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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My close Jewish friends have Christmas trees and celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas … that is not surprising given we are both Abrahamic religions with so much in common. I wonder whether members of other major world religions do as well ? [/quote]
The fact that Christianity lays claim to the Hebrew Bible as its Old Testament doesn't actually mean that the religions have so much in common. It's honestly very surprising that any Jewish person would celebrate a holiday marking the birth of a messiah that Judaism doesn't believe in.[/quote]

Many Jews regard Christmas trees as secular not religious symbols.

Perhaps Christians perceive themselves to have more in common with Jews than Jews do with Christians.

The entire New Testament is rooted in Old Testament stories, prophesies and the moral codes enshrined in the Ten Commandments. Jesus himself said he was the fulfillment of “The Law” (Hebrew laws and prescriptions).

The symbolism used in the Eucharist is based on symbolism that celebrates the Passover. God’s saving grace and mercy is symbolized in both.

History of both religions originated in same region. Many sacred sites are held to be sacred by both traditions.

Will provide links to more commonalities later …

[/quote]

Judaism and Christianity

Judaism and Christianity are two monotheistic, ethical religions which share a part of their scriptures in common; the Bible or Tanakh of the Jews is the Old Testament of the Christians. These religions share many common beliefs: (1) there is one God, (2) mighty and (3) good, (4) the Creator, (5) who reveals His Word to man, and (6) answers prayers. Both Judaism and Christianity make (7) a positive affirmation of the world as the arena of God's activity, (8) as the place where people have an obligation to act ethically, and (9) which should be redeemed from injustice. Both believe in (10) a future life, as well as a doctrine of resurrection. Finally, both look to (11) a final consummation of history and (12) the realization of God's complete sovereignty on earth, through the coming of a Messiah or, in the case of modern forms of Judaism, a Messianic age.

https://www.northampton.edu/Documents/Subsites/HaroldWeiss/World%20Religions/JudaismandChristianity.pdf

Christianity and Judaism— Similarities and Differences in Belief and Practice
A comparison

Christianity and Judaism are closely related and, in fact, Christianity has evolved from Judaism. Out of all major world religions, Christianity and Judaism are typically regarded as the most similar. Today, there are around 2.2 billion followers of the Christian faith and 14 milllion followers of the Jewish faith worldwide. As the largest religion in the world, Christianity has adherents are all over the globe and is in a majority in Australia and New Zealand, Europe, and North and South America. Having originally existed only in Israel, Jewish people are now dispersed all over the world. Today, the majority live in Israel, the USA, Canada, Russia, France and England.

Both religions thus share similar origins and a lot of commonalities, but also several key differences in both practice and belief

Some major differences:

While Judaism accepts converts, it does not actively encourage conversion to the Jewish. faith and has no missionaries as such. This is a stark contrast to Christianity, which encourages evangelism in an attempt to convince others to convert to the Christian faith. …

Judaism and Christianity also have a different idea of the afterlife. Christians believe in the resurrection of both body and soul, and an eternal heaven or hell, or a temporary purgatory, depending on the denomination. In Judaism, on the other hand, the focus is on time on Earth now rather than on a potential afterlife. The concept of an afterlife is not given particular importance in Judaism, and there are a variety of different views on the afterlife among Jewish people. These include belief in the non-existence of an afterlife, reincarnation, another world to come, or a place of spiritual purification for souls (known as gehenna).[/quote]

Again, the fact that Christianity based itself on Jewish texts doesn't mean the two religions have much more than that in common. The differences run much deeper than conversion and the afterlife. Big picture, the Christian idea of salvation through faith alone is at odds with Jewish theology, which requires action here on earth. On a smaller scale, some little things are similar, while other little things are different. Some Jews would argue that the Trinity is inherently not monotheistic. Other Jews (and, in fact, Jewish law) see the common use of the crucifix in Christianity as an idol. Even the Ten Commandments are numbered differently between the two religions.

By the way, the source you linked is from a Unificationist, which I admittedly had to look up. Turns out that Unificationists have been condemned by the American Jewish Committee for anti-Jewish rhetoric and stereotypes in their theology.[/quote]

Many academics and historians disagree with you .[/quote]

Christianity and Judaism (and Islam for that matter) are different religions so obviously they will have important differences but that does not negate clear commonalities.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_Judaism

https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1052&context=utk_interstp2

https://oxfordre.com/religion/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-425;jsessionid=154CB3A2AF6681A5BB20C9F013D6A4B7?__prclt=AkoLKlqk

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3708674/

https://www.alislam.org/articles/judaism-christianity-islam-common-tradition/

[/quote]
To go back to your original claim that "[your Jewish friends celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas] is not surprising given we are both Abrahamic religions with so much in common" I have to repeat that it IS surprising, given that perhaps [i]the[/i] pivotal divergence in Jewish and Christian theologies is over Jesus as the messiah and Christmas is a holiday that celebrates his birth. Both religions can claim to be descended from Abraham and hold some of the same texts as holy, but celebrating Jesus as a holy figure (and thus celebrating Christmas) is not in line with Judaism.[/quote]

As stated, many people do not regard Christmas trees as a religious but as a secular holiday symbol. It is fairly obvious that many, if not most, Christmas celebrations have little to do with religion. Plus many people prefer to wish happy holidays or seasons greetings (in cards with Christmas trees or commercial images of elves and the Coca Cola depiction of Santa splashed on them) - in order to avoid offending people of different faiths .

We have good Jewish friends whose bright kids attended both Catholic and Episcopal schools without any injury to their Jewish identity.if anything, it strengthened their sense of belonging to their faith - when they embraced both commonalities and important differences. At the Episcopal school the Jewish kids were invited to give homilies in chapel services about shared values such as personal integrity and community service.

I don’t love a lot of the way the holidays have become overly commercial. But for many children Christmas is the favorite time of year. My Jewish friends are very good at cultivating their cultural and religious identity in ways that communicate with the rest of society.

I love being a member of our Jewish community center - not just for the well maintained gym and pools but for the cultural events and inclusive atmosphere. That does not mean I am joining a synagogue anytime soon but I enjoy the connecting with Jewish friends on things we do have in common - for me, the big ones are commitment to high quality education and community service. [/quote]

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