The Mishnah and the Hebrew Bible

According to Rabbinical Judaism, the Oral Torah (Hebrew: תורה שבעל-פה‎, Torah she-be'al-peh) was given to Moses with the Torah at Mount Sinai, as an exposition to the latter. The accumulated traditions of the Oral Law, expounded by scholars in each generation from Moses onward, is considered as the necessary basis for the interpretation, and often for the reading, of the Written Law. Jews refer to this as the Masorah (Hebrew: מסורה‎), roughly translated as tradition. The resulting Jewish law and custom is called halakha (Hebrew: הלכה‎). Notably, the Mishnah does not cite a written scriptural basis for its laws: the Oral Law codified in the Mishnah does not derive directly from the Written Law of the Torah. This is in contrast with the Midrash halakha, works in which the sources of the traditionally received laws are identified in the Tanakh, often by linking a verse to a halakha. These Midrashim often predate the Mishnah. The Mishnah also quotes the Torah for principles not associated with law, but just as practical advice, even at times for humor or as guidance for understanding historical debates.