by Ram ben Ze'ev (Conservative Values)
Whenever I read the words “Judeo-Christian” (tradition), I usually stop reading to question exactly what that means... Clearly, there's an attempt by someone to create a perception of unity.
The problem in Judaism today is this tendency to allow Christians to associate their idolatry with Halakhah.
There is no connection or correlation, apart from the fact that our Tanakh was used and then summarily ignored as the springboard for the so-called New Testament (what I call the Idolaters' Handbook); just like it was for Islam's book.
Followers of the Christian idolatry believe in a trinity—Jews do not.
They ignore our dietary laws.
They ignore our customs and traditions and in some cases, they mirrored them, with the most important elements being removed or even flouted (compare Hanukkah to 25 December).
Jews believe that the Torah is final—nothing has been added, nothing is taken away and our Torah has remained unchanged over thousands of years with numerous cultures and languages all having a single Torah.
Compare that to the more than 23,000 versions of the Idolaters' Handbook.
Jews don’t proselytize, ever.
And that’s the rub. In my view, that’s the intent of this cozying-up by Christians.
It’s a backdoor attempt (that far too many Jews can’t or don’t want to see) to gain trust where no trust should be given.
We do not have a common faith.
We do not have common values.
We are as far apart as we are to followers of Islam.
There is no Judeo-Christian tradition—it’s a divide, that should remain, at least until they cease their practice of idolatry.
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Bill White (Ram ben Ze'ev) is CEO of WireNews and Executive Director of Hebrew Synagogue