Why Jews Follow the Rabbis: The Unbroken Chain from Sinai to Today

Aviv asks: "Hello Rabbi, not long ago a friend asked how do we know that God wants us to listen to the rabbis? He argued that the Sages didn’t exist at the time the Torah was given, and that everything developed later. So I decided to investigate this topic more deeply. How do we know that the Sages are the true continuers of the tradition from the Giving of the Torah until today? I know for certain that God gave the Torah through Moshe Rabbeinu, the greatest of prophets, but how can I be sure that no human hand changed the commandments since then, or that the Torah wasn’t forgotten, God forbid?"

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Dear Aviv,

I’m glad to see that truth matters to you, and that you are asking and investigating sincerely. We must avoid debates with people who are not really seeking answers, as unfortunately, there are some who prefer questions over answers, simply to mock or argue against Judaism.

Why Oral Tradition is Necessary

It's important to recognize that without the rabbis and the Oral Tradition, we cannot understand or keep the commandments of the Torah. Anyone who opens the Torah will notice that mitzvot are given without practical details.

• It mentions mezuzah, but not what to write inside it.

• It mentions tzitzit and tefillin, but not how to make them.

• Even Shabbat, with its severity, does not list which actions are forbidden. Is cutting a salad on Shabbat work? Is moving a heavy cupboard work? Is sitting still as a guard considered work?

The Torah says, “Let no man go out from his place on the Sabbath day,” but what is “his place”? His house? His neighborhood? His city?

Clearly, without an Oral Law explaining how to observe these mitzvot, the Written Torah would be impossible to practice.

The Oral Torah

The explanations were given alongside the Written Torah and passed down generation to generation. They were first written down in the Mishnah nearly 2,000 years ago, detailing laws of slaughter, Shabbat work, mezuzah, tefillin, and more. The Talmud — both the Babylonian and Jerusalem, records the discussions of the Talmudic Sages connecting the Written Torah with the Oral explanations.

Divine Appointment of the Sages

God gave the rabbis authority to rule as stated in Bamidmar 11:16 where God tells Moshe: “Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel… I will place of the spirit upon them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you.”

This is the beginning of the Sanhedrin, the rabbinic body established in the wilderness, which continued to ordain rabbis in each generation. The Sanhedrin functioned until the destruction of the Second Temple, and rabbinic ordination passed from Moshe through the Sages.

Also, in Devarim 17:9–11 it says: “You shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge who will be in those days… and you shall do according to the word that they declare to you… you shall not turn aside from the word they tell you, right or left.” This is direct divine command to obey the rulings of the Sages in every generation.

Not “In Heaven”

The Torah itself says (Devarim 30:11–12): “This commandment which I command you today is not hidden from you, nor is it far away. It is not in heaven…”

The Talmud (Bava Metzia 59b) recounts the famous story of Rabbi Eliezer, who tried to prove his view by miracles and even a heavenly voice, but the other rabbis answered: “It is not in heaven.” Since the Torah was given to us, halacha must be decided by the methods of interpretation passed down from Sinai — not by prophecy or miracles.

Historical Continuity

For over 2,000 years of exile and persecution, Jews across the world all kept the same Torah and mitzvot — tefillin, mezuzah, tzitzit, Shabbat, holidays, etc. This uniformity across continents and centuries proves an unbroken chain.

God Himself promised:

• “For it will not be forgotten from the mouth of his descendants” (Devarim. 31:21).

• “My words… shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your children, nor from the mouth of your children’s children… from now and forever” (Isaiah 59:21).

As history testifies, empires like Greece, Rome, Persia, and Babylon have disappeared, but the Jewish people and the Torah remain.

When you trust the rabbis, you are not trusting “human invention", but the system God Himself established, and His promise that the Torah will never be forgotten. Rabbis are not inventors of Judaism — they are transmitters of the exact tradition from Sinai, ensuring that we can fulfill God’s will in every generation.