ethnic_group shlomo wolbe
Israel , officially known as the State of Israel , is a country in the ___MASK36___ , on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea . It has land borders with ___MASK69___ to the north , Syria to the northeast , Jordan on the east , the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the east and west , respectively , and Egypt to the southwest . The country contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area . Israel ' s financial and technology center is Tel Aviv , while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem , although the state ' s sovereignty over the city of Jerusalem is internationally unrecognized . Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe ( Wilhelm Wolbe , 1914 - April 25 , 2005 ) was a multi faceted Haredi rabbi born in Berlin and died in Jerusalem . He is best known as the author of Alei Shur ( Hebrew :    ) , a musar classic discussing dimensional growth as it pertains to students of the Talmud . Rabbinic ___MASK46___ or Rabbinism (" Yahadut Rabanit ") has been the mainstream form of ___MASK46___ since the 6th century CE , after the codification of the Babylonian Talmud . Growing out of Pharisaic ___MASK46___ , Rabbinic ___MASK46___ is based on the belief that at Mount Sinai , Moses received from God the Written Torah ( Pentateuch ) in addition to an oral explanation , known as the " Oral Torah ," that Moses transmitted to the people . In ___MASK46___ , a rabbi is a teacher of Torah . This title derives from the Hebrew word ' , meaning " My Master " ( irregular plural ' ), which is the way a student would address a master of Torah . The word " master " "" literally means " great one ". Canaan ( Northwest Semitic : ""; Phoenician :  ; Biblical Hebrew / Masoretic : ["; n  an ]") was a Semitic - speaking region in the Ancient Near East during the late 2nd millennium BC . In the Bible it corresponds to the Levant , in particular to the areas of the Southern Levant that provide the main setting of the narrative of the Hebrew Bible , i . e ., the area of Israel , Philistia , ___MASK23___ , and other nations . Abrahamic religions , emphasizing and tracing their common origin to the tribal patriarch Abraham or recognizing a spiritual tradition identified with him , are one of the major divisions in comparative religion ( along with Indian , Iranian , and East Asian religions ). ___MASK46___ , Christianity and Islam are the largest Abrahamic religions in terms of numbers of adherents . The Talmud ( Hebrew : ' " instruction , learning ", from a root ' " teach , study ") is a central text of Rabbinic ___MASK46___ . It is also traditionally referred to as , a Hebrew abbreviation of ', the " six orders ", a reference to the six orders of the Mishnah . The term " Talmud " normally refers to the collection of writings named specifically the Babylonian Talmud "( Talmud Bavli )", although there is also an earlier collection known as the Jerusalem Talmud , or Palestinian Talmud "' "( Talmud Yerushalmi )". When referring to post - biblical periods , namely those of the creation of the Talmud , the Talmudic academies and the Babylonian exilarchate , Jewish sources use the term " Babylonia " long after it had become obsolete in geopolitical terms . Jerusalem , is a city located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea . One of the oldest cities in the world , Jerusalem was named as "" Urusalima "" on ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets , probably meaning " City of Shalem " after a Canaanite deity , during the early Canaanite period ( approximately 2400 BCE ). During the Israelite period , significant construction activity in Jerusalem began in the 9th century BCE ( Iron Age II ), and in the 8th century the city developed into the religious and administrative center of the Kingdom of Judah . It is considered a holy city in the three major Abrahamic religions of ___MASK46___ , Christianity and Islam . ___MASK46___ ( from , derived from Greek , originally from Hebrew , " Yehudah ", " Judah "; in Hebrew : , " Yahadut ", the distinctive characteristics of the Judean ethnos ) encompasses the religion , philosophy , culture and way of life of the ___MASK53___ . ___MASK46___ is an ancient monotheistic religion , with the Torah as its foundational text ( part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible ), and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud . ___MASK46___ is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship that God established with the Children of Israel . With between 14 . 5 and 17 . 4 million adherents worldwide , ___MASK46___ is the tenth - largest religion in the world . Abraham ( Avraham ), originally Abram , is the first of the three patriarchs of ___MASK46___ . His story features in the holy texts of all the Abrahamic religions and Abraham plays a prominent role as an example of faith in ___MASK46___ , Christianity , and Islam .