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Toledot Yeshu

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"Miriam ... named him Yehoshua, after her brother. This name later deteriorated to Yeshu." (Morris Goldstein: Jesus in the Jewish Tradition)

Toledot Yeshu (Hebrew: ספר תולדות ישו, Sefer Toledot Yeshu) is an early Jewish text taken to be an alternative biography of Jesus of Nazareth. Multiple versions of the Toledot exist. There are also passages in the Talmud which seem to express similar views.

The Toledot uses the names "Yeshu" (ישו) and "Yeshu ha-Notzri" (ישו הנוצרי) for Jesus. These names also occur in the Talmud.

Quotes

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A Jewish Life of Jesus (1903)

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G. R. S. Mead: Did Jesus Live 100 B.C.?, ch. 14, pp. 258–280. Theosophical Publishing Society (1903).
  • And there was in the sanctuary a foundation-stone—and this is its interpretation: God founded it and this is the stone on which Jacob poured oil—and on it were written the letters of the Shem, and whosoever learned it, could do whatsoever he would. ... This Jeschu came, learned them, wrote them on parchment, cut into his hip and laid the parchment with the letters therein—so that the cutting of his flesh did not hurt him—then he restored the skin to its place. ... He went home, cut open his flesh with his knife, took out the writing, learned the letters, went and gathered together three hundred and ten of the young men of Israel.
  • The people of Galilee made birds out of clay; he uttered the letters of the Shem, and the birds flew away.

Jesus in the Jewish Tradition (1903)

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Morris Goldstein: Jesus in the Jewish Tradition, pp. 148–154. Macmillan (1950).
  • Miriam gave birth to a son and named him Yehoshua, after her brother. This name later deteriorated to Yeshu.
  • Yeshu came and learned the letters of the Name; he wrote them upon the parchment which he placed in an open cut on his thigh and then drew the flesh over the parchment. As he left, the lions roared and he forgot the secret. But when he came to his house he reopened the cut in his flesh with a knife an lifted out the writing. Then he remembered and obtained the use of the letters.
  • He spoke the Ineffable Name over the birds of clay and they flew into the air.

Rabbinic literature

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  • In the Sefer Toledot Yeshu, an anti-Christian rabbinical compilation, we find a singular parable: Yeshu, says the rabbinic author of the legend, was traveling with Simon Bar-Jonah and Judas Iscariot. They arrived late and tired at an isolated house; they were very hungry and could find nothing to eat aside from a very small and thin young goose. ... "Let us sleep first," said Yeshu, "while our meal cooks; when we wake we will tell each other our dreams, and he who had the most beautiful dream will eat the little goose all for himself." ... "I," said Saint Peter, "I dreamed that I was the vicar of God." "I," said Yeshu, "that I was God himself." "And I," Judas responded hypocritically, "I dreamed that while sleepwalking I got up and went quietly downstairs, removed the goose from its spit, and ate it." After this they all went downstairs, but the goose had in fact disappeared: Judas had dreamed while completely awake.

Quotes about Toledot Yeshu

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  • The Gospels tell how Jesus performed miracles; the author of the Tol'doth Yeshu also tells us so, but while the former say that he performed them by the help of the Holy Spirit, the latter says that he performed them through the "Ineffable Name," which he had learnt for an evil purpose, and through the magic spells which he had brought from Egypt.

See also

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