.

[[Pirkei Avot]] gives the traditional view of the transmission of the Oral Torah: "Moses received the Torah on Sinai, and transmitted it to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets transmitted it to the men of the [[Great Assembly]]", after which the Oral Torah was transmitted to the [[Zugot]], and from them to the early rabbis of the [[Mishnah]].<ref>Pirkei Avot, chapter 1; the Zugot and some early rabbis are listed by name with their teachings.</ref> The traditions attributed to the Oral Torah, as well as subsequent discussions and elaborations on them, are contained in works such as the Mishnah and the [[Talmud]] (which takes the form of a commentary of Mishnah). These works are both codifications and [[redaction]]s of the Jewish [[oral tradition]]s.<ref name="ChristopherHugh" />

Orthodox Jews view the Written and Oral Torah as the same as Moses taught, for all practical purposes. [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative Jews]] tend to believe that much of the Oral law is divinely inspired, while [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] and [[Reconstructionist Judaism|Reconstructionist]] Jews tend to view all of the Oral law as an entirely human creation. Traditionally, the Reform movement held that Jews were obliged to obey the ethical but not the ritual commandments of Scripture, although today many Reform Jews have adopted many traditional ritual practices. [[Karaite Jews]] traditionally consider the Written Torah to be authoritative, viewing the Oral Law as only one possible interpretation of the Written Torah.
Most Modern Orthodox Jews will agree that, while certain laws within the Oral Law were given to Moses, most of the Talmudic laws were derived organically by the Rabbis of the Mishnaic and Talmudic eras.