Rabbi Danya RuttenbergVerified account

And yes, Jesus was a (brown-skinned, Middle Eastern) Jew, but his followers were not. Jews changed their liturgy to be clear about that differentiation pretty early. And guess what? Judaism has continued to evolve since the Second Temple was destroyed!

The Mishnah (check Wikipedia on terms you don’t know) was (depending on your theology) either given at Sinai or developed organically in the Land of Israel sometime when we were under Greek/Selucid/Roman occupation.

The Talmud (Bavli natch) was composed and redacted in what’s now Iraq. Lots of scholarship on whether and extent of eg Zoroastrian influences.

The Geonim were living under the Abbasid Caliphate. The Rif lived in Algeria, Tunisia, & possibly Morocco. Maimonides fled Spain & wound up living in Morocco & Egypt, wrote in both Hebrew & Judeo-Arabic.

The Shulchan Aruch (which, along w/Maimonides’ Mishnah Torah, are the bedrock of post-Talmudic Jewish law) was composed in Sfat, Land of Israel, under Ottoman Empire. Its author, Joseph Karo, was born in Spain & expelled in 1492 when the Catholic monarchs kicked out all the Jews.

And yes, then there was an Ashkenazi gloss—the Rema was from what’s now Poland. And Rashi was from France. And Rebbeinu Gershom lived in France and Germany. Etc. But to say that even half of the major moments that shaped Jewish thinking happened under Christian rule is way off.

&When we were under Christian rule, it generally wasn’t so great for us. Go learn some history if you think otherwise. And while life in Muslim countries wasn’t always great either, it was often much better than under Christians; we had a protected status as People of the Book.

#NotAllChristians, obvs. I have a ton of amazing Christian friends (actually tho), have spent years reading Christian spiritual wisdom, have great admiration for & have learned from Christian progressive movements today & in history; some of y’all do a great job following Jesus.

But it’s important for interfaith dialogue, coexistence, basic respect and historical accuracy to not conflate Judaism and Christianity. Two different faiths, traditions, theologies, histories. The origin & relationship to text is overlapping in some cases, yes, but...

There’s no Judeo-Christian tradition. And that’s ok.

For those asking about “Abrahamic faiths” re: Judaism/Christianity/Islam, sure, but when do you really need this? And what’s implied about Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, etc etc? Not saying it’s never applicable but better to check yourself first.

For everyone who wants to argue with me about the second tweet in this thread and thus totally miss the larger point I’m making:https://twitter.com/theradr/status/1089698358011314177?s=21 …

Also philosophically, legally, ritually, in so many ways, Judaism & Islam have much more in common than Judaism & Christianity. Yes, some Jewish sacred texts are also Christian sacred texts, yes Jesus was a Jew. Just... be nuanced. Learn comparative religion. Don't conflate.

Today I learned that the phrase “Judeo-Christian first appeared in 1821 to talk about Jewish converts to Christianity and then for the second time in 1829 to talk about churches that would observe some Jewish traditions in order to convert Jews. Toxic to us? Yeahhhh.

See also: Christian Zionism. https://twitter.com/theradr/status/1078361881365176322?s=21 …https://twitter.com/TheRaDR/status/1078361881365176322 …

Gonna just leave this here also, in case you still haven't gotten the memo.https://twitter.com/TheRaDR/status/1328535340441874434?s=20 …