Jesus in the Talmud
The subject of Jesus in the Talmud is the study of Talmudic passages that are believed by scholars to refer to Jesus of Nazareth. Similar views are found in the Toledot Yeshu. The names that occur in the William Davidson Talmud, which is cited here, are "Yeshu" (ישו) and "Yeshu ha-Notzri" (ישו הנוצרי). The latter is commonly translated as "Jesus the Nazarene".
This page quotes some of the most famous passages. For more information, refer to the Wikipedia article Jesus in the Talmud.
Quotes
[edit]Matthew 5:17
[edit]- See also: Matthew 5:17 (Wikipedia)
- שְׁפִילִית לְסֵיפֵיהּ דַּעֲווֹן גִּלְיוֹן, וּכְתִיב בֵּיהּ: אֲנָא לָא לְמִיפְחַת מִן אוֹרָיְיתָא דְּמֹשֶׁה אֲתֵיתִי [וְלָא] לְאוֹסֹפֵי עַל אוֹרָיְיתָא דְמֹשֶׁה אֲתֵיתִי
- B. Shabbat 116b:2
- Translation:
- I proceeded to the end of the avon gilayon, and it is written: I, avon gilayon, did not come to subtract from the Torah of Moses, and I did not come to add to the Torah of Moses.
Disciples
[edit]- חֲמִשָּׁה תַּלְמִידִים הָיוּ לוֹ לְיֵשׁוּ הַנּוֹצְרִי – מַתַּאי, נַקַּאי, נֶצֶר, וּבוּנִי, וְתוֹדָה.
- B. Sanhedrin 43a:22
- Translation:
- Apropos the trial of Jesus, the Gemara cites another baraita, where the Sages taught: Jesus the Nazarene had five disciples: Mattai, Nakai, Netzer, Buni, and Toda.
Parentage
[edit]- See also: Jesus in the Talmud § Mother and father (Wikipedia)
- See also: Tiberius Julius Abdes Pantera (Wikipedia)
- ״בֶּן סָטָדָא״? בֶּן פַּנְדִּירָא הוּא! אָמַר רַב חִסְדָּא: בַּעַל ״סָטָדָא״, בּוֹעֵל ״פַּנְדִּירָא״.
- B. Shabbat 104b:5
- Translation:
- Why did they call him ben Stada, when he was the son of Pandeira? Rav Ḥisda said: His mother's husband, who acted as his father, was named Stada, but the one who had relations with his mother and fathered him was named Pandeira.
- Comments:
- See also b. Sanhedrin 67a:14–15.
Afterlife
[edit]- See also: Tzoah Rotachat
- See also: Apple of my eye (Wikipedia)
- אֲזַל אַסְּקֵיהּ בִּנְגִידָא לְיֵשׁוּ הַנּוֹצְרִי, אֲמַר לֵיהּ: מַאן חֲשִׁיב בְּהָהוּא עָלְמָא? אֲמַר לֵיהּ: יִשְׂרָאֵל. מַהוּ לְאִדַּבּוֹקֵי בְּהוּ? אֲמַר לֵיהּ: טוֹבָתָם דְּרוֹשׁ, רָעָתָם לֹא תִּדְרוֹשׁ, כׇּל הַנּוֹגֵעַ בָּהֶן כְּאִילּוּ נוֹגֵעַ בְּבָבַת עֵינוֹ.
- B. Gittin 57a:3
- Translation:
- Onkelos then went and raised Jesus the Nazarene from the grave through necromancy. Onkelos said to him: Who is most important in that world where you are now? Jesus said to him: The Jewish people. Onkelos asked him: Should I then attach myself to them in this world? Jesus said to him: Their welfare you shall seek, their misfortune you shall not seek, for anyone who touches them is regarded as if he were touching the apple of His [God's] eye.
Quotes about Jesus in the Talmud
[edit]- That the Talmud and other Jewish sources say nothing about Jesus which is not the distortion of Christian tradition is sufficiently explained by the date of these documents and the fact that those who compiled them were governed by entirely polemical considerations.
- Maurice Goguel: Jesus the Nazarene: Myth or History?, ch. 2, "The Non-Christian Testimony", pp. 38–39. Translated by Frederick Stephens. D. Appleton and Company (1926).
- These Talmud stories seem as though they are deliberately intended to contradict events recorded in the Gospels: the selfsame facts are perverted into bad and blameable acts.
- Joseph Klausner: Jesus of Nazareth: His Life, Times, and Teaching, book 1, "The Sources", ch. 1, "The Hebrew Sources", p. 19. The Macmillan Company (1926). ISBN 1-59045-956-3.
- The Jesus or Jehoshua ben-Pandira (or ben-Stada) of the Gemara is a shady character who in the reign of Alexander Jannaeus (103–78 b.c.)—different versions give different dates—learns magic in Egypt, leads the people astray, and is stoned to death and hanged at Lydda. ... The character of Jesus is blackened, his miracles are explained by magic, his trial is made out to have been regular and fair, and so forth.
- Archibald Robertson: Jesus: Myth or History?, ch. 2, "Ancient Criticism", p. 24. Watts & Co. (1946).
- It is now more than half a century since Renan put the question, "Has Jewish tradition anything to teach us concerning Jesus?" This question must be answered in the negative. ... The Jewish legend—a growth of those later centuries—gave him an aspect of its own, purely apocryphal in its character, neither meant nor ever taken by the Jews as real history.
- Solomon Schechter: "On the Study of the Talmud". In Studies in Judaism, Second Series, p. 102. The Jewish Publication Society of America (1908).
- Some rabbis take the point of view—listen carefully—that yes, the true story of Jesus is in our Talmud, not in the Christian Bible. Meaning that when you have a problem of reconciling the Christian version of who Jesus was with the Jewish versions, some rabbis take the point of view: "Yeah, the Talmud gets it right. And the Christian scriptures? It's not accurate."
- Rabbi Michael Skobac: "Is Jesus in the Talmud?" (33:32–34:00). Jews for Judaism (2017).
- At the conclusion of a class at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2000, during which I quoted passages from the New Testament, a student approached me and asked whether I would be citing more quotes in future classes. I told her that I would give her two answers. The first: yes. The second: In all the 2,700 pages of the Babylonian Talmud, there is only one quotation from a non-Jewish book, namely from the New Testament (Babylonian Talmud Tractate Shabbat 116a-b). What is allowed to the Talmud is allowed also to a talmid (pupil). She never showed up in my classes again.
- Israel Jacob Yuval: "'We Curse Christianity Three Times a Day': Can Jews and Christians Truly Reconcile?" (archived). Haaretz (2020-08-14).
