re: #7 Bob Levin

Taking into account the Oral Torah is a must when one is discussing Judaism’s take on the Written Torah.

However, the Torah can be simply read by itself, as an ancient book, the book written when there was no Oral Torah, and written without the Oral Torah’s interpretations in mind. I don’t accept the assumption that the Oral Torah is necessary for its understanding, since I don’t see evidence for this. I do know about some isolated places where readings may be affected by an ancient tradition (like “milk” v. “fat”). This doesn’t mean that one simply accepts the whole of the tradition’s interpretations. Moreover, Christianity doesn’t accept the Oral Torah, so reading the Written Torah “as is” is also acceptable when discussing the Christian claims of moral authority.