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The Written Torah consists of three parts. The five books of Moses (the Pentateuch), which Moses received through the highest level of prophecy, is the part of the Hebrew Bible called Torah. It contains all 613 mitzvot as well as the history of God’s revelation of the fundamentals of faith and morality to the Israelites. Afterwards, over the course of a thousand years, there were countless prophets. God communicated with them and gave them prophesies for their time. What was relevant to later generations was incorporated into the part of the Bible called the Prophets (Nevi’im). There were also divinely inspired books that became incorporated into the part of the Bible called the Writings (Ketuvim). Thus, there are three component parts to Tanakh, which is the acronym for Torah, Nevi’im, Ketuvim. Of the three, it is the Torah given by Moses which is the primary source for normative Torah law.
The Oral Torah is the traditional explanation of the Written Torah. It starts with explanations for each mitzva God gave Moses orally at Sinai. It continues with the interpretations that sages throughout the ages have given for the mitzvot. Additionally, while the Written Torah is a heavenly presentation of general principles, the rabbis are empowered both to fill in details and to make protective limits and ordinances, measures which allow the Torah to be put into practice in the world in which we live.
