The Oral Torah

Note: all Biblical quotes are from the King James translation of the Bible. I just like it best of all English translations.Before one debates the validity, or lack thereof, of the Oral Torah, one must at first understand what it is, and, more importantly, what it sets out to do.First, the Oral Torah refers to three codices of rabbinical literature, the Mishnah, the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud. The Mishnah is, broadly speaking, concerned with interpretations of the Torah, and the compilation of Jewish Pharisaic oral tradition (hence "Oral Torah") from the Second Temple period and about a century and a half afterwards. Even more broadly speaking, the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds mainly include interpretations of the Mishnah (yes, interpretations of interpretations) and in updating (read: not changing) the Mishnaic Halacha to the late 4th and 6th centuries, respectively, and in the latter's case also to life in exile from Palestine. The two Talmuds won't be discussed much in this debate.It is important to note that such oral traditions ultimately originate in the very dawn of Judaism, and without them, most Biblical laws and commandments would be obscure (the Bible never actually mentions on which body part the Bris would be performed, for example) or abstract to the point of people actually ignoring the commandment ("Honour thy father and thy mother", Exodus 20:12; "And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God", Deuteronomy 10:12; "...and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes", Deuteronomy 11:18). Since at least the Second Temple period, when people started to wonder what is the point of this or the meaning of that, rabbis had aimed to set those things straight and interpret them into concrete, understandable requirements. Indeed, some of these might look slightly contrived, but they're ultimately meant to enforce, and adorn, Biblical law so that there won't be any ambiguity or breaches.Many people in the history of Judaism (see: Karaites) have doubted the validity of the Mishnah, citing the following passage: "You shall not add to the word that I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of YHVH, your God, which I command you." (Deuteronomy 4:2) However, the Mishnah never actually added or took away from the words of G-d, only interpreted it and made its requirements logical and specific.My opponent mentions that the Mishnah contains laws and ways of conduct about things that didn't exist in Moses' time. Well, that's just the nature of it. The Jewish world circa 150 CE was very different from that of the 2nd millenium BCE. And as different concerns arose, so did different solutions to them. These ultimately draw from the written Torah or old tradition (the Mishnah's discussion of Samaritans comes from general Biblical passages on apostasy, and the conduct of Hanukka based mainly on Jewish tradition to celebrate the miracle of Judas Maccabeus and the victory over the Seleucids). The world isn't static, and so isn't Judaism. That Jewish law would update itself according to the "hot topics" of the time is a given.