You do know that there are different denominations of Jews like there are different denominations of Christians. And how they approach the Laws and customs are as different as how Christians approach their laws. There are Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Reconstructionist. The Orthodox population is quite diverse, with numerous subgroups, such as ultra-Orthodox or haredi Orthodox (a group that includes Hasidic Jews), centrist Orthodox and Modern Orthodox. It is possible that your friend is a Reformed Jew; in their system they are very relaxed from services in English to eating just about anything that you put on the table. They say that they have shed "obsolete" practices. So, we call them Jew-lite. Conservatives, well they professes obedience to halakhah (Jewish law), but at the same time is open to making normative adjustments in response to societal changes. For example, they do not have prohibitions on interracial marriage and many do not have strict diet codes. Then you come to the Orthodox and they too vary from the very strict in the ultra-Orthodox; all the laws must be obeyed down to not carrying anything in your pocket when you go out for a walk on the Sabbath to arranged marriage. And the Orthodox to include the Hasidic... all laws are to be obeyed without the stiff punishments.... like death for blasphemy. (Death does not include killing a person... it is a cutting the person out of the "family" of Jews... more on that at a later time). And then there is the odd ones, the Reconstructionist.... they are to us like Pauline are to Christians. They think of themselves as a "civilization" rather than a "nation." As a "civilization" they claim they are in a state of constantly evolving, and it was the goal of Jewish thinkers at any given time to interpret Judaism in the light of contemporary life and thought without abandoning its traditional values.

As you can see, Jews of America are a mixed bag just as a Roman Catholic and a Southern Baptist are Christians but their "rules" are significantly different.

Hope this helps.