Jesus In The Talmud II

For Jews AND Christians: Time to UNLEARN.

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➔ See also Yeshua in the Talmud.

This article is based on the book The Bible, the Talmud and the New Testament by Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik’ s Commentary to the Gospels, ISBN-13: 978-0812250992.

(Lies denselben Artikel hier auf Deutsch.)

Introduction TM: It is a twofold sad story: First: Jews dismiss Yeshua (Jesus Christ) as a heretic, false prophet and even as a “Mamser” (Hebrew: bastard or son of a bitch). This is deeply reprehensible. Secondly: Christians falsely say that Jesus abrogated the Torah and “nailed it to the cross”, furthermore Jesus is God, which of course is also not true. But now there are the Christian “side-changers”: Many Christians, well understood, “born again” Christians, who came on the path of the “Hebrew Roots Movement”, or even converted to Judaism, suddenly start to sing the same tune like the vast majority of all Jews! A woman who “accepted” Jesus years ago, once an active Pentecostal Church member, finally converted and emigrated to Israel, tells me: “The Jesus I used to believe in is a false Jesus! Christians have been misguided! Jesus did not live at all at the time as it is preached. Jesus was even a heretic, a magician!” It is dreadful how Christians can take a wrong path if they are indoctrinated long enough by Jewish rabbis.
The truth is another. The above book clarifies. And, although the book says Jesus is not the Messiah, of course He is and remains so to me! He is and remains my “Yeshua HaMashiach”, my Tzaddik and Redeemer! (End Introduction TM)

Yeshua in the Talmud (See ** Source / Screenshots at the bottom)

Excerpts from the book:


Page 57

[…..]
And you Christians, my brothers, who claim that I insult the Gospel by putting the Talmud on the same level, do you not know that this Talmud that you so thoroughly despise deserves your gratitude and that, without it, the name of your “Christ” would perhaps have lang ago fallen into oblivion? Actually, many a famous writer has denied the existence of Yeshua, called the Messiah, and many even deny it in our present day, by failure of knowing the Talmud, which, as we will see, strictly mentions his existence. (4) What is more, one of your greatest writers, Voltaire, spoke of him in terms that still outrage you, trusting alleged Israelite documents that absolutely do not agree with the Talmudic sayings.
Here is an example of a portion from Voltaire’s The Important Examination of the Holy Scriptures by Lord Bolingbroke, chapter 10: “lt is said in the book Toledot Yeshu, that Yeshua was the son of a woman named Miriam, married in Bethlehem to a poor man named Yochanan.
In the village, there was a soldier whose name was Yosef Pantera, a very hand-some man with a strong build; he fell in love with Miriam, and Miriam became pregnant by Pantera; Yochanan, confused and despairing, left Bethlehem and hid in Babylon, where there were still many Jews. Miriam’s behavior disgraced her; her child Yeshu was declared a bastard by the judges of the city, etc.” (5)
This whole story is a lie from beginning to end. That there was a certain Pantera (Pandira or Pandera, according to the Talmud) who courted a certain Miriam and that their relations may have birthed a son in adultery, as the Talmud states – fine. But that this child was Yeshua, the founder of Christianity: there is no trace of this whatsoever in the Talmud. Not only that, as I also demonstrated at length in the first volume (Mattai 1: 18): the chronological information establishes that the child of Pandera absolutely could not have been

[Footnotes]:
(3) The rest of the waters of jealousy, whose formula consisted of a curse, contained the holy Tetragrammaton, which was written by the priest and then mixed with water and dust (Numbers 5: 17-23). If this test showed that the woman is question proved to be faithful – that is, she did not physically react to drinking the portion- as the Talmud says, good relations would be reestablished between husband and wife.
(4) On this, see R. Travers Herford, Christianity in Talmud and Midrash (New York: Reference Books, 1966); and, more recently, Peter Schäfer, Jesus in the Talmud 11d (Prinerton, NJ: Prinecron University Press, 2007).
(5) On Toledot Yeshu, see Schäfer, Toledot Yeshu; and David Biale, “Counter-History and Jewish Polemics Against Christianity: Toledot Yeshu and Sefer Zerubavel,” Jewish Social Studies 6, no. l (1999): 130-145.


Page 58

[…..]
Yeshua the Messiah, but I proved (ibid.) through irrefutable text that the real Yeshua was held in high esteem by our most revered rabbis, who cite his words with approval, even though they differ with him on certain issues. [….]
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Page 74

understanding of this. (18) And even if one can find something in the Talmud against Yeshua, this is not the Yeshua that our Christian brothers hold on to as Messiah, for he was a different Yeshua, and they did not live in the same time period, which I will show using reliable historical writings. (19)
In the book Universal History, which was printed in London in 1754, in chapter 10, page 675, it is written chat the Temple was destroyed seventy years after the birth of Yeshua of Nazareth; and in the same place, it says that Yeshua was killed when he was thirty-three years old. This means that he died thirty¬-seven years before the destruction of the Temple. (20)
Now let us search through the Talmud in all the sources that mention Yeshua of Nazareth, and we shall see that nothing evil is spoken against Yeshua (the one called “Messiah”) at all, although we do not deny that there was a dispute between the two sects – between the Pharisees and Essenes. The sages of the Talmud were Pharisees, and Yeshua and all those who accompanied him were from the Essene sect, as we will clarify later. (21) But every dispute about Yeshua that we find only concerns how man should conduct himself in accordance wich the Torah, in order that he may be able to walk on the path of life, worshiping YHWH who is one, as will be explained.
In BT Sanhedrin 107b, it is said that there are three things that the left hand pushes away and the right hand brings near (see also BT Sotah 47a). One of the three is a child his father, or a Student his rabbi. The meaning is that he will not push away his son with both hands, nor will a rabbi push his student away with both hands:

And not like Yehoshua ben Perachyah, who pushed Yeshua of Nazareth away with both hands. And what did Yehoshua ben Perachyah do? When King Yannai killed all the sages, the sister of Shimon ben Shetach hid him. She was the wife of King Yannai. Then Yehoshua ben Perachyah fled to Alexandria, Egypt, with

[Footnotes]:
(18) Jewish polemics against Christianity was a veritable industry in the Jewish Middle Ages. Sec, e.g., Daniel
Lasker, Jewish Philosphical Polemics Against Christianity in the Middle Ages (Portland, OR: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2007); and David Berger, The Jewish-Christian Debate in the High Middle Ages: A Critical Edition of Niz¬zabon Vetus (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1993).
(19) Much scholarly work has been done in the past forty years regarding Jesus’ ostensible appearance in the Talmud. Soloveitchik iterates the idea common in his time: that the reference to Yeshu in BT Sanhedrin and other sources is not the historical Jesus but another man by that name. The classical study of these sources can be found in Herford, Jesus in the Talmud and Midrash. Cf. Johann Maier, Jesus von Nazareth in der talmudischen Überlieferung (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1982); […..] For more recent scholarship, see Schäfer, Jesus in the Talmud; and Richard Freund, “The Myth of Jesus in Rabbinic Literature,” […..]
(20) This is likely referring to George Sale’s An Universal History, from the Earliest Account of Time, first published in London in 1747-68. Vol. 10 includes “The History of the Jews.”
(21) The Essene hypothesis was a commonly held belief at the time Soloveitchik was writing; its origins lie in the words of Josephus, but Jesus’ connection to the Essenes has come under scrutiny in recent scholarship. For a recent study, see Joan E. Taylor, The Essenes, the Scrolls, and tbe Dead Sea (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).


Page 75

his disciple Yeshua. When there was peace and the persecutions stopped, he got up and left. He came across an inn, and there they gave him great honor. He said: “How lovely is our hostess!” He [Yeshua] said to him: “Rabbi, her eyes are dim.” Rabbi Yehoshua said to him: “Wicked one, this is what you concern yourself with?!” [meaning, you observe the eyes of the hostess who is the wife of another man?!] He brought out four hundred shofars and excommunicated him. Yeshua came before Rabbi Yehoshua many times and said: “Receive me in repentance!” But he did not receive him. One day, Yeshua came before Rabbi Yehoshua and he decided to receive him back. Rabbi Yehoshua was reciting the Shema, so he signaled him with his hand, but Yeshua thought that he was pushing him away. Yeshua went and bowed down to the moon. Rabbi Yehoshua said: “Repent!” Yeshua said to him: “This is what I have learned from you: anyone who sins or causes many to sin is not able to repent.” A sage said: “Yeshua practiced magic and caused Israel to sin.” Afterward, they judged him and stoned him. (22)

Those who lack knowledge from among our brothers, the children of Israel, and our Christian brothers, think that this is the same Yeshua that they call “Messiah.” Honored reader, please see just how mistaken they are in their understanding! In Pirkei Avot, chapter 1, the order of the leaders of the Sanhe¬drin is listed. After Yehoshua ben Perachyah came Yehudah ben Tabbai; after that, Shemayah and Avtalyon; after them, Hillel the Prince. We find that from Yehoshua ben Perachyah to Hillel is four generations. And it is said in BT Shabbat 15a: “Hillel, Shimon, Gamliel, and Shimon led the Sanhedrin 100 years before the destruction of the Temple.” Therefore, from Yehoshua ben Per¬achyah to Hillel was four generations, and a hundred years from Hillel to the destruction of the Temple. Yeshua (the one they call “Messiah”), however, was born seventy years, and was killed thirty-seven years before the destruction of the Temple. Thus, the mistake can be seen, and the hatred between Jews and Christians is baseless hatred (sin’at chinam).
In BT Shabbat 104b, it is said:

He who scratches a mark on his flesh (on Shabbat)-Rabbi Eliezer required a sin offering and the sages dismissed it …. Rabbi Eliezer said to the sages: “Did not Ben Stada bring sorcery from Egypt through scratching his flesh [meaning: we see that scratching is considered writing].” They said co him: “He was a fool, and fools cannot be as proof.” The Gemara argues: “Ben Stada [i.e., son ofStada]? He is the son of Pandira!” [meaning: how can you say that he is the son of Stada?] Rav Hisda said: “The husband was Stada; the lover was Pandira.” The Gemara

[Footnotes]:
(22) On this, see Schäfer, Jesus in the Talmud, 16-24.


Page 76

argues again: “The husband was Pappos ben Yehudah! [meaning: how can you say that the husband was Stada?] Rather, his mother was Stada” [meaning: he is called son of Stada because his mother was called Stada]. The Gemara continues to argue: “His mother was Miriam the hairdresser! And as they say in Pumbedita, that woman turned away from her husband.”

We find that the mother of Ben Stada was Miriam, and her husband was Pappos ben Yehudah, and her lover was Pandira. Her son was a bastard, and therefore they called his mother Stada because she was a harlot. From this section in the Gemara, those who lack knowledge from among both our Jewish and Christian brothers conclude that this speaks about Yeshua, who is called “Messiah.” Therefore, the Christians think badly of their Jewish brothers and speak against the Gemara without limit. (23)
See, honored reader, how misguided they are in their understanding. How can it be possible that the one called Ben Stada was the same man as Yeshua, their messiah? For his mother’s husband was Pappos ben Yehudah, and Pappos was imprisoned with Rabbi Akiva, just as we find in BT Berakhot 61b:

lt was only a few days later that Rabbi Akiva was arrested and put in jail. Pappos ben Yehudah was also arrested and imprisoned with him. Rabbi Akiva said to him: “Pappos, who brought you here?” He answered: “Happy are you, Rabbi Akiva, for having been arrested for studying Torah (for it was against the law to study the Torah, but Rabbi Akiva still studied it); woe to Pappos, who was arrested for idle matters.” (24)

Rabbi Akiva was ehe disciple of Rabbi Eliezer the Great, as we find in BT Sanhedrin 68a; and Rabbi Eliezer was the disciple of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai; according to Pirkei Avot 2:8, “Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai had five disciples,” and Rabbi Eliezer is listed as one of them. And in the days of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, the Temple was destroyed, as we find in BT Gittin 56a-b.
Now see, from the destruction of the Temple to Rabbi Akiva is three generations-Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, Rabbi Eliezer, and Rabbi Akiva. Thus, how can it be possible that Ben Stada, the son of Miriam, is the same as Yeshua, their messiah? Was not Pappos ben Yehudah her husband, the one who was imprisoned with Rabbi Akiva? Rabbi Akiva lived three generations after the destruction of the Temple, and Yeshua their messiah was born seventy

[Footnotes]:
(23) See ibid., 15–24, and Herford, Jesus in the Talmud and Midrash, 35-56; and J. Klausner, Jesus of Nazareth, 23.
(24) See also BT Gittin 90a, where a man named Pappos ben Yehudah apparently lived a century after Jesus. Cf. Bernard Pick, Jesus in the Talmud (Chicago: Open Court Press, 1913), 16, 17.


Page 77

years before the destruction. Plus, nowhere is it written that Ben Stada’s name was Yeshua.
It is also written in the Talmud (BT Sanhedrin 67a) that what occurred with Ben Stada happened in the city of Lod, and Yeshua, their messiah, was killed in Jerusalem. We also find in the Gemara, in BT Avodah Zarah 17a, that Rabbi Eliezer told this story:

Once, while I was walking in the upper market of Tzippori, I found one of the disciples of Yeshua of Nazareth, and his name was Yakov of Kefar Sehanya. He said to me: “lt is written in your Torah, You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the payment of a dog into the hause of YHWH your God to fulfill an oath (Deuter¬onomy 23:19). What can you do with it? Can you use it to build the bathroom facilities for the high priest [in the room that he resides in within the Temple during the seven days preceding Yom Kippur]?” I did not say anything to him. He said to me: “This is what Yeshua of Nazareth taught me: ‘From the fee of a prostitute they were collected, and from the fee of a prostitute shall they return’ (Micah 1 :7}.” This word pleased me.

Now, honored reader, you can see that I have shown you a few passages in the Talmud where a Yeshua “of Nazareth” is mentioned, and each and every one of them lived in different time periods. The Yeshua who was the disciple of Yehoshua ben Perachyah lived about two hundred years before the destruction of the Temple; and Yeshua, their messiah, was born seventy years before the destruction. We have already discussed the passage of Ben Stada, who lived three generations after the destruction of the Temple.
Now, for the wise person, it is easy to perceive that Yeshua, their messiah, is the one mentioned in BT Avodah Zarah. Notice what was written there, that Rabbi Eliezer – who was the disciple of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, in whose lifetime ehe Temple was destroyed – spoke with Yakov of Kefar Sehanya; this is Yakov the shaliach, the one mentioned in the New Testament, who was the disciple of Yeshua of Nazareth. I will not deny that it appears that, according to the Talmud, there was a dispute between the two sects, for Rabbi Eliezer was from the sect of the Pharisees and Yeshua of Nazareth was from the sect of the Essenes. Nevertheless, they did not reveal their dispute in this passage, and Rabbi Eliezer was fond of the teachings of Yeshua and even said, “This word pleases me.”
Nowhere in the Talmud is anything evil spoken about this Yeshua, Yeshua of Nazareth. Along with this, I will show you from Roman history and from the Talmud that the hand of the Jews was not against Yeshua and that they did not cause the death of Yeshua, their messiah; rather, it was Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. I will show this in another location.


<End of Excerpts>

Notes TM:

  • Yeshua of Nazareth (“Jesus Christ”) was not the founder of a new religion called Christianity.
  • The commentators state in the book that Yeshua did not belong to the sect of the Essenes.
  • New time calculations, thanks to NASA, show that Yeshua of Nazareth was born on 26 September, 3 BCE, on the “High Sabbath” of Sukkoth (Feast of Tabernacles), see also https://ethomas.ch/the-chronological-gospels.

 

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** Source (Screenshots from the book):

Pages 56-57:
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Pages 74-75:
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Pages 76-77:
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(Rev.: 6-MAY-2021)

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