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This book is a historical introduction to Judaism, its doctrine and its culture. The Judaism in question is what we call rabbinic, Talmudic or sometimes classic, that has endured through the centuries to our times. The author presents the functions and the fundamental categories that provide its soul and form. It took five centuries for Jewish society to reconstruct after two profound crises: the national catastrophes of 70 and 135 the dispossession that the Jews suffered at the end of the 4th century when Christianity became the State religion. Salvation came from and with the Torah. The book is built around two inseparable themes, Judaism and the Torah. Judaism is a social and religious reality, a real system with its own vision of the world, its conception of man and its perception of God. The Torah is accepted as a literary and doctrinal entity, but its real nature is mythical: it emanates from a divine Revelation on Mount Sinai. The Judaism of the Torah leads the community of Israel towards its Redemption. From ceaseless and patented research come the rules necessary to form the link between the founding myth and life. At the end of the book, we are more aware of the great difference - clearly explained in the conclusion - between this and another system, which is Christianity. André Paul, exegete, is a specialist of the cultural environment of the New Testament.