What did Jacob study in the yeshiva?
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Question
What did Jacob learn at the house of Shem and Eber? After all, this was before the Torah, and certainly before the Oral Torah.
Answer
Hello,
The entire Torah, including both the Written and Oral Torah, was known to the holy forefathers. However, it had not yet been given to them as a commandment and obligation.
As it is stated in the Torah (Genesis 26:5): "Because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws."
Rashi explains:
"Kept My charge" — decrees to distance from the warnings in the Torah, such as secondary prohibitions on incest and Sabbath rest.
He also writes:
"My laws" — to include the Oral Torah, the law given to Moses at Sinai.
This means not only the Written Torah but all the Oral Torah and the rabbinic enactments that would be in the future.
Rashbam explains:
"My statutes and My laws" — according to the basic simple meaning, all the recognizable commandments such as theft, incest, envy, laws, and hospitality, all were practiced before the giving of the Torah but were renewed and explained to Israel, and a covenant was made to observe them.
Thus it is stated in the Mishnah (Kiddushin 82): "We find that Abraham our father fulfilled the entire Torah before it was given, as it is stated: 'Because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.'