Torah Nation begins with an understanding of what Judaism is and is not. Here’s the “what it is not” part. (The “what it is” part will be the rest of the content of this site). You will not find the word “Orthodox” anywhere in the bible. Nor will you find the words “Reform” “Conservative” or “Reconstructionist.” Denominationalism only started in the 1800s, and mostly in Germany and the US. We existed without denominations for nearly all of our 3300 years, and today it’s absent among Sephardic Jewry and mostly so in much of Europe and South Africa. So “Judaism” has nothing to do with denominations. Interestingly, you won’t even find the word “Judaism” in Tanach. Not in Hebrew, Greek or English. Surprisingly, the first cited use of the contemporary term “Judaism” was only in the year 1516. And it was used as such by a non-Jew. So what was “Judaism” before denominations and before 1516? And what is it today? You’ve heard a lot of possibilities. Judaism is a religion, a way of lif
The struggle between Jacob and the Angel serves as the paradigm, the blueprint and strategic plan, for Jewish history. Each element of the encounter illustrates a reality which will forever dominate our destiny. The angel represents Eisav then and perhaps the Christian world, perhaps the entire world, since then.