Originally Posted by metis

The love of God and one's fellow man is found throughout Torah, and is further enunciated through the Tanakh, Mishnah, and Talmud. Our sages have long believed that the main purpose of our scriptures was to create a more just and compassionate people and, eventually, world. Again, one has to realize that Torah is only the base, and much is later conditioned and refined. If one reads Jesus' Sermon On the Mount, there's nothing there about the treatment of others that's not found in the Jewish scriptures.

Judaism, like all religions, is in transition. What we have now is not the same as that which existed 3000 years ago. Sometimes when we're in Torah study, we run across a verse or story that makes us just cringe. But then we well know what happens as these stories are brought forth to today.