Shalom all,
Once again, I'm not going to debate theology, since I'm a guest. However, I still don't understand why there is so much controversy over Isaiah 7:14. I mean, don't the fathers of Christianity say that Matthew was originally penned in Hebrew? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but that means Greek Matthew is a translation, no? So at best we're looking at a mistranslation.
Anyways, I checked out the available Hebrew Matthew manuscripts which some claim to have not been translated from the Greek, and I found out that they all quoted Isaiah 7 accurately, using the word 'almah'.
I'm not messianic, but from my studies on religion, I realized that those anti-whatever groups (be it anti-christian, anti-jewish, anti-mormon, anti-....<fill in the gap with your religion of choice>) too often misrepresent the beliefs of the groups they're fighting, and don't mind slips such as this one as long as their goals of getting people out of such groups is achieved. I find that appalling.
We are all born free, thank G-d, to chose whatever religion we want. If we think one spiritual path is wrong, then let it be for fair-reasons, not made-up half-truth arguments. And yes, Rashi does give the impression he finds 'virgin' a suitable translation elsewhere in his commentaries.
Oy, I would be so in trouble with the rabbi from our shul if he saw that post.
But well, I don't believe in bashing other people's religious beliefs.
Dave