T28 (Tinyana) PNC - Three Tiers of Torah — Recognizing a Jew Among the Nations

There are tiers of Torah. Some Torah was not given even to be expounded aloud. Some was given to expound but not to write. Some was given to write. The Gemara (Gittin 60b) says: matters that are oral, you are not permitted to say in writing. One who knows how to tell which Torah belongs to which tier — what was given to be written and what was not — can recognize a Jew among the nations, even one Jew standing among many gentiles. The pasuk hints it: 'ekhtav lo rubei torati, kemo zar nechshavu' (Hoshea 8:12) — when 'most of My Torah' is written down (more than was meant to be), 'they were considered as a stranger': the Jew becomes unrecognizable, and conversely a foreigner can be mistaken for a Jew. The essential difference between Israel and the nations is the part not given to be written — Torah she-be'al peh. The Yerushalmi (Pe'ah 2) explains that Torah she-be'al peh was given precisely because galus was foreseen and the nations would copy down Torah she-bichsav; oral Torah they cannot copy. Every Jew carries within him a portion of Torah she-be'al peh. To recognize that portion is to recognize Israel.