Torah Judaism

:"See: United Torah Judaism and Degel HaTorah for the Haredi Israeli political parties".

Torah Judaism is an English term, also a slogan, used by a number of Orthodox Jewish groups, mostly associated with Haredi Judaism, to describe Judaism as being based on a strict adherence to the laws of the Torah's 613 mitzvot as expounded in Orthodox Halakha.

Followers of "Torah Judaism" also follow the "Daat Torah", i.e., the guidelines of rabbis, especially the followers' rebbes ("Hasidic rabbis), rosh yeshivas ("deans of yeshivas -- Talmudical schools"), or of a posek (expert in the Shulkhan Arukh, the "Code of Jewish Law").

Torah Judaism implies a belief and practice of Judaism that is based purely on the Torah (meaning the inclusion of the entire Torah, Tanakh, Talmud, and all the rabbinic authorities that followed) and on the premise that the Torah emanates directly from God as revealed at Mount Sinai. The concept of a Sinaitic covenant is further expressed through such Hebrew phrases as:

*"Torah min ha-Shamayim" ("Torah from Heaven/sky")
*"Torat Hashem" ("Torah of God"")
*"Torah mi-Sinai" ("Torah from Sinai")
*"Kedushat HaTorah ("Holiness of Torah")
*"Torat Hashem temimah" ("Torah of God is pure/complete")
*"Matan Torah" ("giving the Torah")
*"Kabbalat HaTorah" ("receiving/acceptance of Torah")
*"Na'aseh ve-nishmah" ("we shall do and we shall hear") The term "Torah Judaism" is a reaction to the perceived loss of meaning of other terms used to describe adherence to rabbinic tradition, especially the term Orthodox Judaism. "Torah Judaism" thus conveys a critique of the more liberal leanings of Modern Orthodox Judaism and Religious Zionism as less rigorous in adherence to the Torah.

On the other hand, Modern Orthodoxy has developed its own self-defining slogans such as Torah Umadda and to define its world view of Judaism in modern times.

A separate article exists on Relationships between Jewish religious movements.

ee also

*Jewish principles of faith
*Rabbinic literature