Torah or Talmud?

Question

One thing that I have always been curious about is what scripture do Religious Jews follow more the Torah or the Talmud?

Answer 1

Since the Talmud interprets the Torah, I would say it is the Torah. But in their effort to avoid displeasing God, religious Jews tend to follow the Talmud more.

This leads to such strange practices as buying two diswashers and two refrigerators in order to keep the meat away from the milk. And all the Torah says is not to cook a kid in its mother's milk.

Their hearts are in the right place, tho. They will go to Denver from New York by way of LA rather than offend God.

Answer 2

Both, the Talmud is sort of like a handbook or companion for the Torah (Bible) with Rabbinic interpretations of Jewish law etc.

Answer 3

Interestingly, it is impossible to follow one without the other. The Torah (by which you mean the written text) gives heritage, history and law but was given at Sinai with an oral law which was transmitted as an explanatroy complement to the written text. So from the get-go, both sets of law were "followed" though they were, in fact, one complete set of law. When the oral law was later codified, explored, expanded and explained, it served to more fully explicate the written text to allow us to follow the intent of the text. So by following one, we are following the other at the same time.

Answer 4

They follow both. They do not follow one "more" than the other.

Answer 5

talmud more

Answer 6

http://www.myislamweb.com/forum/index.php

Answer 7

both, they go hand in hand