The first official apostolate to the Gentile nations featured the ministry of Paul, the Pharisee, a student of Gamliel, the grandson of Hillel the Great, one of Israel’s finest sages. He was proud of his pedigree and of the fact that concerning the Torah (law) he was blameless. He was an impassioned defender of mainstream Judaism of his day. Despite a Hillelian education in pluriformity and tolerance, his zeal for the Torah and for rabbinic tradition had been fanned into a rage of violent confrontation with the talmidim (disciples) of Jesus.
