~/not-in-heavenAfter revelation, legal interpretation belongs to the authorized human process. Bava Metzia 59b refuses miracles and a heavenly voice as ways to win a halakhic dispute, invoking Deuteronomy 30:12 and majority procedure. This does not make truth whatever a crowd says; it distinguishes divine revelation from the covenantal jurisdiction charged with applying it.
~/written-and-oral-torahIn rabbinic Judaism, Written Torah is not a self-executing authority. Oral Torah—transmitted practice, interpretive rules, precedent, and continuing argument—makes covenantal command livable. Neither side is merely optional commentary on the other: the written text constrains the tradition, while the tradition supplies the procedures and particulars through which the text can be obeyed.
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