Originally posted by genius
can you perhaps give verses that they base these viewpoints upon?
also-were the jews not looking for a messiah that would redeem them? for instance, the first thing Andrew (the disciple) did after hearing Jesus for the first time was to tell his brother, Simon Peter, that he had "'found the Messiah' (that is, the Christ)."
isaiah 7:14, "Therefore, the L ...[text shortened]...
and isaiah 11 also talks about a specific person. who, if not Jesus, do they refer too?
They read the same verses you do, only not the same way. Rabbinical Judaism also has an oral tradition (the oral Torah), that most Christians have no familiarity with. You’re going to have to do some of your own research on this, but you might take a closer look at the various Jewish opinions I gave above (some of which indicate why they don’t think Jesus fits the bill).
There were a number of Jewish groups in the first century; not all of whom were messianic (though messianism seems to grow in hard and turbulent times). Those who followed Jesus were; others weren’t. (Judaism is not monolithic today, either.)
Estimated Jewish population in Judea-Galilee at the time Jesus lived is about 700,000--with an additional 4 million or so scattered about the Roman world. The vast majority did not know that Jesus even existed. A small handful who did know thought he was the messiah--not necessarily based on the HS, but on miracles and ultimately, according to the stories, his resurrection (which a majority of Jews also did not hear of at the time--the gospel resurrection stories were written much later, though Paul was earlier--and those who did hear did not think it was true).
As for Isaiah 7:14—the Hebrew does not say “virgin;” it says
almah, which means a young woman. There are at least three words in Hebrew bearing on this question:
(1)
b’tulah, which can mean a chaste maiden, a virgin or a bride.
(2)
na’ara, which means girl or maid (apparently younger than
almah, below).
(3)
almah, which means maiden, young woman or young marriageable woman. It is this latter term that is used in Isaiah 7:14—
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the
young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” This is the NRSV translation; KJV translates both words as “virgin,” and appears to translate
na’ara as “damsel.”
and isaiah 11 also talks about a specific person. who, if not Jesus, do they refer too?
The simple answer is, someone who hasn’t arrived yet. Note the quotes I gave previously by Buber, ben Chorin and Scholem—the conditions outlined in chapter 11 are not present in the world. Also, much Biblical language is highly metaphorical, and even nations (such as Israel) are often spoken of in singular-personal terms.
My only point is that there are reasonable arguments on the Jewish side, not simply unreasonable stubbornness. There are very bright, honest people on both sides who have spent their lives studying this stuff--and they disagree, hopefully respectfully.
EDIT: BTW, I do not accept that the burden of proof for this whole question lies solely with the Jews.