Judaism Elitist Religion?

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I decided a long time ago guilt was not productive for me. What actually gets me to stop what I’m doing is a logical realization that it’s actually wrong, bad, stupid, hurtful to me or others, and/or a waste of time. One can’t come to that logical realization properly if one is knocked all sideways by vague feelings of “guilt”, which parents and such often invoke over things they don’t like their kid doing that aren’t even sins.

Perhaps there are others who get a lot of redemptive mileage out of guilt but it just got in my way.
 
Regarding celebrating holidays “in a cultural way”, it’s easy to do that with something like Christmas where you can have Santa, a tree and presents without thinking once of the religious aspect, or you could even frame it up as some kind of “winter festival”, but it’s hard for me to think of a Jewish holiday that isn’t intimately involved with God on a fundamental level.
 
I get what you’re saying, but some non believers are happy to attend a mass as part of the Christmas celebration, if for instance they have some religious family, and they just enjoy the occasion without thinking too much about the fact that it’s basically a religious service. I would assume these Jews find the religious aspect of their Jewishness fascinating, but don’t believe any of it.
 
They may be bound by the family togetherness and, not least, by the food that is part and parcel of almost every Jewish holiday, both the eating itself and the shopping that precedes the festival.

For both Jews and Italians, the family meal, including wine, is the centerpiece of every holiday.
 
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I’d love to see a Jewish mom and a Catholic mom go toe-to-toe in an old skool guilting match - or should we call it a “guilting bee”? 😆
 
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Every time Jesus said “it is written,” he was citing Hebrew scripture.

For example, when tempted by the Devil, Jesus cited the Torah.
Deuteronomy 6:16: You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test, as you did at Massah.
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Deuteronomy 6:16: He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your ancestors, so you might know that it is not by bread alone that people live, but by all that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord.
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Once he completed his ministry with the people of Judea and Galilee, Our Lord gave the the Apostles the Great Commission.
Matthew 28:19-20: Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.
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Sure. And I happily have discussions with them. But you see there’s a difference, because a lot of Jews accuse us of trying to subvert Jewish culture and destroy it when we’re not. We treat you like any other group of people, you’re not above or below other people just because you’re Jewish, you need salvation just as much as anyone else. You can keep being Jewish. The notion that one cannot be Jewish and believe in Jesus, frankly, is a modernist notion of what religion is. Because back in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and other centuries Jewish Christian groups continued to exist. Judaism and Christianity have a unique relationship that allows for that.
 
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Who does then? Because the definition of who is Jewish does vary even among Jewish groups. And the definition of who is Jewish or not in ancient times was different from how the Orthodox sect of Judaism treats it today. Unlike you, I can have a neutral position and not the view of any single Jewish sect like you do. Religions are diverse. Enlightenment notions of religion are flawed. This can be seen in the very fact that one can become Jewish but also convert. So I am not “deciding” who is Jewish. Groups who say they are Jewish and appear Jewish are Jewish. Judaism is flexible. That isn’t to say that everyone who says they’re Jewish is Jewish, (like the Hebrew Israelites, although even then the Commandment Keepers sect of them could be considered Jewish since they appear Jewish and follow “traditional” Judaism). Messianic Judaism is Jewish because they are Jewish, they appear Jewish, they meet the basic sociological requirements to fit the definition. This can also include the Ethiopoan Jews, who don’t have any Jewish ancestry at all and most scholars agree they came out of Christianity, yet they clearly practice Judaism/appear Jewish and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel considers them Jewish.
 
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Why not? It seems you don’t have an argument. You base your definition on who is Jewish based on Orthodox Jewish teaching which, sociologically, is arbitrary because other Jewish groups like the Reform or Conservative may disagree with you. You won’t even accept their conversions, yet all scholars consider them Jewish because they meet the sociological requirements. Your definition is arbitrary and based on a set of a priori sectarian guidelines. I simply take the neutral position.
 
I’m simply pointing out the obvious. I do not mean to offend you. I apologize if I have. I am simply stating the neutral position over your sectarian one.
 
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