Ebook: The Routledge Dictionary of Judaism

This dictionary addresses the religion that finds in the Torah—God’s revelation toMoses at Mount Sinai—the full and complete account of what God wants from humanity.In the perspective of this religion, of Judaism, God’s presence is located especially inIsrael, the people who know God, and who, forming God’s kingdom in the Torah, standin a covenanted relationship with God. By “Israel” Judaism thus means the people thatcame into being at Sinai by accepting the Torah; they are the heirs and descendants of thepatriarchs and matriarchs, of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leahand Rachel. Israel, the people, and Judaism, their religion, as they are referred to here,thus represent supernatural categories, not to be confused with the ethnic group, the Jewishpeople and its culture, or with the nation-state, the State of Israel. In these pages, wespeak of the “Israel” of the liturgy and holy books of the religion, Judaism.