Jesus in the Talmud

During the Middle Ages a series of debates on Judaism were staged by the Catholic Church—including the Disputation of Paris, the Disputation of Barcelona, and Disputation of Tortosa—and during those disputations, Jewish converts to Christianity, such as Pablo Christiani and Nicholas Donin claimed the Talmud contained insulting references to Jesus. An early work describing Jesus in the Talmud was Pugio Fidei ("Dagger of Faith") (c. 1280) by the Catalan Dominican Ramón Martí, a Jewish convert to Christianity. In 1681 Johann Christoph Wagenseil translated and published a collection of anti-Christian polemics from Jewish sources, with the title Tela Ignea Satanæ, sive Arcani et Horribiles Judæorum Adversus Christum, Deum, et Christianam Religionem Libri (Flaming Arrows of Satan, that is, the secret and horrible books of the Jews against Christ, God, and the Christian religion) which discussed Jesus in the Talmud. In 1700, Johann Andreas Eisenmenger published Entdecktes Judenthum (Judaism Unmasked), which included descriptions of Jesus in the Talmud, and which would become the basis of much anti-Semitic literature in later centuries such as The Talmud Unmasked written in 1892 by Justinas Bonaventure Pranaitis. Starting in the 20th century the topic of Jesus in Judaic literature became subject to more unbiased, scholarly research, such as Das Leben Jesu nach jüdischen Quellen (The Life of Jesus From Jewish Sources) written in 1902 by Samuel Krauss, which was the first scholarly analysis of the Judaic anti-Christian polemic Toledot Yeshu (The Biography of Jesus). In 1910, Hermann Strack wrote Jesus, die Häretiker und die Christen nach den ältesten jüdischen Angaben (Jesus, the heretics and the Christians according to the oldest Jewish data), which found no evidence of a historical Jesus in the Talmud. In 1950 Morris Goldstein wrote Jesus in the Jewish Tradition, including sections on the Toledoth Yeshu. In 1951, Jacob Z. Lauterbach wrote the essay Jesus in the Talmud. In 1978 Johann Maier wrote Jesus von Nazareth in der talmudischen Überlieferung (Jesus of Nazareth in the Talmudic tradition) in which he concludes that there is virtually no evidence of the historical Jesus in the Talmud and that the references to Jesus were "legendary" and probably added late in the Talmudic era "as a reaction to Christian provocations". In 2007, Peter Schäfer wrote Jesus in the Talmud in which he tried to find a middle ground between "anti-Jewish Christian" and "apologetic Jewish" interpretations. He concluded that the references to Jesus (as the messiah of Christianity) were included in the early (3rd and 4th century) versions of the Talmud and were parodies of New Testament narratives. ==In the context of Christian-Judaic polemics==

In the first few centuries AD, there were many sects claiming to be Judaism (such as Pharisees, Essenes, and Sadducees), each claiming to be the correct faith. Some scholars treat Christianity, during that era, referred to as Early Christianity, as simply one of many sects of Judaism. Some sects wrote polemics advocating their position and occasionally disparaging rival sects. Some scholars view the depictions of Jesus in the Talmud as a manifestation of those inter-sect rivalries—thus, the depictions can be read as polemics by the rabbinic authors of the Talmud, which indirectly criticized the rival sect (Christianity), which was growing and becoming more dominant. Relationship to New Testament Peter Schäfer concluded that the references were not from the early tannaitic period (1st and 2nd centuries) but rather from the 3rd and 4th centuries, during the amoraic period. He asserts that the references in the Babylonian Talmud were "polemical counter-narratives that parody the New Testament stories, most notably the story of Jesus' birth and death" and that the rabbinical authors were familiar with the Gospels (particularly the Gospel of John) in their form as the Diatessaron and the Peshitta, the New Testament of the Syrian Church. Schäfer argues that the message conveyed in the Talmud was a "bold and self-confident" assertion of the correctness of Judaism, maintaining that "there is no reason to feel ashamed because we rightfully executed a blasphemer and idolater." By way of comparison, the New Testament itself also documents conflict with Rabbinic Judaism, for example, in the John 8:41 charge, "We are not born of fornication." and "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?" and in return in the description in Revelation of a "synagogue of Satan." Early anti-Christian sentiments In contrast to Peter Schäfer, Daniel J. Lasker suggests that the Talmudic stories about Jesus are not deliberate, provocative polemics but instead demonstrate "embryonic" Jewish objections to Christianity which would later "blossom into a full-scale Jewish polemical attack on Christianity [the Toledoth Yeshu]". Ambivalent relationship Jeffrey Rubenstein has argued that the accounts in Chullin and Avodah Zarah ("Idolatry") reveal an ambivalent relationship between rabbis and Christianity. In his view, the Tosefta account reveals that at least some Jews believed Christians were true healers, but that the rabbis saw this belief as a major threat. Concerning the Babylonian Talmud account in Avoda Zarah, Boyarin views Jacob of Sechania as a Christian preacher and understands Rabbi Eliezer's arrest for minuth ("heresy") as an arrest by the Romans for practising Christianity. When the Governor (the text uses the word for chief judge) interrogated him, the rabbi answered that he "trusted the judge." Boyarin has suggested that this was the Jewish version of the Br'er Rabbit approach to domination, which he contrasts to the strategy of many early Christians, who proclaim their beliefs despite the consequences (i.e., martyrdom). Although Rabbi Eliezer was referring to God, the Governor interpreted him as referring to the Governor himself and freed the rabbi. According to them, the account also reveals greater contact between Christians and Jews in the 2nd century than was commonly believed. They view the account of the teaching of Yeshu as an attempt to mock Christianity. According to Rubenstein, the structure of this teaching, in which a biblical prooftext is used to answer a question about biblical law, is familiar to both the rabbis and early Christians. The vulgar content, however, may have been used to parody Christian values. Boyarin considers the text to be an acknowledgment that rabbis often interacted with Christians, despite their doctrinal antipathy. ==Disputations and censorship==

Between 1239 and 1775, the Catholic Church at various times either forced the censoring of parts of the Talmud that were theologically problematic or the destruction of copies of the Talmud. During the Middle Ages a series of debates on Judaism were held by Catholic authorities – including the Disputation of Paris (1240), the Disputation of Barcelona (1263), and Disputation of Tortosa (1413–14) – and during those disputations, Jewish converts to Christianity, such as Nicholas Donin (in Paris) and Pablo Christiani (in Barcelona) claimed the Talmud contained insulting references to Jesus. During these disputations, representatives from Jewish communities presented various defenses against the charges brought by Christian disputants. A significant influence on later Jewish responses was the defense put forth by Yechiel of Paris in 1240. He argued that a passage in the Talmud referring to an individual named Yeshu did not pertain to the Christian Jesus. However, Yechiel also acknowledged that another reference to Yeshu did refer to him. This formulation has been described as the "theory of two Jesuses," although Berger (1998) notes that Yechiel actually argues for three distinct Jesuses. This defence featured again in later Jewish defences during the medieval period, such as that of Nachmanides at the Disputation of Barcelona, though others such as Profiat Duran at the Disputation of Tortosa did not follow this argument. Amy-Jill Levine notes that even today, some rabbinical experts do not consider that the Talmud's account of Jesus' death is a reference to the Jesus of the New Testament. Gustaf Dalman (1922), Joachim Jeremias (1960), Mark Allen Powell (1998) and Roger T. Beckwith (2005) were also favourable to the view the Yeshu references in the Talmud were not to Jesus. Richard Bauckham considers Yeshu a legitimate, if rare, form of the name in use at the time and writes that an ossuary bearing both the names Yeshu and Yeshua ben Yosef shows that it "was not invented by the rabbis as a way of avoiding pronouncing the real name of Jesus of Nazareth" Numerous times between 1239 and 1775, copies of the Talmud were destroyed. In 1280, following the Disputation of Barcelona, the Talmud was censored. Following the invention of the printing press, the Talmud was banned by the Pope. All printed editions of the Talmud, including the Basel Talmud and the Vilna Edition Shas, were censored. In 1559, the Talmud was placed on the Roman Index and banned. In 1564, under the Tridentine Index, an expunged version of the Talmud was allowed. In 1592, the pope ordered all copies of the Talmud and other heretical writing destroyed, whether they were expunged or not. The total prohibition would stay in place until 1775. Even then, the censorship system would remain in force. Text-criticism, versions, and alterations Starting in the 13th century, manuscripts of the Talmud were sometimes altered in response to the criticisms made during the disputations and in response to orders from the Christian church. Existing manuscripts were sometimes altered (for example, by erasure), and new manuscripts often omitted the passages entirely. Peter Schäfer compared several editions and documented some alterations as illustrated in the following table: :: ==As evidence of the historical Jesus==

Bart Ehrman, and separately Mark Allan Powell, state that the Talmud references are quite late (hundreds of years) and give no historically reliable information about the teachings or actions of Jesus during his life. Ehrman clarifies that the name "Son of Panthera" (Roman who allegedly was the seducer of Mary) was a tradition, as scholars have long recognized, that represented an attack on the Christian view that he was the son of a virgin. In Greek, the term for virgin is parthenos, which is similar to panthera, implying that "son of panthera" is a pun on "son of a virgin". However, Robert Travers Herford, a British Unitarian minister and scholar of rabbinical literature who translated the Gemara, when commenting on the above hypothesis, could not understand why the Rabbi authors of the Talmud would choose to describe Jesus as a son of a virgin by using a word that supposedly connects to a Greek word for virgin rather than simply use an Aramaic/Hebrew word:“Again, Pandira may represent παρθενος [parthenos/virgin], and the obvious appropriateness of a name indicating the alleged birth of Jesus from a virgin might make us overlook the improbability that the form παρθενος [parthenos/virgin] should be Hebraized into the form Pandira, when the Greek word could have been reproduced almost unchanged in a Hebrew form. It is not clear, moreover, why a Greek word should have been chosen as an epithet for Jesus. I cannot satisfy myself that any of the suggested explanations solve the problem; and being unable to propose any other, I leave the two names Ben Stada and Ben Pandira as relics of ancient Jewish mockery against Jesus, the clue to whose meaning is now lost.” The name "ben Stada", used for the same figure, is explained by Peter Schäfer as a reference to his mother's supposed adultery: Peter Schäfer states that there can be no doubt that the narrative of the execution of Jesus in the Talmud refers to Jesus of Nazareth, but states that the rabbinic material in question is from a later Amoraic period and may have drawn on the Christian gospels, and may have been written in response to them. Scholars debate whether the Talmud provides any evidence of Jesus as a historical individual. Van Voorst (2000) describes this as a spectrum of opinion: • On one side stand Johann Maier (1978) and those broadly sympathetic to his conclusions such as John P. Meier and Jacob Neusner. Maier discounts accounts with no mention of the name Jesus, and further discounts those that do mention Jesus by name, such as Sanh. 43a and 107b, as later medieval changes. Arguments against the current form of Talmudic references to Jesus being evidence of a historical individual include contextual evidence, such as chronological inconsistencies, for example the original contexts of accounts in the Tosefta and Talmud take place in different historical periods. Maier also views that the tradition first seen in the writings of Celsus can not be regarded as a reliable reference to the historical Jesus. • On the other side stand scholars such as Joseph Klausner (1925), following R. Travers Herford (1901) and Bernhard Pick (1887), who believed that the Talmud gives some insight into Jesus as a historical individual. Some of these researchers contend that the Talmud's importance and credibility as an early source lies in the fact that it gives the "opposition view" to Jesus, and they have used the Talmud to draw the conclusions about the historical Jesus, such as: • Robert E. Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000. pp 111–120 • Norman Perrin, The New Testament, An Introduction: Proclamation and Parenesis, Myth and History, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982. pp 407–408 • R. Travers Herford, Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, KTAV Publishing House Inc, 2007. pp 35–96 • C. H. Dodd, Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel, Cambridge University Press, 1976. pp 303–305 ==Possible Talmudic references==

There are several Talmudic passages that are said to be referring to Jesus. The following are among those considered the most controversial, contested, and possibly the most notable. There are still noticeable challenges to the identification of Yeshu as Jesus, as elsewhere in the Talmud his stepfather, Pappos ben Yehuda, is mentioned as being martyred with Rabbi Akiva and is himself mentioned as being among the Pharisees returning to Israel following their persecution by John Hyrcanus, which would place Yeshu's lifetime anywhere between 130 after and 70 years before the birth of Jesus. Specific references Sanhedrin 43a relates the trial and execution of a sorcerer named Jesus (Yeshu in Hebrew) and his five disciples. The sorcerer is stoned and hanged on the Eve of Passover. Sanhedrin 107 tells of a Jesus ("Yeshu") who "offended his teacher by paying too much attention to the inn-keeper's wife. Jesus wished to be forgiven, but [his rabbi] was too slow to forgive him, and Jesus in despair went away and put up a brick [idol] and worshipped it." In Gittin 56b and 57a, a story is told in which Onkelos summons up the spirit of “the sinner(s) of Israel”. He describes his punishment in the afterlife as boiling in excrement. Some scholars claim that the Hebrew name Yeshu is not a short form of the name Yeshua, but rather an acrostic for the Hebrew phrase "may his name and memory be blotted out" created by taking the first letter of the Hebrew words. In addition, at the 1240 Disputation of Paris, Nicholas Donin presented the allegation that the Talmud was blasphemous towards Mary, the mother of Jesus (Miriam in Hebrew), and this criticism has been repeated by many Christian sources. The texts cited by critics include Sanhedrin 67a, Sanhedrin 106a, and Shabbath 104b. However, the references to Mary are not specific, and some assert that they do not refer to Jesus' mother, or perhaps refer to Mary Magdalen. Summary Scholars have identified the following references in the Talmud that some conclude refer to Jesus: • Jesus as a sorcerer with disciples (b Sanh 43a–b) • Healing in the name of Jesus (Hul 2:22f; AZ 2:22/12; y Shab 124:4/13; QohR 1:8; b AZ 27b) • As a Torah teacher (b AZ 17a; Hul 2:24; QohR 1:8) • As a son or disciple that turned out badly (Sanh 103a/b; Ber 17b) • As a frivolous disciple who practiced magic and turned to idolatry (Sanh 107b; Sot 47a) • Jesus' punishment in afterlife (b Git 56b, 57a) • Jesus' execution (b Sanh 43a-b) • Jesus as the son of Mary (Shab 104b, Sanh 67a) As a sorcerer with disciples Sanhedrin 43a relates the trial and execution of Jesus and his five disciples. Here, Jesus is a sorcerer who has enticed other Jews to apostasy. A herald is sent to call for witnesses in his favour for forty days before his execution. No one comes forth and in the end he is stoned and hanged on the Eve of Passover. His five disciples, named Matai, Nekai, Netzer, Buni, and Todah are then tried. Word play is made on each of their names, and they are executed. It is mentioned that leniency could not be applied because of Jesus' influence with the royal government (malkhut). The full passage is: {{quote|The Rabbis taught, Yeshu had five disciples: Mattai, Nakai, Netzer, Buni, and Todah. They brought Mattai in, he said, "Shall Mattai be executed? Isn't it written, ‘When (māṯay) can I go and meet with God?’" They said to him, "Yes, Mattai shall be executed, for it is written, ‘When (māṯay) will he die and his name perish?’" They brought Nakai in, he said, "Shall Nakai be executed? Isn't it written, ‘Do not kill the innocent (nāqī) and righteous’?" They said to him, ‘Yes, Nakai shall be executed, for it is written, ‘In the hiding places he kills the innocent (nāqī).’" They brought Netzer in, he said, "Shall Netzer be executed? Isn't it written, ‘and a branch (nēṣer) shall grow out of his roots’?" They said to him, ‘Yes, Netzer shall be executed, for it is written, ‘But you are cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch (nēṣer).’" They brought Buni in, he said, "Shall Buni be executed? Isn't it written, ‘Israel is my firstborn son (bənī)’?" They said to him, "Yes, Buni shall be executed, for it is written, ‘I will kill your firstborn son (bīnḵā).’" They brought Todah in, he said, "Shall Todah be executed? Isn't it written, ‘A psalm of thanksgiving (tōḏā)’?" They said to him, "Yes, Todah shall be executed, for it is written, ‘The one who offers thanksgiving (tōḏā) as his sacrifice glorifies Me.’" Healing in the name of Jesus Scholars have identified passages in the Talmud and associated Talmudic texts that involve invoking Jesus' name, as the messiah of Christianity, in order to perform magical healing: • Tosefta Hullin 2:22f – "Jacob ... came to heal him in the name of Jesus son of Pantera" - this section exists in variant spellings of Jesus: mi-shem Yeshu ben Pantera (principal edition), mi-shem Yeshu ben Pandera (London MS), mi-shem Yeshua ben Pantera (Vienna MS) • Jerusalem Abodah Zarah 2:2/12 – "Jacob ... came to heal him. He said to him: we will speak to you in the name of Jesus son of Pandera" (Editions or MS: Venice) • Jerusalem Shabboth 14:4/13 – "Jacob ... came in the name of Jesus Pandera to heal him" (Editions or MS: Venice) • Qohelet Rabbah 1:8(3) – "Jacob ... came to heal him in the name of Jesus son of Pandera" (Editions or MSs: Vatican 291, Oxford 164, Pesaro 1519) • Babylonian Abodah Zarah 27b – "Jacob ... came to heal him" (Editions or MSs: New York 15, Pearo, Vilna) The full passage in the Talmud Bavli is: {{quote|(The Gemara) raises an objection: A person may not engage in dealings with heretics, and one may not be treated by them even in (cases of) life (-or-death matters). A story of ben Dama, son of Rabbi Ishmael's sister, who was bitten by a snake. Jacob, a man of Sekhanya village, came to heal him, but Rabbi Ishmael did not let him. And (ben Dama) said to him, "Rabbi Ishmael, my brother, let him go, and I will be healed by him. I will cite a verse from the Torah (to prove) that this is permitted." But (ben Dama) did not manage to complete the statement before his soul departed, and he died. Rabbi Ishmael recited with regard to him: "Fortunate are you, ben Dama, as your body is pure and your soul departed in purity, and you did not transgress the statement of your colleagues, who would state the verse: ‘And who breaks through a fence, a snake shall bite him.’" Whereas in the Talmud Yerushalmi, the passage is the following: {{quote|A story of Ribbi Eleazer ben Dama, who was bitten by a snake. Jacob, a man of the village Sama, came to heal him in the name of Yeshu (ben) Pandera, but Ribbi Ishmael did not let him. (Eleazer) told (Ishmael), "I shall bring proof that he can heal me." But, he could not bring proof before he died. Ribbi Ishmael said, "Blessed are you, ben Dama, that you left this world in peace and did not tear down the fences of the Sages, as it is written, ‘And who breaks through a fence, a snake shall bite him.’" But did a snake not bite him (before such a dilemma even occurred)? It will not bite him in the World to Come. What could (Eleazar) have said? "Keep My decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them." Scholars also identify a separate account, featured exclusively in the Jerusalem Talmud, which contains an additional account of healing performed in the name of "Yeshu (ben) Pandera": • Jerusalem Abodah Zarah 2:2/7 – "someone ... whispered to him in the name of Jesus son of Pandera" (Editions or MS: Venice) • Jerusalem Shabboth 14:4/8 – "someone ... whispered to him in the name of Jesus son of Pandera" (Editions or MS: Venice) The full passage is: {{quote|Ribbi Joshua ben Levi had colic. Ribbi Hanina and Ribbi Jonathan told him to grind taḥlusin [either unripe dates or watercresses] on the Sabbath, put them in aged wine, and drink it to avoid being endangered. His son's son was choking. A person came and whispered to him in the name of Yeshu (ben) Pandera, and he could breathe. As he left, (Joshua) asked him, "What did you whisper to him?" (The person answered:) "So-and-so words." (Joshua) said to him, "It would have been better that he died and not heard such things. It happened to him like an erroneous order from a ruler." Torah teacher Scholars have identified passages that mention Jesus, as the messiah of Christianity, in the context of a Torah teacher: The account is discussing Manasseh the king of Judah infamous for having turned to idolatry and having persecuted the Jews (2 Kings 21). It is part of a larger discussion about three kings and four commoners excluded from paradise. These are also discussed in the Shulkhan Arukh where the son who burns his food is explicitly stated to be Manasseh. The passages identified by scholars in this context are: His teacher said "Here is a nice inn", to which he replied "Her eyes are crooked", to which his teacher responded "Evil one! Is this what you are occupied in?" (Gazing at married women was considered sinful.) After several returns for forgiveness he mistook Perachiah's signal to wait a moment as a signal of final rejection, and so he turned to idolatry. Some passages that have been identified by scholars as mentioning Jesus, as the messiah of Christianity, in this context include: • Babylonian Sanhedrin 107b – "not as Yehoshua b. Perahya who pushed Jesus the Nazarene away" (Editions or MSs: Barco, Vilna) • Babylonian Sotah 47a – "not as Yehoshua b. Perahya who pushed Jesus the Nazarene away" (Editions or MSs: Vatican 110, Vilna, Munich 95) • Babylonian Sanhedrin 107b – "Jesus said to him: Rabbi, her eyes are narrow" (Editions or MSs: Herzog 1) • Babylonian Sotah 47a – "Jesus the Nazarene said to him: Rabbi, her eyes are narrow" (Editions or MS: Oxford 20) • Babylonian Sanhedrin 107b – "The master said: Jesus the Nazarene practiced magic (Editions or MSs: Firenze II.1.8–9, Barco ) • Babylonian Sotah 47a – "The master said: Jesus the Nazarene because he practiced magic" (Editions or MS: Munich 95) The full passage is: {{quote|It should always be (the) left (hand) to push (away), and (the) right (to) bring closeward. Not like Elisha who pushed Gehazi (away) with both hands, and not like Joshua ben Perachiah who pushed Yeshu, (one of) his students, with both hands... When King Yannai was executing the Rabbis, Simeon ben Shetach was hidden by his sister (and) Rabbi Joshua ben Perachiah went (and) fled to Alexandria of Egypt. When peace was made, Simeon ben Shetach sent him (the following letter): "From me, Jerusalem the holy city, to you, Alexandria of Egypt, my sister. My husband dwells amongst you, and I am sitting lonely". (Joshua ben Perachiah) said "I learn from (the letter) that there is peace!" When he came, (they) arrived at an inn. (The innkeeper) stood before him with exemplary honor, and accorded him great honors. (Joshua) sat and was praising them, (saying): "How beautiful this ʾaḵsanyāʾ is!" Yeshu said to him, "My master, her eyes are narrow." (Joshua) said to him "Wicked one, is this how you conduct yourself?!" He brought out four hundred shofarot and excommunicated him. Every day, (Yeshu) would come before him, but (Joshua) did not accept him. One day (Joshua) was reciting the Shema, (Yeshu) came before him. He intended to welcome him (this time), so he signaled (Yeshu) with his hands (to wait). (Yeshu) thought he was rejecting him. (Yeshu) went and erected brickwork, and worshipped it (as an idol). (Joshua) said to him "Return thyself!" (Yeshu) said to him "This I learned from you: Anyone who sins and causes the masses to sin is not given the opportunity to repent!" The story ends by invoking a Mishnaic era teaching that Yeshu practised black magic, deceived and led Israel astray. This quote is seen by some as an explanation in general for the designation Yeshu. According to Dr. Rubenstein, the account in Sanhedrin 107b recognizes the kinship between Christians and Jews, since Jesus is presented as a disciple of a prominent Rabbi. But it also reflects and speaks to an anxiety fundamental to Rabbinic Judaism. Prior to the destruction of the Temple in 70, Jews were divided into different sects, each promoting different interpretations of the law. Rabbinic Judaism domesticated and internalized conflicts over the law, while vigorously condemning any sectarianism. In other words, rabbis are encouraged to disagree and argue with one another, but these activities must be carefully contained, or else they could lead to a schism. Although this story may not present a historically accurate account of Jesus' life, it does use a fiction about Jesus to communicate an important truth about the Rabbis. Moreover, Rubenstein sees this story as a rebuke to overly harsh Rabbis. Boyarin suggests that the Rabbis were well aware of Christian views of the Pharisees and that this story acknowledges the Christian belief that Jesus was forgiving and the Pharisees were not (see Mark 2:1–2), while emphasizing forgiveness as a necessary Rabbinic value. The full passage is: {{quote|(The Mishna asserts) a crier goes out before (a man condemned to execution). Before him (i.e. when he is being led to execution), yes; but from the outset (i.e. before his conviction), no. But isn't it taught that on Passover Eve, they hanged Yeshu (after he was killed by stoning)? And a crier went out before him (for) forty days, (proclaiming): "Yeshu is to be stoned because he practiced sorcery, incited (idolatry), and lead the Jewish people astray. Anyone who knows (a reason to) acquit him should come (forward) and reveal it on his behalf!" And they did not find (a reason) to acquit him, and they hanged him on Passover Eve. Ulla said, "And (how can) you understand? (Was) Yeshu worthy of a search to acquit him? He was an inciter, and the Merciful One states, ‘Neither shall you spare, neither shall you conceal him.’ But, Yeshu was different, as he was close with the government." In the Florence manuscript of the Talmud (1177 CE) an addition is made to Sanhedrin 43a saying that Yeshu was hanged on the eve of the Sabbath. Mother and father , a soldier who has been claimed to be the "Pantera" named by Talmud Some Talmudic sources include passages which identify a "son of Pandera" (ben Pandera in Hebrew), and some scholars see it as referencing the messiah of Christianity. Medieval Hebrew midrashic literature contain the "Episode of Jesus" (known also as Maaseh Yeshu), in which Jesus is described as being the son of Joseph, the son of Pandera (see: Episode of Jesus). The account portrays Jesus as an impostor. The Talmud, and other talmudic texts, contain several references to the "son of Pandera". A few of the references name Jesus ("Yeshu") as the "son of Pandera": these connections are found in the Tosefta, the Qohelet Rabbah, and the Jerusalem Talmud, but not in the Babylonian Talmud. The connections said to be found in the Jerusalem Talmud are debated because the name "Jesus" ("Yeshu") is found only in a marginal gloss in some manuscripts, but other scholars see it as being in the original versions of the Jerusalem Talmud. The texts include several spellings for the father's name (Pandera, Panthera, Pandira, Pantiri, or Pantera) and some scholars conclude that these are all references to the same individual, but other scholars suggest that they may be unrelated references. In some of the texts, the father produced a son with a woman named Mary. Several of the texts indicate that the mother was not married to Pandera, and was committing adultery and – by implication – Jesus was a bastard child. Son of Pantera / Pandera in a healing context Two talmudic-era texts that explicitly associate Jesus as the son of Pantera/Pandera are: • Tosefta Hullin 2:22f "Jacob ... came to heal him in the name of Jesus son of Pantera" • Qohelet Rabbah 1:8(3) "Jacob ... came to heal him in the name of Jesus son of Pandera" Both of the above passages describe situations where Jesus' name is invoked to perform magical healing. In addition, some editions of the Jerusalem Talmud explicitly identify Jesus as the son of Pandera: • Jerusalem Abodah Zarah 2:2/7 "someone ... whispered to him in the name of Jesus son of Pandera" • Jerusalem Shabboth 14:4/8 "someone ... whispered to him in the name of Jesus son of Pandera" • Jerusalem Abodah Zarah 2:2/12 "Jacob ... came to heal him. He said to him: we will speak to you in the name of Jesus son of Pandera" • Jerusalem Shabboth 14:4/13 "Jacob ... came in the name of Jesus Pandera to heal him" However, some editions of the Jerusalem Talmud do not contain the name Jesus in these passages, so the association in this case is disputed. The parallel passages in the Babylonian Talmud do not contain the name Jesus. Son of Pantiri / Pandera in a teaching context Other Talmudic narratives describe Jesus as the son of a Pantiri or Pandera, in a teaching context: • Tosefta Hullin 2:24 "He told me of a word of heresy in the name of Jesus son of Pantiri" • Qohelet Rabbah 1:8(3) "He told me a word in the name of Jesus son of Pandera" However, the parallel accounts in the Babylonian Talmud mention Jesus but do not mention the father's name: • Babylonian Abodah Zarah 17a "One of the disciples of Jesus the Nazarene found me" • Babylonian Abodah Zarah 17a "Thus I was taught by Jesus the Nazarene" Pandera and alleged adultery by Mary The Babylonian talmud contains narratives that discuss an anonymous person who brought witchcraft out of Egypt, and the person is identified as "son of Pandera" or "son of Stada". The Talmud discusses whether the individual (the name Jesus is not present in these passages) is the son of Stada, or Pandera, and a suggestion is made that the mother Mary committed adultery. And then "The day of the Notzri according to Rabbi Ishmael is forbidden for ever" in some texts of B.Avodah Zarah 6a. ==Relation to the Toledot Yeshu==

The Toledot Yeshu (History of Jesus) is a Jewish anti-Christian polemic that purports to be a biography of Jesus. The work is an early account of Jesus, based on contemporary Jewish views, in which Jesus is described as being the son of Joseph, the son of Pandera (see a translation of the Yemenite text: Episode of Jesus, or what is also known as Toledot Yeshu). Some scholars conclude that the work is merely an expansion and elaboration on anti-Christian themes in the Talmud. Stephen Gero suggests that an early version of the Toledot Yeshu narrative preceded the Talmud, and that the Talmud drew upon the Toledot Yeshu, but Rubenstein and Schäfer discount that possibility, because they date the origin of the Toledot Yeshu in the early Middle Ages or Late Antiquity. ==Related narrative from Celsus==

The Platonistic philosopher Celsus, writing circa 150 to 200 CE, wrote a narrative describing a Jew who discounts the story of the Virgin Birth of Jesus. Scholars have remarked on the parallels (adultery, father's name "Panthera", return from Egypt, magical powers) between Celsus' account and the Talmudic narratives. In Celsus' account, the Jew says: "... [Jesus] came from a Jewish village and from a poor country woman who earned her living by spinning. He says that she was driven out by her husband, who was a carpenter by trade, as she was convicted of adultery. Then he says that after she had been driven out by her husband and while she was wandering about in a disgraceful way she secretly gave birth to Jesus. He states that because he [Jesus] was poor he hired himself out as a workman in Egypt, and there tried his hand at certain magical powers on which the Egyptians pride themselves; he returned full of conceit, because of these powers, and on account of them gave himself the title of God ... the mother of Jesus is described as having been turned out by the carpenter who was betrothed to her, as she had been convicted of adultery and had a child by a certain soldier named Panthera." ==See also==