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What is Torah Nation?

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
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Clarity or Death

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.

The Theme of Our History

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. The main feature (among many) of the struggle is the timing.  It begins and lasts during the nighttime and ends as the day breaks. Esav assumes supremacy in its claim to existance and perception of the world and employs political and military power.  He cannot tolerate the existance of a Yaakov who claims, while small and weak, to represent a greater power, an actual truth, different from Esav.  The spirit over the might. Esav's goal is to fell Yaakov, to pull the earth out from under his feet.  Yaakov maintains his footing, even if injured and weakened. yisroael's survival against all attacks shows the reality of H' and His power, spirit over might. Esav oly has

Beauty is Spiritual

Bereshis 2:9, “And God made every tree grow out of the soil, delightful to the sight, and good for food; and the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden and also a tree of knowledge of what is good and evil." Rav Hirsch  comments as follows. “It should not be overlooked that here, in the description of the laying out of the garden for human requirements, satisfying the sense of beauty precedes that of the sense of taste and the requirements for food. It gives justification for, and dedication to, the aesthetic, the sense of appreciating beauty, and this too, may confirm the higher stage designed for man. The abundance of beauty of every kind which we are given in this, our world, and the fact that - as far as we know - man is the only creature that has been provided with the ability to enjoy beauty for itself, proves what value the Creator lays on this aesthetic sense for the spiritual moral calling of man. Indeed this beauty of nature showered in every form all over the world, a