I'm currently looking, in my spare time, into the Jewish belief that Christianity is a form of idol-worship or, Avodah Zarah. I came across this interesting debate between Toviah Singer and Jim Cantelon. The following dialog takes place from about 22:40 in the related video.
>Moderator: You say you’re not threatened, that you’re not threatened by the Jew, right? By the identity of the Jew. And ask for like-treatment in a sense. Sincere question: Isn’t it in some sense threatening? I mean, you’re not threatened, because the Jew doesn’t ask anything, doesn’t ask that the christian believe, except for the Noachide laws in the Old Testament, in the same way that the Christian asks the Jew to believe in the new. But, Isn’t there, at least, a minimal threat merely in the rejection, right merely that the Jew merely stands opposed to the idea …That’s not a threat?
>Cantelon:
No, because most of the Gentile world rejects Jesus, too. I mean, the assumption that you’re either a Jew, a Christian or a Muslim, I mean that’s the assumption in the Middle East. But, from the Christian perspective, and Rabbi Novak was right there’s authentic Christians and there’s inauthentic. See, in the Christian world, you’re not Christian if you’re born to Christian parents. You’re an unbeliever. You’re belief neutral, if you will. And there’s a lot of gentiles out there who hate the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
>M:
it’s not a demographic point, though I’m asking at the level of teaching, Right. that the level of teaching, of Jewish teaching, Jesus is rejected, conceptually, on a conceptual basis, as Rabbi singer said, as idolatry. Isn’t that a threat? isn’t that the biggest conceivable insult, really? to say, I reject, we’re rejecting Christianity, not because we don’t feel like it. I mean you know there are a lot of people who are apathetic. who don’t want be christians, don’t want to be buddhists, don’t want to be anything. But for the Jew to stand up “I reject Christianity because of its idolatrous insistence. There’s some point in its teaching which is asking me to be an idolater, and I adhere to my god on this one point.” Isn’t that a threat?
I'm interested in pursuing this, further and learning more in general, just in case I have to debate this point someday. The moderator tries to get Cantelon to discuss the topic that Jewish teaching presents Christianity as idol-worship. Cantelon demures, and never addresses it. It seems strange to try to raise this point of tension that many outsiders to Torah and Talmud study would just not know (Avodah Zarah is a volume of the talmud).