The short answer
The Written Torah is the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh, especially the Five Books); the Oral Torah is the interpretive tradition — Mishnah, Gemara, and later rabbinic literature — that explains and applies it. Traditional Judaism holds both were given at Sinai.
Why people ask this
This distinction explains how Judaism reads the Bible through interpretation rather than literally alone, and why practice includes more than the biblical text.
Key terms
- Tanakh
- The Hebrew Bible: Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim.
- Oral Torah
- The rabbinic interpretive tradition transmitted alongside the written text.
Jewish perspectives
- Traditional: both written and oral traditions were given at Sinai; practice depends on both.
- Reform and some scholars: the Oral Torah is a developing human interpretive tradition.
Scholarly & historical context
The Written Torah was canonized as text; the Oral Torah was transmitted and eventually written down (Mishnah ~200 CE, two Talmuds thereafter).
What is agreed upon
The written text is interpreted through a tradition; the question is its authority.
Where the disagreement begins
Whether the Oral Torah is divine or a developing human tradition.
Practical consequences
Expect Jewish practice to depend on interpretation, not the text alone.
Original sources
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