This subject is very difficult to discuss because of its sensitivity and because “the proof” is in interpretations of the Tanach in ways that could never be done by Jews to reach conclusions that could never be held to be acceptable to Jews. It is, mutatis mutandis, similar to interpreting Christian scriptures to prove that Yeshua ben Yosef was not your messiah and did not die for your salvation. No Christian could accept such an interpretation of his/her scriptures and would find the conclusions specious, to say the least.
Before I get to my neutral example to demonstrate my point, I often get the feeling on this forum that Christians believe that the concept of the universality of God and redemption for all people, including non Jews, was not part of Judaism and actually was introduced with the creation of Christianity. This is not true and if indeed anyone holds that position I would point them to the book of Yonah (Jonah).
Now for my neutral example on what happens when we go to interpret the Jewish scriptures divorced from Judaism.
Lets take the very first word in the Tanach -בראשית-which is often translated into english as “In the beginning”. Now let’s say I created a religion where I believed that God came into existence at exactly the same time as He began to create the heavens and the earth. I could look at the first word in the Tanach and say “here is my proof and basis for my beliefs and that basis is the the first word in the Tanach itself and how could any Jew not accept what I am saying when the basis for my belief is the very first word of the Tanach”? However, all the other Jews would answer that while it says, prima facie, “in the beginning”, what it actually means is “when God began” to create the heavens and the earth. If I asked how that could be, all the other Jews would reply that the central basis for the Jewish concept of God is that He has always existed. That is why, as opposed to all pagan mythological stories of their gods, there is no part of the story about how God came into existence. That is why the word for God is made up of the Hebrew verbs for was-is-and will be. I would be told that in the very first sentence of the Tanach, the Jews are making a declaration to all the other religions and beliefs - there is one single all powerful eternal God and He is responsible for everything in the universe.
This is, from the Jewish perspective, exactly what happens when the Christian points to parts of the Tanach for the basis of his/her Christian beliefs. Just as Jews would not accept that the word “In the beginning” leads to the conclusion of a God that was not always eternal, Christian interpretations of our scriptures will never lead us to Christian concepts that are antithetical to Judaism. With all due respect, the results are no less specious from our perspective than a similar exercise would be to you using the Christian scriptures to prove conclusions antithetical to Christianity.
(I apologize in advance if once again in presenting my position I have somehow been insensitive to others feelings and have done my best to be careful considering the highly charged nature of the subject - as for the comment I received about my punctuation- this forum is the only place I get to practice writing in English on a regular basis - so I’m just happy if I have been able to present my points in an understandable manner).
