Toledot Yeshu

Toledot Yeshu (The Biography of Jesus) is a medieval version of the story of Jesus from a non-Christian perspective and an expression of vulgar Jewish polemics written in reaction to the no less vulgar attacks on Judaism in popular Christian teaching and writing of that time. The book uses the name Yeshu , a name for Jesus that appears in some early rabbinic literature , and the title is translated as Book of the Life of Jesus , Generations of Jesus or The Life of Jesus . It has been called the counter- gospel , anti-gospel, and anti-evangel. The Toledot Yeshu is popular polemic against Jesus "run wild". The work deliberately debunks and parodies the Christian Gospels and refers to Jesus as the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier, devoted to magic powers , a seducer, heretic and the victim of a shameful death. also known as Sefer Toledot Yeshu , Toldoth Yechu , Sepher Toldos Jeschu , etc. The poetical works of Robert Browning: The ring and the book, Volume 9, Books 9-12 , Oxford University Press, 2004, pg. 60. Saracens: Islam in the Medieval European Imagination . Secret Societies and Subversive Movements .

An early Jewish text taken to be an alternative biography of Jesus Sefer Toledot Yeshu (ספר תולדות ישו, The Book of the Generations/History/Life of Jesus ), often abbreviated as Toledot Yeshu , is an early Jewish text taken to be an alternative biography of Jesus . It exists in a number of different versions, none of which are considered either canonical or normative within rabbinic literature , but which appear to have been widely circulated in Europe and the Middle East in the medieval period. A 15th-century Yemenite work of the same was titled Maaseh Yeshu , or the " Episode of Jesus " in which Jesus is described either as being the son of Joseph, or the son of Pandera. The account portrays Jesus as an impostor. The story is that Jesus ( Yeshu ) was an illegitimate child, and that he practiced magic and heresy , seduced women, and died a shameful death. But they also show a paradoxical respect for Jesus. As Joseph Dan notes in the Encyclopedia Judaica , "The narrative in all versions treats Jesus as an exceptional person who', from his youth, demonstrated unusual wit and wisdom, but disrespect toward his elders and the sages of his age." Robert Van Voorst calls the Toledot a record of popular polemic "run wild". The Toledot's profane portrayal of the person Christians consider divine has provided material for antisemitic polemics. Up until the early 21st century, with only a few exceptions, mainstream Jewish and Christian scholars, paid little attention to the Toledot. The opinion of Father Edward H. Flannery is representative: This scurrilous fable of the life of Jesus is a medieval work, probably written down in the tenth century. .... Though its contents enjoyed a certain currency in the oral traditions of the Jewish masses, it was almost totally ignored by official or scholarly Judaism. Anti-Semites have not failed to employ it as an illustration of the blasphemous character of the Synagogue." This disregard has recently been lifting as the text becomes discussed as a possible window into the early history of polemic between Christians and Jews . In Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (ed.). Secret Societies and Subversive Movements . Saracens: Islam in the Medieval European Imagination . Toledot Yeshu : The life story of Jesus. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism ; 159.

Early Jewish text taken to be an alternative biography of Jesus Sefer Toledot Yeshu ( ספר תולדות ישו , The Book of the Generations/History/Life of Jesus ), often abbreviated as Toledot Yeshu , is a medieval text which presents an alternative, anti- sectarian view, as well as a disputed biography of Jesus of Nazareth . It exists in a number of different versions, none of which is considered either canonical or normative within Rabbinic literature , but which appear to have been widely circulated in Europe and the Middle East in the medieval period. A 15th-century Yemenite version of the text was titled Maaseh Yeshu , or the " Episode of Jesus ", in which Jesus is described either as being the son of Joseph or the son of Pandera . The account portrays Jesus as an impostor. The Toledot portrays Jesus (known as Yeshu by the author, the actual Hebrew name) as an illegitimate child who practiced sorcery , taught a heretical Judaism , seduced women, and died a shameful death. Interestingly, the author also shows a paradoxical respect for Jesus. Perhaps surprisingly, instead of denying the miracles the New Testament claims Jesus had performed, Toledot Yeshu doubles down. The difference, of course, is that in this polemic his powers are chalked up to sacrilegious sorcery, while the authors of the New Testament portrayed these events as proof of divine power. In some versions of Toledot Yeshu, Jesus is noted to have revived a man from the dead, turn clay statues into flying birds, and lift his arms like the wings of an eagle, ascending towards the heavens for an airborne battle with Judah Iskarioto. As Joseph Dan notes in the Encyclopaedia Judaica , "The narrative in all versions treats Jesus as an exceptional person who, from his youth, demonstrated unusual wit and wisdom, but disrespect toward his elders and the sages of his age." Robert Van Voorst calls the Toledot Yeshu a record of popular polemic "run wild." The Toledot 's profane portrayal of the person Christians consider divine has provided fodder for Christian antisemitism and anti-Judaism . Until the early 21st century (with few exceptions), mainstream Jewish and Christian scholars paid little attention to the Toledot Yeshu . The opinion of noted advocate of Christian-Jewish reconciliation, Father Edward H. Flannery , is representative: This scurrilous fable of the life of Jesus is a medieval work, probably written down in the tenth century. [...] Though its contents enjoyed a certain currency in the oral traditions of the Jewish masses, it was almost totally ignored by official or scholarly Judaism. Antisemites have not failed to employ it as an illustration of the blasphemous character of the Synagogue . This disregard has recently shifted towards a growing level of discussion on the text's possible scholarly use as a window into the early history of Jewish-Christian relations . In Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (ed.). Secret Societies and Subversive Movements . Saracens: Islam in the Medieval European Imagination . Toledot Yeshu : The life story of Jesus.

Jewish parody of the biography of Jesus The Toledot Yeshu ( History of Jesus ) is a set of Jewish, anti-Christian Gospel parodies surrounding the life of Jesus Christ (called Yeshu in the text). There is no definitive version of the Toledot Yeshu. Instead, many versions exist scattered across its numerous manuscripts throughout medieval Europe and the Middle East . Historians did not seriously study the Toledot Yeshu until the early 21st century when its value in understanding Late Antique and medieval Jewish perspectives about Jesus and Christianity was realized. The Toledot both reflects the polemical and defensive context of many historical Jewish communities under Christian rule, as well as a source that fuelled Christian hostility towards Judaism. The story likely originated in Mesopotamian Babylonia, in the same milieu as the Babylonian Talmud , with which shares several of its polemics about Jesus. In the Toledot Yeshu, Jesus is portrayed as an illegitimate child conceived from an adulterous rape. As a child, he is a troublemaker that stirs tension in the rabbinic study house. In his adulthood, he is depicted as a sorcerer who taught a heretical Judaism , seduced women, was defeated by Judas , and died a shameful death in a sewer. His tomb is robbed by a gardener, leading his followers to mistakenly believe that he has risen from the dead. The Toledot accepts many miracles of Jesus (such as creating birds from clay, resurrecting the dead, and healing the blind), but attributes the ability of Jesus to do this as being because of his magical prowess and sorcery instead of his divinity. According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica , "The narrative in all versions [of the Toledot] treats Jesus as an exceptional person who, from his youth, demonstrated unusual wit and wisdom, but disrespect toward his elders and the sages of his age." Van Voorst, Robert E (2000). Flannery, Edward H., The Anguish of the Jews: Twenty-three centuries of Anti-Semitism (1965, NY, Macmillan) page 283 (footnote 30 to chapter 2). Toledot Yeshu : The life story of Jesus. Saracens: Islam in the Medieval European Imagination . Secret Societies and Subversive Movements .