Was Jesus a Torah Law Teacher?

Jesus was autonomous; he interpreted the law according to his own rules and decided how to defend himself when criticized. He was by no means the only person in ancient Judaism who struck out on his own, acting in accord with his own perception of God’s will, and so he was not uniquely troubling in this respect, but such behaviour might nevertheless be suspicious.

Along with his teachings on the kingdom and the law, Jesus advocated ethical purity.

Jesus opposed Jewish law as universally understood. Jews agreed not to eat carnivores, rodents, insects, and weasels, as well as pork and shellfish (Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14), and the last two prohibitions set them apart from other people. According to Mark 7:19, Jesus “declared all foods clean.”

According to Matthew 5:21–26 and 5:27–30, Jesus also held that observance of the law should be not only external but internal: hatred and lust, as well as murder and adultery, are wrong. The Jesus of Matthew in particular is a moral perfectionist (5:17–48).

Jesus opposed the Pharisees, who were astute teachers of the law, many times.

Matthew 5:20
“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 12:2
"But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” 3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, 4 how he entered the house of God, and they ate the [b]consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? 5 Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple [c]break the Sabbath and are innocent? 6 But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 But if you had known what this [d]means, ‘I desire [e]compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent."

Matthew 15:1-14
"Then some Pharisees and scribes *came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

"After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. 11 It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.” 12 Then the disciples *came and *said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were [d]offended when they heard this statement?”

Matthew 16:12
Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Mark 2:24
"The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

Luke 11:38
"When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He had not first ceremonially washed before the meal."

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Conclusion: Jesus was not a stickler for strict observance of the Torah.  If he was, he would have required his disciples ceremonioous cleanse their hands before eating.  Jesus was a teacher of ethics and the personal application of ethics.