Pickup Basketball as Torah She'Baal Peh

An Analogy to Explain What Torah She'baal Peh is

What did Torah She’Baal Peh look like before the Mishnah was written? That is, before there was a written text for Torah Shebaal Peh at all? How did that work, practically speaking.

I came up with this analogy while trying to think of a way to explain it to my students.

Let’s say you’re at the park, and you feel like playing basketball. You walk over to a game, and ask if you can play, and when one guy leaves, they tell you you’re in.

Now, how do you know what the rules are? Well, you know how to play basketball. There’s certain information you can take as a given because those rules are essential to the sport. You can assume that you should try to put the ball in the hoop as much as possible. You can assume that you should not pick up the ball and run with it, and instead dribble the ball. You can assume that the game they are playing is, roughly speaking basketball.

That’s Torah Shebichtav. The rules that everyone accepts as fundamental to the game. Whether the game is basketball or Judaism.

But there’s a lot that doesn’t cover. When does the game end? Is there a set score that whoever gets there first, wins? Do you have to win by two? How much does each basket count for? Is there a 3 point line? Do you get the ball back after scoring or do you give it to the other team? Half court or full court? Etc etc. There is significant variation on these questions depending on where you go.

And those rules are determined by a variety of factors. It could be that there are “house rules” for that specific location, that everyone who plays here goes by, and they don’t even remember who made them. It could be that the people who play here most often set the rules. It could even be that those are the rules that were decided upon that day by the people who brought the ball to the park.

The important thing is, those rules are a) not written down anywhere and not “official” in any sense of the word b) absolutely authoritative for the game currently going on c) as a newcomer you are expected to either figure those rules out by playing along or defer to whoever wields authority in this specific game d) derive authority from the fact that consensus has been reached, either currently or previously.