Jesus in the Talmud

There are several passages in the Talmud which are believed by some scholars to be references to Jesus. The name used in the Talmud is "Yeshu", the Aramaic vocalization (although not spelling) of the Hebrew name Yeshua.^[1]^[2]

Most Talmudic stories which figure around an individual named "Yeshu" are framed in time periods which do not align with the scholarly consensus of Jesus' lifetime, with chronological discrepancies sometimes amounting to as much as a century before or after the accepted dates of Jesus' birth and death.^[3]^[4]^[5] The apparent multiplicity of "Yeshu"s within the text has been used to defend the Talmud against Christian accusations of blaspheming Jesus since at least the 13th century.^[6]

In the modern era, there has been a variance of views among scholars of the possible references to Jesus in the Talmud, depending partly on presuppositions as to the extent to which the ancient rabbis were preoccupied with Jesus and Christianity.^[7] This range of views among modern scholars on the subject has been described as a range from "minimalists" who see few passages with reference to Jesus, to "maximalists" who see many passages having reference to Jesus.^[8] These terms "minimalist" and "maximalist" are not unique to discussion of the Talmud text; they are also used in discussion of academic debate on other aspects of Jewish vs. Christian and Christian vs. Jewish contact and polemic in the early centuries of Christianity, such as the Adversus Iudaeos genre.^[9] "Minimalists" include Jacob Zallel Lauterbach (1951) ("who recognize[d] only relatively few passages that actually have Jesus in mind"),^[8] while "maximalists" include R. Travers Herford (1903) (who concluded that most of the references related to Jesus, but were non-historical oral traditions which circulated among Jews),^[10]^[11] and Peter Schäfer (2007) (who concluded that the passages were parodies of parallel stories about Jesus in the New Testament incorporated into the Talmud in the 3rd and 4th centuries that illustrate the inter-sect rivalry between Judaism and nascent Christianity).^[12]^{[page needed]}

The first Christian censorship of the Talmud occurred in the year 521.^[13] More extensive censorship began during the Middle Ages, notably under the directive of Pope Gregory IX.^[14]^[15] Catholic authorities accused the Talmud of blasphemous references to Jesus and Mary. Jewish scholars refuted these claims, stating that there were no references to Jesus in the Talmud and that names like Joshua were common and unrelated to Jesus. These disputations led to the removal of many references from subsequent editions of the Talmud.

Some editions of the Talmud, particularly those from the 13th century onward, are missing these references, removed either by Christian censors,^[16] by Jews themselves out of fear of reprisals, or possibly lost through negligence or accident.^[17] However, most editions of the Talmud published since the early 20th century have seen the restoration of most of these references.^{[citation needed]}

^ Ilan, Tal (2002). Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity Part I: Palestine 330 BCE–200 CE (Texte und Studien zum Antiken Judentum 91). Tübingen, Germany: J.C.B. Mohr. p. 129.
^ Stern, David (1992). Jewish New Testament Commentary. Clarksville, Maryland: Jewish New Testament Publications. pp. 4–5.
^ Shinan, Avigdor (2009). Pirkei Avot: A New Israeli Commentary. Yedioth Books (in Hebrew). Yedioth Ahronoth. p. 12. ISBN 978-965-482-920-5. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
^ "The Jesus Narrative In The Talmud - Gil Student". Angelfire.com. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
^ L. Patterson, "Origin of the Name Panthera", JTS 19 (1917–18), p. 79–80, cited in Meier, p. 107 n. 48
^ Berger, David (1998). "On the Uses of History in Medieval Jewish Polemic against Christianity: The Quest for the Historical Jesus". In Carlebach, Elishiva; Efron, John M.; Myers, David N. (eds.). Jewish History and Jewish Memory: Essays in Honor of Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi (Google Books preview). The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry. Vol. 29. Hanover, NH: Brandeis University Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-87451-871-9. LCCN 98-14431. OCLC 44965639. It is well known that when R. Yehiel of Paris was confronted in 1240 with the argument that the Talmud should be banned partly because of blasphemies against Jesus, he maintained that the Jesus of the Talmud and the Jesus of the Christians are two different people.…Whatever one thinks of the sincerity of the multiple Jesus theory, R. Yehiel found a way to neutralize some dangerous rabbinic statements, and yet the essential Ashkenazic evaluation of Jesus remains even in the text of this disputation.…In the fourteenth century, Moses ha-Kohen de Tordesillas made much stronger use of the theory of two Jesuses in defending Judaism and the Talmud against renewed attack.
^ Delbert Burkett (2010). The Blackwell Companion to Jesus. p. 220. "That is to say, varying presuppositions as to the extent to which the ancient rabbis were preoccupied with Jesus and Christianity can easily predetermine which texts might be identified and interpreted as having him in mind."
^ ^a ^b The Blackwell Companion to Jesus, ed. Burkett p. 220 2010 "Accordingly, scholars' analyses range widely from minimalists (e.g., Lauterbach 1951) – who recognize only relatively few passages that actually have Jesus in mind – to moderates (e.g., Herford [1903] 2006), to maximalists (Klausner 1943 ... especially Schafer)"
^ Maurice Wiles, Edward Yarnold, P. M. Parvis (1997). Papers presented at the Thirteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies. p. 398 "These scholars represent a school of thought, which can be described as minimalist, as it argues that there was minimal ... including Horbury, who accepts some aspects of the minimalist argument and does not dismiss Harnack outright."
^ James Carleton Paget (2010). Jews, Christians and Jewish Christians in Antiquity. p. 279. "44 Herford 1903, 63. 45 Even Herford, who takes a maximalist view of this material, agrees with this conclusion. "If the summary of the Jesus-Tradition, given above be examined, it will be found to contain little, if anything".
^ Lasker, p. xxi, summarizes Herford's conclusions; R. Travers Herford (1903), Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, London: Williams & Norgate (reprint New York, KTAV, 1975)
^ Peter Schäfer, Jesus in the Talmud, Princeton University Press, 2007.
^ Reverend James Parkes, The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue, p. 392
^ "Pope Gregory IX Orders the Seizure and Burning of Jewish Books : History of Information". www.historyofinformation.com. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
^ Chazan, Robert (1988). "The Condemnation of the Talmud Reconsidered (1239-1248)". Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research. 55: 11–30. doi:10.2307/3622675. JSTOR 3622675. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
^ William L. Merrifield (2010), Who Do You Say I Am?: Jesus Called the Christ, Tate Publishing. p. 39.
^ Weiss-Rosmarin, Trude (1977). Jewish expressions on Jesus: an anthology. KTAV. p. 3.

[1] Ilan, Tal (2002). Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity Part I: Palestine 330 BCE–200 CE (Texte und Studien zum Antiken Judentum 91). Tübingen, Germany: J.C.B. Mohr. p. 129.

[2] Stern, David (1992). Jewish New Testament Commentary. Clarksville, Maryland: Jewish New Testament Publications. pp. 4–5.

[3] Shinan, Avigdor (2009). Pirkei Avot: A New Israeli Commentary. Yedioth Books (in Hebrew). Yedioth Ahronoth. p. 12. ISBN 978-965-482-920-5. Retrieved 2024-03-25.

[4] "The Jesus Narrative In The Talmud - Gil Student". Angelfire.com. Retrieved 2018-04-18.

[5] L. Patterson, "Origin of the Name Panthera", JTS 19 (1917–18), p. 79–80, cited in Meier, p. 107 n. 48

[6] Berger, David (1998). "On the Uses of History in Medieval Jewish Polemic against Christianity: The Quest for the Historical Jesus". In Carlebach, Elishiva; Efron, John M.; Myers, David N. (eds.). Jewish History and Jewish Memory: Essays in Honor of Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi (Google Books preview). The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry. Vol. 29. Hanover, NH: Brandeis University Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-87451-871-9. LCCN 98-14431. OCLC 44965639. It is well known that when R. Yehiel of Paris was confronted in 1240 with the argument that the Talmud should be banned partly because of blasphemies against Jesus, he maintained that the Jesus of the Talmud and the Jesus of the Christians are two different people.…Whatever one thinks of the sincerity of the multiple Jesus theory, R. Yehiel found a way to neutralize some dangerous rabbinic statements, and yet the essential Ashkenazic evaluation of Jesus remains even in the text of this disputation.…In the fourteenth century, Moses ha-Kohen de Tordesillas made much stronger use of the theory of two Jesuses in defending Judaism and the Talmud against renewed attack.

[7] Delbert Burkett (2010). The Blackwell Companion to Jesus. p. 220. "That is to say, varying presuppositions as to the extent to which the ancient rabbis were preoccupied with Jesus and Christianity can easily predetermine which texts might be identified and interpreted as having him in mind."

[Blackwell-8] The Blackwell Companion to Jesus, ed. Burkett p. 220 2010 "Accordingly, scholars' analyses range widely from minimalists (e.g., Lauterbach 1951) – who recognize only relatively few passages that actually have Jesus in mind – to moderates (e.g., Herford [1903] 2006), to maximalists (Klausner 1943 ... especially Schafer)"

[9] Maurice Wiles, Edward Yarnold, P. M. Parvis (1997). Papers presented at the Thirteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies. p. 398 "These scholars represent a school of thought, which can be described as minimalist, as it argues that there was minimal ... including Horbury, who accepts some aspects of the minimalist argument and does not dismiss Harnack outright."

[10] James Carleton Paget (2010). Jews, Christians and Jewish Christians in Antiquity. p. 279. "44 Herford 1903, 63. 45 Even Herford, who takes a maximalist view of this material, agrees with this conclusion. "If the summary of the Jesus-Tradition, given above be examined, it will be found to contain little, if anything".

[11] Lasker, p. xxi, summarizes Herford's conclusions; R. Travers Herford (1903), Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, London: Williams & Norgate (reprint New York, KTAV, 1975)

[12] Peter Schäfer, Jesus in the Talmud, Princeton University Press, 2007.

[13] Reverend James Parkes, The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue, p. 392

[14] "Pope Gregory IX Orders the Seizure and Burning of Jewish Books : History of Information". www.historyofinformation.com. Retrieved 1 June 2022.

[15] Chazan, Robert (1988). "The Condemnation of the Talmud Reconsidered (1239-1248)". Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research. 55: 11–30. doi:10.2307/3622675. JSTOR 3622675. Retrieved 1 June 2022.

[16] William L. Merrifield (2010), Who Do You Say I Am?: Jesus Called the Christ, Tate Publishing. p. 39.

[17] Weiss-Rosmarin, Trude (1977). Jewish expressions on Jesus: an anthology. KTAV. p. 3.

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