Jews will not swear on the New Testament, because it is not a holy book to us. Most Jews (or at least the ones educated about Judaism) also object (although certainly not to the same degree) to non-Jewish translations of the Hebrew Bible (which Christians call the "Old Testament") because those translations embody interpretations of the Hebrew text which reflect Christian, rather than Jewish, theological views. Compare, for example, the King James translation of Isaiah 7:14 with one Jewish translation of the same verse.
I hope this is helpful. Please feel free to freepmail me if you would like some links to more on these issues. And thanks for a courteous discussion.
LL--thank you for the explanation. We are of similar vintage here on FR--the illustrious Class of '98!--and obviously we are of different cultural backgrounds.
Thanks for taking the time to explain this to me. I appreciate it.