People of the Talmud

Basic to Jewish religious teaching is the distinction between â??writtenâ? Torah â?? Scripture, the Jewish Bible â?? and so-called â??oralâ? Torah, a diffuse tradition of legal and homiletic rabbinic commentary that over the centuries has interpreted and elaborated the written corpus and applied it to shifting social, economic and political realities. This oral component, sensitive to historical change, has worked to prevent religious fossilization.