In my wife’s theology MA course, although she is following the ‘Christian stream’ of options, she has to do a module on Judaism, which we are finding really fascinating. (But I did advise her not to get carried away and get circumsiced :) )
The existence and development of the Oral Torah is something completely new to us.
Similarly, the Jews’ genuine sense of outrage at Christian persecution of Jews right from the very beginning is surprising, when our own sense of history (acknowledging that we persecuted Jews during the Middle Ages) is that they persecuted us.
No doubt there have been instances of Christians and Jews helping one another as well as instances of Jews persecuting one another – both the help and the persecution have gone both ways. We can argue about the relative proportions of those things and who was worse/better, but the reality is that both sides are selective with history, glossing over their own sins while exaggerating those of the other side. So often those who have been persecuted in the past become the new persecutors. (Christians v Jews, Protestants v Catholics, Black v white, Christians v gays, Israelis v Palestinians, etc)
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