the original rabbis were jewish sages well read in both the scriptures and their own traditions and who based on these studies maintained that god had revealed not one but two torahs to moses on sinai : in addition to the written torah , what we know as the scripture , god also revealed an oral torah , one that has since been faithfully transmitted by word of mouth in an unbroken chain from master to disciple , and that is now only preserved among the rabbis themselves .