Why do observant Jews place the Talmud above the Hebrew Scriptures?

Observant Jews are beckoned to respect Judaism’s sages, much as they are the pages that give voice to their insights–words preserved and read long past their passing. Because the long arm of the pen reaches beyond the grave, deceased rabbis don’t cease speaking, given that their voices carry on through the ages in works written by them and about them. These, in turn, are scoured by well-intended co-religionists given to preserving the essence and substance of what it traditionally means to be Jewish.

I grant the compendium of the ancient rabbis thoughts, called the Talmud, is respected. Those inclined to respect the Torah scholars and their writings are similarly inclined to revere the Torah, itself. Do they hold the Torah teachers higher than the Torah text, itself, and the ultimate teacher–Moses? I’m not so sure they do, really. Rabbinic writings are given credence on the basis of their offering a telling of how to live out the Torah’s mandates. The traditions of right living, as Judaism’s sages understood them, are designed to insure that the Torah is lived out in practice from generation to generation. The rabbinic decisions in rabbinic literature function as guardians of the Torah; not its replacement, never mind its somehow being superior to the Bible, itself.

While the above is held out in principle, in practice, I personally think too much credence is given to the sages, with the result that people pay more attention to what the principal teachers says than what the principle teaching says. The principle teaching is Scripture, itself. Messianic Jews are appreciative of the sages, but more concerned about what’s written on the Bible’s pages, believing Scripture, itself, to be the ultimate authority for biblical faith and practice.

I should mention at the close that the Talmud’s written core was penned around 170 years after Yeshua, with additions following for years to come. Those who lent their pens and their names to the enterprise were not the least bit kindly disposed to Jews who followed Yeshua, nor to Yeshua, Himself.

I want to be respectful of the sages, even though people like me have been disrespected by them. For that reason, I think it’s a bit of an overstatement to say that the Talmud is universally held to be greater than the Torah itself. Some may indeed err in this regard, but, on the whole, seeing as I do that the Talmud is an application guide to the Torah (albeit an imperfect one), I’m of the mind that religious Jews still give pride of place to the Torah itself, seeing it as the principal source of religious illumination. Others may disagree.