This dictionary addresses the religion that finds in the Torah—God’s revelation to
Moses 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 in
Israel, the people who know God, and who, forming God’s kingdom in the Torah, stand
in a covenanted relationship with God. By “Israel” Judaism thus means the people that
came into being at Sinai by accepting the Torah; they are the heirs and descendants of the
patriarchs and matriarchs, of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah
and 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 Jewish
people and its culture, or with the nation-state, the State of Israel. In these pages, we
speak of the “Israel” of the liturgy and holy books of the religion, Judaism.