Week 5 · Covenant and Faith
Torah from Heaven and the Oral Torah
Questions 32–39
Academy reading copy. This lesson is not offered as a file download.
Objectives
Explain this week’s central concepts accurately, respectfully, and in clear language.
Answer Questions 32–39 in complete sentences and correct them after discussion.
Connect belief and law to observable practice in home, synagogue, and community.
Core content
Principles 8–9; Written and Oral Torah; transmission through the sages; Torah’s permanence.
Required reading
Rambam, Commentary to Mishnah, Sanhedrin ch. 10 (Thirteen Principles); a reliable siddur’s Yigdal/Ani Ma’amin; selected Tanakh passages assigned by the rabbi.
Practical observance
Choose three mitzvot whose practical details depend on the Oral Torah.
Hebrew strand
Practice 10–15 minutes daily: letters, vowels, and ten recurring siddur words. Record one passage that became easier this week.
Homework and reflection
Complete written responses for 32–39; mark every answer that depends on local custom or rabbinic ruling.
Write 150–250 words: “How should this week’s learning change the way I live?”
Record attendance, practice completed, uncertainties, and one question for the sponsoring rabbi.
Rabbinic checkpoint
Affirm Torah miSinai and the binding Divine origin of the Oral Torah; unresolved objections require pastoral study, not pressure.