Jesus in the Talmud

Jesus in the Talmud For the related article discussing the Hebrew name Yeshu as found in Talmud and other Jewish literature, see Yeshu . Depiction of Jesus as a young Jew by Rembrandt 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 (though not spelling) of the Hebrew name Yeshua . The identification of Yeshu as Jesus is problematic. Furthermore, Yeshu the Pharisee student is described as being a student of the second-century BCE nasi Joshua ben Perachiah , as well as being among the exiled Pharisees returning to Israel following their persecution by John Hyrcanus , an event which occurred in 74 BC. Additionally, Yeshu the sorcerer was executed by the royal government which lost legal authority in 63 BC. These events would place the lifetime of either Yeshu decades before or after the birth and death of Jesus. Still, there are numerous other passages pertaining to an individual named "Yeshu" that either do not provide a specific time period or else specify a time where it is reasonable to assume mentioning of Jesus would even be possible (take for example a notable passage, Gittin 57a mentioning the nobleman Onkelos conjuring the tormented spirit of "Yeshu" – Onkelos lived more than a century after Jesus, thus making it possible the Yeshu mentioned could indeed be Jesus, though the likelihood of this is still questionable) still opening the possibility that whichever Yeshu mentioned might be Jesus. The first Christian censorship of the Talmud happened in the year 521. However, far better documented censorship began during the disputations of the Middle Ages . Catholic authorities accused the Talmud of containing blasphemous references to Jesus and his mother, Mary . Jewish apologists during the disputations said there were no references to Jesus in the Talmud. They asserted that Joshua was a common Jewish name, along with its derivations, and that the citations referred to individuals other than Jesus. The disputations led to many of the references being removed (censored) from subsequent editions of the Talmud. 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. 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. 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. Lauterbach (1951) ("who recognize[d] only relatively few passages that actually have Jesus in mind"), while "maximalists" include Herford (1903), (who concluded that most of the references related to Jesus, but were non-historical oral traditions which circulated among Jews), and 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 ). Some editions of the Talmud are missing some of the references, which were removed either by Christian censors starting in the 13th century, or by Jews themselves due to fear of reprisals, or some were possibly lost by negligence or accident. However, most modern editions published since the early 20th century have restored most of the references. The Jesus Narrative In The Talmud - Gil Student" . Burkett p220 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" Papers presented at the Thirteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies p398 Maurice Wiles, Edward Yarnold, P. Parvis - 1997 "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 , Jews, Christians and Jewish Christians in Antiquity p279 2010 "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. Trude Weiss-Rosmarin, Jewish expressions on Jesus: an anthology , Ktav Pub.

Possible references to Jesus in the Talmud For the related article discussing the Hebrew name Yeshu, as found in Talmud and other Jewish literature, see Yeshu . Head of Christ by Rembrandt 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 . The identification of Jesus with any number of individuals named Yeshu has numerous problems, as most of the individuals are said to have lived in time periods far detached from that of Jesus; Yeshu the sorcerer is noted for being executed by the Hasmonean government which lost legal authority in 63 BC, Yeshu the student is described being among the Pharisees who returned to Israel from Egypt in 74 BC, and Yeshu ben Pandera/ben Stada 's stepfather is noted as speaking with Rabbi Akiva shortly before the rabbi's execution, an event which occurred in c. 134 AD. These events would place the lifetime of any Yeshu decades before or after the birth and death of Jesus. The first Christian censorship of the Talmud happened in the year 521. However, far better documented censorship began during the disputations of the Middle Ages . Catholic authorities under Pope Gregory IX accused the Talmud of containing blasphemous references to Jesus and his mother, Mary . Jews responded to the disputations by saying there were no references to Jesus in the Talmud. They asserted that Joshua was a common Jewish name, along with its derivations, and that the citations referred to individuals other than Jesus. The disputations led to many of the references being removed (censored) from subsequent editions of the Talmud. 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. 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. 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. Lauterbach (1951) ("who recognize[d] only relatively few passages that actually have Jesus in mind"), while "maximalists" include Herford (1903) (who concluded that most of the references related to Jesus, but were non-historical oral traditions which circulated among Jews), and 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 ). Some editions of the Talmud are missing some of the references, which were removed either by Christian censors starting in the 13th century, or by Jews themselves due to fear of reprisals , or some were possibly lost by negligence or accident. However, most modern editions published since the early 20th century have restored most of the references. The Jesus Narrative In The Talmud - Gil Student" . "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." The Blackwell Companion to Jesus, ed. "If the summary of the Jesus-Tradition, given above be examined, it will be found to contain little, if anything". Jewish expressions on Jesus: an anthology .

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 " ( ישו ), the Aramaic vocalization (although not spelling) of the Hebrew name Yeshua . Many such passages have been deemed blasphemous by historical Christian authorities, including the Catholic Church . Most Talmudic stories featuring an individual named "Yeshu" are framed in time periods which do not synchronize with one other, nor do they 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. This 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. In the modern era, there has been a variance of views among scholars on 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. 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. 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. "Minimalists" include Jacob Zallel Lauterbach (1951) ("who recognize[d] only relatively few passages that actually have Jesus in mind"), 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), 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 ). The first Christian censorship of the Talmud occurred in the year 521. More extensive censorship began during the Middle Ages , notably under the directive of Pope Gregory IX . Catholic authorities accused the Talmud of blasphemous references to Jesus and Mary. Some editions of the Talmud, particularly those from the 13th century onward, are missing these references, removed either by Christian censors, by Jews themselves out of fear of reprisals, or possibly lost through negligence or accident. However, most editions of the Talmud published since the early 20th century have seen the restoration of most of these references. Pirkei Avot: A New Israeli Commentary . "On the Uses of History in Medieval Jewish Polemic against Christianity: The Quest for the Historical Jesus" . 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. "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." The Blackwell Companion to Jesus, ed. "If the summary of the Jesus-Tradition, given above be examined, it will be found to contain little, if anything". Jewish expressions on Jesus: an anthology .