Rabbinic Judaism Debunked Quotes

“As pointed out several times already, the Levitical priests were the ones to whom the mandate to uphold the Torah was given. In fact, in a discussion about the Sabbath law, the Babylonian Talmud itself admits that the priests were quick and cautious in regard to keeping the commandments.[239] Hence, if there were any questions in regard to keeping the Sabbath laws, the people of Israel knew they could trust the priests and count on them to give the right instructions.”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“Throughout the Bible, the priests were the ones who were given the Torah; they were responsible for teaching the Written Law to Israel; and they were responsible to preserve it in order to pass it on to future generations;[237] therefore, they knew best how to implement the Torah and to judge according to it.”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“it was natural for the priests to engage in implementing judgment.[234] Thus, there is no reason to assume that it refers to the rabbis/ Pharisees, which are first mentioned towards the end of the Second Temple era.[235]”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“Nowhere do these verses give the judges any liberty to legislate new laws; instead, they simply instruct them to rule according to the Written Law (v. 11).[233] According to this passage, the role of the judges is merely to judge by the law of the Torah and not to add countless new laws which in most cases have nothing to do with the Written Law.”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“in contrast to what the Sages claim, the Sanhedrin was established only in the Second Temple Period, and not before.”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“The pagan roots of many of the rabbinic traditions further weakens the alleged connection between the Oral Law and the spirit of the Bible.”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“other pagan beliefs which have found a home in rabbinical Judaism, such as the existence of demons in bathrooms,[193] the breaking of glass in weddings,[194] reincarnation of souls,[195] belief in the existence of the little Mermaid,[196] practices of witchcraft,[197] God versus the god of the sea,[198] the belief in a time of purgatory,[199] prayers for raising the souls of the dead (“kaddish”),[200] the industry of amulets,[201] turning Purim into a pagan carnival,[202] putting rocks on tombstones,[203] worshipping pictures of saints,[204] using sacred candles,[205] changing the new year (i.e., Rosh Hashanah) into a pagan date,[206] and the custom of women separating a tenth of the challah bread (הפרשת חלה).[207]”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“The Sages have considered the tefillin as amulets of divine power which could protect men. Their final shape and form, as was determined by the rabbis, is clearly taken from ancient Egypt, where a figure of a sacred snake was tied to the head as a good luck charm, and this resembles the traditional tefillin.”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“Furthermore, holy writings attached to the body and portrayed as amulets were used by various pagan peoples. For example, an amulet which resembles tefillin was discovered in Mesopotamia.”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“The tefillin were perceived as magical figurative symbols, and the use of such amulets, attached to the head or arms, were practiced in the ancient world by pagans, long before the first century.”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“it is interesting to investigate how the mezuzah was turned onto an amulet which can guard the house against evil.[171] Historical and archeological research found that pagan nations from Mesopotamia used to mark their entries with different kinds of “mezuzahs”, which carried symbols of idols. Amulets of this kind were also found in Egypt, where this practice was made in order to keep the inhabitants of the home from all sorts of evil.[172”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“The dependence on astrology and its worship typified the customs of many pagans, such as the Babylonians in Mesopotamia and the ancient Egyptians.[159] The ties between the Sages in Israel and the Gentiles, led them to believe in astrology, witchcraft, and other superstitions that are completely alien to the Bible.[160]”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“the rabbis have decreed when to pray, how to pray, where to pray, and with whom to pray. But in complete contrast, biblical (Old Testament) prayer is individual, never repetitious, and is never restricted to one place or from anyone.”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“The Siddur was composed by the Sages, beginning in the Second Century and was finalized toward the end of the first millennium.”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“research on biblical prayer, compared to “rabbinic prayer,” has suggested that praying out of the Siddur (i.e., the rabbinical prayer book) is closer to chanting mantras than to prayer as found in the Tanakh.”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“A mantra is defined as an expression of syllables, words, and sentences spoken in the form of ongoing repetition, in the belief that this action releases spiritual powers. Apparently, the source of the mantras was Hinduism and was originally made in the Sanskrit language.”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“Thus Moses emphasizes the need to learn, to keep, and to do the Laws of the Torah, but he never promoted studying it only for the sake of studying, as the Sages teach. Moreover, rabbinic tradition has turned the act of learning Talmud into work itself (תורתו אמנותו)—a never-ending occupation which bestows merit, both in this world and in the world to come.[147] Of course, this “work” took place in the yeshiva, which (as shown above) was a duplication of the Greek academy”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“The rabbis claim that the thirteen methods by which they interpreted Torah[139] were given to Moses at Sinai.[140] The problem with this claim is that these methods are found in the Hellenistic world.”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“Maimonides considered himself a disciple of Aristotle,[129] saw Moses as the chief philosopher, and even referred to [rabbinic] Judaism as a philosophical religion.[”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“The close ties which the Pharisees had with the Greco-Roman world caused them to adopt many of their beliefs and customs, such as witchcraft and other superstitious rituals which were completely alien to Scripture.”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)

“the Hebrew Scriptures have lost their relevance compared to the rabbinic “new covenant,” and they were now used only as a tool to validate the Oral Law and to strengthen the rabbis’ authority.”
― Eitan Bar, Rabbinic Judaism Debunked: Debunking the myth of Rabbinic Oral Law (Oral Torah)