Life outside the prison walls

Judaism has a unique relationship to Christianity insofar as  Judaism poses a potential threat to the validity of Christianity. Christianity can't be true unless OT Judaism is true. No other religion has that leverage over Christianity. Yet the NT is just as Jewish as the OT, so it poses a standing challenge to rabbinic Judaism. 

I find rabbinic Judaism quite unappealing. From what I can tell, rabbinic Judaism is basically a religion of law. It's centered on ethics–especially social ethics. So the overwhelming orientation is horizontal. How to relate to our family, friends, neighbors, strangers. The vertical dimension is sheered off. 

In OT theism and NT Christianity, God is a God who can be experienced. But in rabbinic Judaism, that's in eclipse. Instead, it's about Talmudic rules, regulations, and community. The Godward dimension is sidelined. There's Jewish mysticism, but that's a literary and philosophical construct. Ersatz communion with God. 

On a related note, rabbinic Judaism is this-worldly. That stands in dramatic contrast to the heavenly-minded focus of NT piety. That's in large part because the NT lays far greater stress on the afterlife than OT Judaism. And, of course, the Godward and heavenward orientations coincide. 

It's not that life in the here and now is unimportant, but the afterlife is what makes this life important. Consider life in prison. Suppose your prison cell has a window. Through that window you can gaze at the outside world. You see trees, flowers, meadows, mountains, sunrise or sunset, a full moon, a starry sky. You can here birdsong. Inhale the scent of wildflowers in Springtime. Butterflies enter the prison cell through the barred window. 

There's a world outside the prison walls. A better world beckons to you, and your ability to see the outside world makes life in the prison cell bearable. The outside floods the inside with daylight and hope that someday you will be released. Without that perspective, life is a windowless cell.