Therefore, the Pentateuch plays a very important formal role in the Jewish faith.
However, the oral Torah may be as important to the Jewish people. One of the underlying components of Judaism is that the Jews are God's chosen people. As God's chosen people, even the non-religious history of the Jewish people becomes religious. This is because God informs their activities in a way that is not necessarily acknowledged in other religions. For example, a history of Christianity should include the Crusades, because they were driven by religion, but because Christianity is not envisioned as a living religion in the same way as Judaism, the history is not viewed in the same way. In contrast, the history of the Jewish people is not separable from the religious relationship that the Jewish people have with God as his chosen people.
Frankel's viewpoint of the Oral Torah, particularly the Siddur and Mahzor, is that they cannot be modified by individual groups of Jews. "The Siddur and Mahzor, Frankel maintained, represent the beliefs, values, and aspirations of Israel in its entirety; they are...
No individual Jew or group of Jews is entitled to adopt a cavalier attitude toward them and arrogantly substitute his or its own convictions and feelings for those of the Jewish people as a whole. To do so is destructive of the unity of Israel and of the historical continuity of Jewish tradition. If any particular idea,
prayer, or liturgical formulation is dead or obsolete, Israel in its corporate character may be depended on eventually to eliminate or modify it. This is what has occurred in the past, and it is sure to occur in the present and future" (Bernard 1974, p. 249).
References
Kinsley, D. 1982, 'Worship in the Hindu tradition' in Hinduisim: A
cultural perspective, Prentice
Hall, New Jersey, pp. 105-121.
Martin, B. 1974. 'New interpretations of Judaism' in a History of Judaism, Basic Books, New
York, pp. 232-262.
Prebish, C. And Keown, D. 2006. 'Socially engaged
Buddhism' in Introducing Buddhism,
Routledge, New York, pp.208-224.
