Christian view on Jewish texts

[Syfen]

A little something ive been curious about - maybe someone could help me out with this.
The main Jewish religious doctrine is obviously the Torah - which as far as i know is basicaly identical to the Old Testament, I was wondering however if anyone is aware of major differences within the texts themselves and the view on events which occur within the book. Now obviously there are major differences where the New Testament refers to the old one in one way or another since the New Testament is not recognized by most Jews - however as far as the texts themselves - are there any actual differences?
Also what about such volumes of law such as the Talmud? or even the Zohar and Kabbalah? (not the Madonna practiced version of "Diet-Kabbalah but the true Jewish books - which by the way are largely not read by most Jews) - is there an "official" view on these? are they basicaly ignored? - just curious
Id appreciate any sort of input on this subject -

Thanks
Syfen

[BelovedChild]

I am most certainly not an authority on Biblical tests. Now, after stating that, the version of the Bible that I use is the "Complete Jewish Bible".
This version was produced by David Stern who is a Messianic Jew living in Israel. I have not found any major difference between this or any other Bible .

This version is written with the Jewish reader in mind. The Old Testament is called the Tanach. It is made up of three parts, the history, the prophets and the writings. The History part is the Torah, (especially the first firve books of Moses). this goes from Genesis to Kings (without Ruth). The prophets are self explanatory (without DanieL) and the rest is the Writings (with Daniel, Ruth and Chronicles. All names have been changed to the Jewish version (eg Yacov for Jacob). BUT is all essentials, it is the same as the "Crhsitian OT". (Please Jewish readers, no offence is intended)

I have found that this version has beeen more spiritually fulfilling that any "correct English Christian version". the Tanach is set out in the traditional Jewish manner and thus is similar to the Scripture that Yeshua (Jesus) used.

I cannot comment on any other Jewish books as I know nothing about them. I refuse to enter into any debate about the superiority of any Bible version - translation or paraphase - for the simple reason, I regard it as all the Word of God, and each version can contribute to a greater understanding of the original meaning than any one particulr version. The version a person uses is between that person and the Saviour. I hope this have helped Syfen

[Mr. Yellow]

What about the oral teachings of the rabbinical community, that aren't included in canon Scripture?

[Syfen]

I cannot comment on any other Jewish books as I know nothing about them. I refuse to enter into any debate about the superiority of any Bible version - translation or paraphase - for the simple reason, I regard it as all the Word of God, and each version can contribute to a greater understanding of the original meaning than any one particulr version. The version a person uses is between that person and the Saviour. I hope this have helped Syfen

Thanks BelovedChild i offcourse didnt want to debate the superiority of any one text i was just wondering how the books were viewed if at all - as an Israeli Jew we studied the old testament quite alot (and this is in a secular public school mind you), but as far as the New Testament , it was just never mentioned, now it was mentioned in any deragatory way nor was it praised, just never mentioned. We did study about Christianity but in a strictly historical sense: the Holy Roman Empire, spreading of Christianity in northern Europe, Crusades, etc etc, so i was wondering what the reverse perspective was.

[walksbyf8h]

What about the oral teachings of the rabbinical community, that aren't included in canon Scripture?

The Mishnah and Talmud are made up of the rabbinical teachings. Only the first five books of the bible are used regularly. This, our Jewish friends call the Torah. What we call the Old Testament, which includes the Torah, they call Tanakh.

The Mishnah contains a collection of rulings and laws which had been passed on orally for a number of generations. It is contained within the Talmud.

Here it gets sticky. The Jewish religious community is much like the Christian one. There are those that read scripture only and they are the Karaite Jews. They dress much like a Westerner. No yalmulke on their head, no beard, etc. I suppose in the Christian community, we would call ours Fundamentalists. Those are the 'sola scriptura' folks.

Next, you have various degrees of Orthodox Judaism. They study Torah and some the entire Tanakh (O.T.) but it is in conjunction with the Mishnah/Talmud as well as commentaries. Much like the difference between Roman Catholics and Fundamentalist. Catholics, for the most part, read only their books where as Fundamentalists read only scripture.

Lastly, you have those are genetically Jewish who have accepted Yeshua as haMoshiach (the Messiah) who read and accept scripture only. They are those who read both the Tanahk and the B’rit Chadashah (N.T.) They recognize and accept the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning our L0rd and are the 'root' that we Gentiles are grafted into. They're our family. :nod