One of the things necessary to understand is that what one is reading in the Jewish texts did not define Jewish society nor were the legends therein written as a moral compass for society of the past or present.
The Hebrew Scriptures were never the origin of the narratives therein nor were they the basis for the Jewish concepts which gave birth to monotheism. Jehovah's Witnesses employ a theology like this, but it is ignorant.
For the Jewish texts to be considered the basis of religion would mean they appeared miraculously, which they did not. The texts were never meant to be the basis or foundation for a religion like the JWs use it. These Scriptures are the product of a functioning religion, one that already had doctrines and practices and a liturgy that was pre-Biblical. Judaism wrote the Bible. The Bible was not the basis for Judaism.
Jews have never confined themselves to what is written in these texts (and it is apparent that some are merely speaking here of those that do). Speaking only for Judaism, the Jews defined G-d due to their experiences and what the concept would mean as times changed. The reason we are called the "children of Israel" is that our identity as a people is defined by our 'wrestling' with the "G-d concept."
This wrestling has advanced far beyond the simplistic views of a deity that rules from the heavens still adhered to by Christians. Embracing the concept of G-d includes atheism, agnosticism, and defining G-d in more humanistic and empirical ways as well as transcending these. The majority of Jews don't carry over literal interpretations of ancient texts into modern life as that would not be practicing religion...it would be tantamount to wearing a relic.
Denial comes in many forms. Sometimes it comes in ignorantly embracing ancient deity concepts and enforcing belief in these through hate-inspiring religions like the JWs, but sometimes it comes in being ignorant of texts that Gentiles have applied non-Jewish views to and mistakenly applying these non-Jewish concepts upon texts written by Jews, reflective of Jewish society, and written for Jews.
That's just as ridiculous as judging atheists by JW standards and theology. In ridding ourselves of JW theology we often have to "unlearn" ANYTHING we have been exposed to from them, even those concepts we now reject outside the Watchtower to ensure false ideas still do not play a part in the choices we make and the conclusions we arrive at today.
