What is the major belief of the Jewish people?

Question

In simple text what do Jewish people believe (or not believe) that differs with the "normal" Christian belief?

Answer 1

Some people believe that the principal goal of man is personal salvation. To them man’s first concern must always be to climb the mountain of righteousness for himself, to ensure that his every act and thought is just and pure. Judaism rejects this view. From the vantage point of Judaism, it is not personal salvation but world redemption that is man’s first responsibility. Therefore, when man comes before God to express his deepest desires, when he calls forth his most private thoughts, he must do so in the company of the community. For although his words remain private, his prayers must not be only for himself.

Central to the Jewish response to suffering is a staunch rejection of the belief in its redemptive power. According to Judaism there are no ennobling qualities in pain…. The belief in the redemptive quality of suffering is a profoundly Christian concept. In Christianity, the suffering servant, the crucified Christ, brings atonement for the sins of mankind through his own sacrifice and torment. The message: Without suffering there can be no redemption. According to Christianity, if Jesus had not suffered and died on the cross, mankind would still be damned. Suffering is therefore extolled in the New Testament: “And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces hope” (Rom. 5:3-4). “If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering” (2 Cor. 1:6). Indeed, Paul even made suffering an obligation, encouraging the fledging Christians to “share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:3).

In Judaism, however, suffering is anything but redemptive. It leads to a tortured spirit and a pessimistic outlook on life. It scars our psyches and brings about a cynical consciousness, devoid of hope. Suffering causes us to dig out the insincerity of the hearts of our fellows and to be envious of other people’s happiness. If individuals do become better people as a result of their suffering, it is despite the fact that they suffered, not because of it. Ennoblement of character comes through triumph over suffering, rather than its endurance.

Man’s mission was never to make peace with suffering and death, but to abolish them from the face of the earth for all eternity by joining God as a junior partner in creation. By studying medicine and offering aid to people in need, we live up to our highest calling of having been created in the divine image. The atheist doctor who struggles to cure AIDS is infinitely more in tune with the Jewish response to suffering than the minister of religion who tells his flock that suffering is part of the divine plan. The sinning businessman who may have never stepped into a synagogue but makes a loan to a colleague to save him from bankruptcy is more in tune with the Jewish response to suffering than the Rabbi who seeks to give a rationalization for why children die of leukemia…. Our role as humans is not to give meaning to aberrations, but combating them and to healing wounds.
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Answer 2

Christianity is VERY VERY different from Judaism, so this would take pages to explain. Christianity is a mix of Mithra, Greek and Egyptian paganism, with some Jewish names and places. That is how far Christianity is from Judaism.

Jews believe in 1 G-d. Christians worship 3.
Jews believe the Torah and Mishna came from G-d. Christians believe the Tanakh(Old Testament) and New Testament came from G-d.

Answer 3

The main differerence is that we do not believe in original sin. People are born with the tendency to do good and the tendency to do evil, and our job is to struggle. We also do not believe that Jesus was the messiah; we are still waiting for the messiah to come. Those are probably the two most visible differences, but there are many others. Oh, we also only have our Bible (what others call the "Old Testament"); we do not recognize the "New Testament" at all.

Answer 4

What do they differ in?

Everything.

They differ in:
who the Messiah is
the role of the Messiah
The nature of G-d
The nature of sin and atonement
The expectations G-d has for man
etc.

Answer 5

That they are the chosen people. In the Torah, God calls them a stiffnecked people. Religion , mans regulations, means everything to them. Thats my two cents.

Answer 6

Uh, what is it about Christianity that makes it "normal?" It is normal to eat, drink, sleep, pee, poop, act upon sexual urges, and make noises. Most anything else is abnormal.

Answer 7

God is one. Love God with all your heart, soul, and strength.