There are some things Jews can believe about Jesus. We can believe that he was a Jewish man who lived during the first century CE. He was well versed in the ways of the Pharisees, who he often quotes. (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is a paraphrase of a statement by the Pharisaic elder Hillel.) He preached a unique message of economic justice, faith, and acceptance during a time of great social upheaval in Palestine under increasingly oppressive Roman rule. He was killed by the Romans as a Jew, crucified like many other Jews of his time.
We can also believe that if Jesus were alive at the time, he would have condemned much of what has been done in his name, from the Crusades to the Inquisition to the pogroms of Eastern Europe, etc., etc.
There are other things Jews cannot believe about Jesus.
A Jew cannot believe that Jesus is the messiah, died for our sins, is part of the God head, or is the intermediary of our prayers. Period. Each of these faith statements may be essential elements of Christian faith but they are an anathema to Jewish belief. That is why the earliest Christians, who were Jews, were excised from the Jewish community. Anyone who believes these things is a Christian by faith. Anyone born Jewish who accepts these beliefs becomes a Christian and an apostate. Those who claim otherwise are either innocent victims or conscious perpetrators of deceptive marketing.
Some of my best friends are Christian ministers. (Really). We recognize what we share and share where we differ. That is different than trying to merge the differences in a way that falsifies both religions, which is what the self-named Hebrew Christians or Messianic Jews do.
We Jews allow for a great variety of beliefs. But there are some things that are outside the boundaries of what it means to be Jewish. A Jew does not need to believe in God to be a good Jew. But a Jew who believes God became a man, in the form of Jesus, is not a good Jew. For, to a Jew, God is before and beyond the world and never a physical part of it.
The followers of Jesus, particularly Paul, founded a new religion in his name. They wrote and transmitted a scripture that canonized his story and the story of his followers. They brought monotheism to many peoples around the world. According to Maimonides, this spread of monotheism through Christianity (and, he adds, Islam) was part of God’s plan to spread monotheism.
As Jews, we also believe that God is the Creator and is the God of all the peoples of the world and cares for all of them. One need not be Jewish to be a good person. According to Judaism, the righteous of all the nations go to heaven. We have the most in common with those of the Christian faith, in that we share much of the same scripture and history. Yet we have very great theological differences as well. The best interfaith dialogues are those that look not just to what we have in common, but where we differ as well.
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Author, radio and TV talk show host, and President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Brad Hirschfield is the author of 
Continuing. I know that I love him and I am so grateful to him for keeping on, in despite of all the efforts to destroy him. He and I are parts of the same family - the family of GOD and my own life can never be separate from him. I have concerns about the "members" of the body of which I belong and their attitude and behavior toward our older brother. I have not as yet been able to articulate to them how I feel about this but perhaps I will be able to do so. In the meantime I feel separated from him and that separation hurts me very deeply. I do not have a full revelation of GOD's plan for both of us, but I do believe HIS word, both OT and NT, and I know that GOD will bring all of us to reconciliation with HIM. My older brother will not be left out.
In the Bible you see an evolution of morality and how we view our relationship with God and one another. The earliest God of the Bible would appeal to a world where might determined what was right. This early God is a mighty force, often capricious, who demands our obedience. He becomes a God of justice and a God of law. Our relationship with Him is about following myriad rules for every facet of life and paying the price, through ritual sacrifice for our inevitable disobedience. But it seems this is not what God wants after all. He wants a relationship with us, not dependent on rules and rituals. He becomes a God who "desires mercy and not sacrifice, a knowlege of God and not burnt offerings". This is the God I believe Jesus had in mind when he started out as a Jewish reformer. Just as Martin Luther saw corruption and abuse of power in the Christian Church, Jesus saw corruption and abuse of power among the Jewish religious leaders and he challenged that. He challenged his people, the Jews, to focus on what they were really about and what their relationship with God was based on. The Law had become not a way of bringing people into relationship with God but creating barriers among God's people and between God and his people. The letter of the law had become more important than the spirit of the law. Much the way it is among many Christian groups now. In this sense Jesus was like the other prophets - calling people back into a right relationship with God.
It is clear in the New Testament that Jesus initially saw his primary mission was to preach to his own people but somewhere along the way he came to believe that the message was for the larger world. And somewhere along the way his view of our relationship with God and with each other evolved again. His ideas were radical - not just "do unto others" and "do no harm" - but love your enemy; do good to those who hate you; turn the other cheek; share everything you have with the poor; nothing, not wealth, not family, not success matters as much as our relationship with God.
I don't believe for a minute that God wanted Jesus murdered. And, of course (!), it wasn't the Jews who murdered Jesus. Certain Jewish leaders felt that his message was either dangerous, heretical or a threat to their power (or all three). They stirred up a mob of people against him - we see everyday how easy it is to manipulate public opinion towards fear and hatred - and convinced the Romans he was a threat as well. What they did was no different than what many religious and political leaders of various faiths have done throughout time to teachers or prophets who they felt threatened by. They use religion as an excuse to eliminate people who disagree with or challenge you.
The interesting thing is that in some ways Jesus collaborated with his murderers. He made no real attempt to defend himself or escape. It almost seems as if he created his own martyrdom. I believe that in the end he thought this was the only statement left that he could make. He thought his death would be a symbol of atonement - a way of freeing Judaism from its obsession with the Law and ritual sacrifice. It was as if he was saying, "You think God needs a blood sacrifice? Here I am - I will be your sacrifice. There is nothing that now separates you from God." It was his gift to his God and to his people. People then and now thought he was deluded but I believe it was Jesus' way of radically displaying the power of redemption - of how it is possible to turn the worst of situations into something eternally beautiful. And he turned out to be right - his death became an incredibly powerful symbol of redemption and new life.
The essence of Jesus' message - cleaving to God above all else, forgiveness for all, living a life of compassion and love, sacrifice of the things of this world to find our souls, turning pain into beauty, darkness into light, despair into hope is still radical. I don't think Christians have a monopoly on that message. In fact I don't think most Christians "get it" at all. But I do believe that message is "the way", the only way our planet will be saved.
Dear Miriam, thank you so much for your very, very beautiful post. I am touched and edified by your words.
Jesus was an inspired Jewish teacher who obeyed the Jewish law and traditions; he preached against the abuses by the Pharisees and others who had strayed away from the spirit of the law. The first 'Christian" church was the Jerusalem Church under James. the members still adhered to the old law but accepted Jesus.
What now passes as christianity is a Hellenic hoax perpretrated by Paul and does not reflect the true message of Jesus Christ.
I thought I wasn't a good Jew, 'cuz I got bad grades in Hebrew school.
And, yes; I do believe in Jesus. Hey, I need all the Help I can
get.
J.O.