My vanity was meant as a response to another thread. The purpose, whether or not accomplished, was to show that the differences between Judaism and chr*stianity are far more profound than a mere disagreement over whether or not the Messiah has come. The understanding of what the Messiah is, and indeed the whole worldview, profoundly different. Most sincere and philo-Semitic chr*stians (and I used to be one, so I speak with full respect) Think that merely by saying their prayers in Hebrew or adding a Jewish ritual or holiday here or there they have put humpty-dumpty back together. But the only thing the two religions have in common are a set of Scriptures relating history and prophecy. The spiritual worldviews are completely at odds (chr*stianity's coming from the "new testament" and Judaism's from the Oral Torah and esoteric teachings. The ancient Israelites were not "pre-incarnation chr*stians." Chr*stians cannot accept this, but I wish to at least get the message out there.
The whole point of whether or not J*sus is the Torah is missing one very important point--is it true. This may or may not be the chr*stian teaching, but that does not make it true. Chr*stians (especially the less Biblically inclined, liturgical variety) simply don't seem to be able to fathom the concept of a book that on some level literally contains the entire creation. I suppose it sounds too "protestant."
Chag sameach.
I wouldn't presume to discuss Jewish beliefs, as I said above, but I would agree that it would only stand to reason that the two religions and the larger cultures that derive from them (after all, "culture" is just a gross expression of "cult") are profoundly at odds with each other. One says that Jesus of Nazareth was and is the Word of God made Flesh; that Jesus is a walking, talking "Torah with ears" who is comes to us and abides with us in the written Word and and literal human flesh and blood under the signs of bread and wine in the Eucharist. The other rejects Jesus of Nazareth as a deceiver and an idolator, and with Maimonides calls His worshippers idolators (something the Rambam wouldn't say about Islam and Muslims, by the way).
The two could not be more fundamentally at odds with each other.
And I say that with all respect to you and your fellow religionists. After all, St. Paul says exactly the same thing. If what we believe about Jesus being the Word of God - a Torah with ears - is wrong, then we are the pitiful of all men. Our belief in Christ is indeed a stumbling block for the rationalist Greek and a terrible scandal for the pious Jew (and Muslim, which is the main point of commonality between those two great systems), as St. Paul put it. And yet we believe in Christ, the Word of God, crucified.
The two really couldn't be more at odds, indeed that is true. "Judeo-Christianity" is obviously an oxymoron. And I point out that rather obvious (but very unpopular) truth with all love and respect to my Jewish friends and neighbors.
We worship the Torah nailed to the Tree of Good and Evil.
If we're wrong about Jesus, then He indeed was a sorcerer and deceiver, and we are the most pitiful of all men.
So we agree that we profoundly disagree.
So cheers. And I mean that.
It's interesting that you used to be a Protestant, I take it a Calvinist, before your conversion to Judaism. I say that because your understanding of Christianity seems to miss the implications of God Made Flesh in the Eucharist. This is the center of traditional Christianity, and I think it is the cause of no little confusion on your part. You see the Bible as a Book. Maybe a very special book, but nevertheless, a book. We see the Bible as a Man. The Word of God is alive, very literally. You seem to think that Christianity is all about drawing analogies and making things less tangibly real. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Christianity of the Gospels and of the Church Fathers is all about a Man made of flesh and blood Who was and is with us in ways that we can touch and feel in the pages of the Book and in the bread and wine of the Sacrament.
We traditional Christians are all about making abstractions tangible, not the other way around.