Toledot Yeshu
Encyclopedia
Sefer Toledot Yeshu (or Toledoth Jeschu) (ספר תולדות ישו, The History of Jesus, Generations of Jesus, or The Life of Jesus) is a medieval version of the story of Jesus from a Jewish perspective
. The book concerns Yeshu
, son of Joseph and Mary, born in Bethlehem, but also makes this Yeshu a contemporary of Queen Salome Alexandra
(139–67 BCE). The work deliberately attacks 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. It has been called the counter-gospel
, anti-gospel, and anti-evangel and according to Van Voorst is popular polemic
against Jesus "run wild". The Toldoth Yeshu are not part of rabbinic literature and are considered neither canonical nor normative. There is no one authoritative Toldoth Yeshu story; rather, various medieval versions existed that differ in attitudes towards the central characters and in story details. It is considered unlikely that any one person wrote it, and each version seems to be from a different set of storytellers. A very recent study reports that more than 100 manuscripts of the Toledot Yeshu exist, almost all of them late medieval (the oldest manuscript being from the 11th century) and containing some details in the text that seem to be late medieval or even early modern era.
As a generality, the Toledot is a hodgeprodge of anecdotes, disparaging of the traditional gospel stories about Jesus, gathered from widely divergent parts of the Talmud and Midrash. Some of these are clearly fictitious or absurd, and some seem incompatible with each other or with known historical fact. In some instances, the Talmudic source is or was very obscure, and frequently is told about an anonymous person and does not mention Jesus, as the "nativity" account in chapter 1 of the Strassburg version of the Toledot is derived from Kallah, a purported Talmudic tractate so obscure and whose provenance is so uncertain that it did not appear in print until 1864. In some instances, the Toledot anecdote references some bit of early Christian lore other than the canonical New Testament, e.g. a story about the bad temper of young Jesus (in the Huldreich version) vaguely resembles (in tone, not narrative) some stories in apocryphal infancy gospels of, circa, 4th - 6th centuries. More to the point, the Strassburg version of Toledot contains a story that, using magic, Yeshu made clay birds come to life and fly, this closely resembles a non-canonical story about the young Jesus contained in the same non-canonical infancy gospels. Further, there are references to Christian festivals and observances that, in some instances, only make sense after the 4th century. Significantly, the Toledot seems to know (sometimes only superficially) of the miracles of the canonical Gospels and does not deny their occurrence, but instead attributes them to Yeshu's use either of Egyptian magic or a misuse of the secret Divine Name - but not to diabolical influences. "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."
The literary origins of Toledot Yeshu cannot be traced with any certainty and are unlikely to be before the 4th century, far too late to include authentic remembrances of Jesus. Some suppose that the source material is no earlier than the 6th century, and the compilation no earlier than the 9th century. Although the individual anecdotes that make up the Toledot Yeshu may all come from sources dating before the sixth century, there is no evidence that their gathering into a single narrative is that early; the earliest known mention of a distinct (but unnamed) compilation is an oblique mention by Agobard, Archbishop of Lyon, circa. 826, and then another mention by his successor, Amulo, circa 849.
(4th century at the earliest or in or around the 6th century) or the Early Middle Ages
. The books were widely circulated in Europe
and the Middle East
from the 9th century; Agobard
, archbishop of Lyons, attests to the existence of such a book in 826 in De Iudaicis Superstitionibus.
Originally in Aramaic, there are recension
s extant in Hebrew, and later versions in Judeo-Persian and Arabic as well as Yiddish and Ladino (Judeo-Spanish).
Some scholars, such as Rubenstein (2010) favour a late composition date, after the Babylonian Talmud.
Celsus
, the second-century Greek philosopher, also maintained that the true father of Jesus was a soldier by the name of Pantera
.
. As a demonstration of a vicious cycle, anti-semitic polemicists from the 9th through 20th centuries have used these texts to inflame Christian hostility towards Jews. Martin Luther
quoted the Toledot (evidently the Strassburg version) at length in his general condemnation of Jews in his book Von Schem Hamporas in 1543. It should not be a surprise that one of the versions circulated among Jews had this cautionary note in its introduction, "[This booklet] should be shown only to people of discretion, for one never knows what the morrow may bring. ... I copied it from three different pamphlets from three different countries, not just one, The contents of all these pamphlets were identical, except that I wrote it in the language of prudence [- namely, Hebrew, because Gentiles do not understand it]...."
In 1405, Toledot Yeshu was banned by Church authorities. A book under this title was strongly condemned by Francesc Eiximenis
(d. 1409) in his Vita Christi.. But in 1614 it was largely reprinted by a Jewish apostate, Samuel Friedrich Brenz, in Nuremberg, as part of his book vilifying his former religion, titled "Skin Shed by the Jewish Snake".
by Ramón Martí
, a Dominican
friar
, toward the end of the 13th century.
and his attempts to keep Christians obeying Jewish custom, and the story of Simeon Kepha who is construed to be the Apostle Peter or Paul.
Wagenseil's version is derivative in character, making heavy use of the canonical gospels, Acts
, and the Hebrew Bible
. Some items about Jesus are adaptations from references to him in the Talmud
. Jesus is portrayed as a seducer and a heretic
, showing a connection to the traditions in Celsus
, and has correspondence to Justin Martyr
's Dialogue with Trypho
(17, 108) where Jesus is a deceiver, crucified by the Jews, whose disciple
s stole his body and deceived others by proclaiming his resurrection
. Derivations from the Talmud appear to be popular adaptions – polemic material aimed at two Christian doctrines, the virgin birth and the ascension.
Concurrences with the gospel accounts include: his being the offspring of Joseph
and Mary; that he was born in Bethlehem
; that he was bold toward the Jewish elders; that he could perform miracles (here made out to be sorcery); that he pretended to be born of a virgin; that he claimed to be the Son of God; that he applied Isaiah 7:14
to himself; that he raised the dead; that he healed a leper; that Jews fell down and worshipped him; that he entered Jerusalem upon an ass; that he applied to himself Zacharias
9:9; that he charged the Jews with being stiff-necked people; that he applied to himself the 2nd and 110th Psalms
; that he walked on water; that he was betrayed by Judas
; that he was scourged, crowned with thorns, and given vinegar to drink; that he was put to death on the Passover
and buried before the Sabbath
began; and that his twelve apostles spread a story of his resurrection.
, Joseph Pandera, lived near a widow who had a daughter called Miriam. This virgin was betrothed to Yohanan, a Torah-learned and God-fearing man of the house of David
. Before the end of a certain Sabbath
, Joseph looked lustfully at Miriam, knocked on her door and pretended to be her husband, but she only submitted against her will. When Yohanan came later to see her, she was surprised how strange his behavior was. Thus they both knew of Pandera’s crime and Miriam’s fault. Without witnesses to punish Pandera, Yohanan left for Babylonia.
Miriam gave birth to Yehoshua
, whose name later depreciated to Yeshu
. When old enough, she took him to study the Jewish tradition. One day he walked with his head uncovered, showing disrespect, in front of the sages. This betrayed his illegitimacy and Miriam admitted him as Pandera’s son. Scandalised, he fled to Upper Galilee
.
Yeshu later went to the Jerusalem Temple
and learned the letters of God’s ineffable name (one could do anything desired by them). He gathered 310 young men and proclaimed himself the Messiah
, claiming Isaiah
’s “a virgin shall conceive and bear a son” and other prophets prophesied about him. Using God’s name he healed a lame man, they worshipped him as the Messiah. The Sanhedrin
decided to arrest him, and sent messengers to invite him to Jerusalem. They pretended to be his disciples to trick him.
Bound before Queen Helen, the sages accused him of sorcery
. When he brought a corpse to life, she released him.
Accused again, the queen sent for his arrest. He asked his disciples not to resist. Using God’s name he made birds of clay and caused them to fly. The sages then got Judah Iskarioto
to learn the name. At a contest of miracles between the two, they both lost knowledge of the name.
Yeshu was arrested and beaten with pomegranate staves. He was taken to Tiberias and bound to a synagogue pillar. Vinegar was given to him to drink and a crown of thorns
was put on his head. An argument broke out between the elders and Yeshu followers resulting in their escape to Antioch
(or Egypt). On the day before the Passover
, Yeshu decided to go to the Temple and recover the secret name. He entered Jerusalem riding on an ass, but one of his followers, Judah Iskarioto, told the sages he was in the Temple. On a day before the Passover, they tried to hang him on a tree; using the name he caused it, and any tree they should use, to break. A cabbage stalk, being not a tree, was used successfully to hang him on, and he was buried.
His followers on Sunday told the queen that he was not in his grave, that he ascended to heaven as he had prophesied. As a gardener took him from the grave, they searched it and could not find him. But the gardener confessed he had taken it to prevent his followers from stealing his body and claiming his ascension to heaven. Recovering the body, the sages tied it to horse tail and took it to the queen. Convinced he was a false prophet, she ridiculed his followers and commended the sages.
with teachers. The miracle working powers of Jesus are attributed to having stolen the Name of God
from the Temple
. Jesus claims messianic dignity and is accused of sorcery
by the Jews in front of Queen Helena of Jerusalem
, but Jesus raises a man from the dead in front of the Queen's eyes and is released. Jesus goes to Galilee
where he brings clay birds to life and makes a millstone float. (Klausner notes that the Toledot scarcely ever denies Gospel miracles, but merely changes good to evil.) Judas Iscariot
, the hero of the tale, learns the Divine Name as well, and Jesus and Judas fly through the sky engaged in aerial combat, with Judas victorious. The now powerless Jesus is arrested and put to death by being hung upon a carob tree, and buried. The body is taken away and his ascension is claimed by his apostles on the basis of the empty tomb. But Jesus's body is found hidden in a garden and is dragged back to Jerusalem and shown to Queen Helena.
reprinted a version recounting that Miriam
had been betrothed to a nobleman by the name of Yochanan, who was both a descendant of the House of David
, and a God-fearing Torah
scholar. In Yochanan's absence her neighbor, Yosef ben Pandera forced his way upon her, coercing her into an act of sexual intercourse
during her Niddah
(i.e., menstruation, a period of ritual impurity during which relations are forbidden according to Jewish Law). The fruit of the affair was a son she named Yeshu, "the bastard son of a menstruate woman."
Krauss's book, Das Leben Jesu nach juedischen Quellen, published in Berlin in 1902, contained a study of nine different versions of the Toledot, and remains the leading scholarly work in the field (but has not yet been translated into English).
According to Alan Humm: "There is no scholarly consensus on to what extent the text might be a direct parody of a now lost gospel. H.J. Schonfield argued that it was so closely connected to the Gospel of the Hebrews
that he attempted to reconstruct that lost work from the Toledoth."
In 1874, Sabine Baring-Gould
published The Lost and Hostile Gospels, which included lengthy summaries of two versions of the Toledoth Jeschu - the Wagenseil and one called the Huldreich (so named from the editor of a 1705 Latin edition and with differences from other versions) - as well as quotations and descriptions of apocryphal and lost gospels of early Christian history. He evidently regarded the Toledoth as representing early anti-Christian folklore, largely motivated by the oppression suffered by Jews. In 1903, G.R.S. Mead, a well known Theosophist, published Did Jesus Live 100 BC?, which treated the Toledoth Yeshu as sufficiently authentic and reliable to postulate, on the basis of its mention of historic figures such as Queen Helene, that Jesus actually lived a century earlier than commonly believed. In 1937, the Jewish New Testament scholar, Hugh J. Schonfield
, published According to the Hebrews, which theorized that the Toledoth was considerably more ancient than commonly thought and may have constituted the "Gospel of the Hebrews", a lost (and presumably heretical) book mentioned by name, but not otherwise described, in some early Christian literature. These books provided translations of the Toledoth - Mead including some indelicate verses omitted by Schonfield, and Schonfield identifying Talmudic and Islamic passages that may have supplied the content of the Toledoth.
Scholarly consensus, according to van Voorst, dismisses it as an unreliable source for the historical Jesus
: "It may contain a few older traditions from ancient Jewish polemics against Christians, but we learn nothing new or significant from it". Scholars, however, still look for reliable traditions on Jesus in it. Jane Schaberg
contends it lends weight to the theory that Mary conceived Jesus
as the result of being rape
d.
The works bear striking resemblance to Christian legends regarding Simon Magus
, and to 12th century Christian portrayals of Muhammad
.
by Robert Browning
.
Judaism's view of Jesus
Jews have traditionally seen Jesus as one of a number of false messiahs who have appeared throughout history. Jesus is viewed as having been the most influential, and consequently the most damaging, of all false messiahs...
. The book concerns Yeshu
Yeshu
Yeshu is the name of an individual or individuals mentioned in Rabbinic literature. The oldest works in which references to Yeshu occur are the Tosefta and the Talmud, although some scholars consider the references to Yeshu to be post-Talmudic additions....
, son of Joseph and Mary, born in Bethlehem, but also makes this Yeshu a contemporary of Queen Salome Alexandra
Salome Alexandra
Salome Alexandra or Alexandra of Jerusalem , was the only Jewish regnant queen, with the exception of her own husband's mother whom he had prevented from ruling as his dying father had wished, and of the much earlier usurper Athaliah...
(139–67 BCE). The work deliberately attacks and parodies the Christian Gospels and refers to Jesus as the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier
Tiberius Iulius Abdes Pantera
Tiberius Iulius Abdes Pantera was a Roman solder whose tombstone was found in Bingerbrück, Germany in 1859.Historically, the name Pantera is not an unusual name and had been in use among Roman soldiers in the second century....
, devoted to magic powers
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
, a seducer, heretic
Heresy in Judaism
Jewish heretics who are Jewish individuals whose works have, in part or in whole, been condemned as heretical by significant persons or groups in the larger Jewish community based on the classical teachings of Judaism and derived from Halakha -Minim:Hilchot Teshuva Chapter 3 Halacha 7 Five peoples...
and the victim of a shameful death. It has been called the counter-gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
, anti-gospel, and anti-evangel and according to Van Voorst is popular polemic
Polemic
A polemic is a variety of arguments or controversies made against one opinion, doctrine, or person. Other variations of argument are debate and discussion...
against Jesus "run wild". The Toldoth Yeshu are not part of rabbinic literature and are considered neither canonical nor normative. There is no one authoritative Toldoth Yeshu story; rather, various medieval versions existed that differ in attitudes towards the central characters and in story details. It is considered unlikely that any one person wrote it, and each version seems to be from a different set of storytellers. A very recent study reports that more than 100 manuscripts of the Toledot Yeshu exist, almost all of them late medieval (the oldest manuscript being from the 11th century) and containing some details in the text that seem to be late medieval or even early modern era.
As a generality, the Toledot is a hodgeprodge of anecdotes, disparaging of the traditional gospel stories about Jesus, gathered from widely divergent parts of the Talmud and Midrash. Some of these are clearly fictitious or absurd, and some seem incompatible with each other or with known historical fact. In some instances, the Talmudic source is or was very obscure, and frequently is told about an anonymous person and does not mention Jesus, as the "nativity" account in chapter 1 of the Strassburg version of the Toledot is derived from Kallah, a purported Talmudic tractate so obscure and whose provenance is so uncertain that it did not appear in print until 1864. In some instances, the Toledot anecdote references some bit of early Christian lore other than the canonical New Testament, e.g. a story about the bad temper of young Jesus (in the Huldreich version) vaguely resembles (in tone, not narrative) some stories in apocryphal infancy gospels of, circa, 4th - 6th centuries. More to the point, the Strassburg version of Toledot contains a story that, using magic, Yeshu made clay birds come to life and fly, this closely resembles a non-canonical story about the young Jesus contained in the same non-canonical infancy gospels. Further, there are references to Christian festivals and observances that, in some instances, only make sense after the 4th century. Significantly, the Toledot seems to know (sometimes only superficially) of the miracles of the canonical Gospels and does not deny their occurrence, but instead attributes them to Yeshu's use either of Egyptian magic or a misuse of the secret Divine Name - but not to diabolical influences. "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."
The literary origins of Toledot Yeshu cannot be traced with any certainty and are unlikely to be before the 4th century, far too late to include authentic remembrances of Jesus. Some suppose that the source material is no earlier than the 6th century, and the compilation no earlier than the 9th century. Although the individual anecdotes that make up the Toledot Yeshu may all come from sources dating before the sixth century, there is no evidence that their gathering into a single narrative is that early; the earliest known mention of a distinct (but unnamed) compilation is an oblique mention by Agobard, Archbishop of Lyon, circa. 826, and then another mention by his successor, Amulo, circa 849.
Composition and dating
The materials contained in the books circulated orally (difficult to trace, but perhaps no earlier than the 2nd century) coalescing into book form in Late AntiquityLate Antiquity
Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...
(4th century at the earliest or in or around the 6th century) or the Early Middle Ages
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
. The books were widely circulated in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
from the 9th century; Agobard
Agobard
Agobard of Lyon was a Spanish-born priest and archbishop of Lyon, during the Carolingian Renaissance. The author of multiple treatises, ranging in subject matter from the iconoclast controversy to Spanish Adoptionism to critiques of the Carolingian royal family, Agobard is best known for his...
, archbishop of Lyons, attests to the existence of such a book in 826 in De Iudaicis Superstitionibus.
Originally in Aramaic, there are recension
Recension
Recension is the practice of editing or revising a text based on critical analysis. When referring to manuscripts, this may be a revision by another author...
s extant in Hebrew, and later versions in Judeo-Persian and Arabic as well as Yiddish and Ladino (Judeo-Spanish).
Some scholars, such as Rubenstein (2010) favour a late composition date, after the Babylonian Talmud.
Celsus
Celsus
Celsus was a 2nd century Greek philosopher and opponent of Early Christianity. He is known for his literary work, The True Word , written about by Origen. This work, c. 177 is the earliest known comprehensive attack on Christianity.According to Origen, Celsus was the author of an...
, the second-century Greek philosopher, also maintained that the true father of Jesus was a soldier by the name of Pantera
Tiberius Iulius Abdes Pantera
Tiberius Iulius Abdes Pantera was a Roman solder whose tombstone was found in Bingerbrück, Germany in 1859.Historically, the name Pantera is not an unusual name and had been in use among Roman soldiers in the second century....
.
Christian response
Hostile Jewish portrayals of Christianity in the Toledot Yeshu have been explained as a reaction to Christian anti-JudaismAnti-Judaism
Religious antisemitism is a form of antisemitism, which is the prejudice against, or hostility toward, the Jewish people based on hostility to Judaism and to Jews as a religious group...
. As a demonstration of a vicious cycle, anti-semitic polemicists from the 9th through 20th centuries have used these texts to inflame Christian hostility towards Jews. Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
quoted the Toledot (evidently the Strassburg version) at length in his general condemnation of Jews in his book Von Schem Hamporas in 1543. It should not be a surprise that one of the versions circulated among Jews had this cautionary note in its introduction, "[This booklet] should be shown only to people of discretion, for one never knows what the morrow may bring. ... I copied it from three different pamphlets from three different countries, not just one, The contents of all these pamphlets were identical, except that I wrote it in the language of prudence [- namely, Hebrew, because Gentiles do not understand it]...."
In 1405, Toledot Yeshu was banned by Church authorities. A book under this title was strongly condemned by Francesc Eiximenis
Francesc Eiximenis
Francesc Eiximenis was a Franciscan Catalan writer that lived in the XIVth century Crown of Aragon. He was possibly one of the medieval Catalan writers that had more success, since his works were widely read, copied, published and translated. Therefore, it can be said tat both in the literary and...
(d. 1409) in his Vita Christi.. But in 1614 it was largely reprinted by a Jewish apostate, Samuel Friedrich Brenz, in Nuremberg, as part of his book vilifying his former religion, titled "Skin Shed by the Jewish Snake".
Ramón Martí version
Long unknown to Christians, it was first translated into LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
by Ramón Martí
Ramón Martí
Ramón Martí was a 13th century Catalan Dominican friar and theologian. He is remembered for his polemic work Pugio Fidei . In 1250 he was one of eight friars appointed to make a study of oriental languages with the purpose of carrying on a mission to Jews and Moors. He worked in Spain as a...
, a Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
friar
Friar
A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders.-Friars and monks:...
, toward the end of the 13th century.
Wagenseil version, 1681
Johann Christian Wagenseil (1633-1705), a professor at the University of Altdorf, and a fanatical hater of Jews, published his edition in 1681, with a Hebrew text of the Toledot Yeshu and a Latin translation, in a book titled "Satan's Flaming Arrow" (Tela Ignea Satanae). Johann Wagenseil's version is perhaps the most prominent. The first section provides a treatment of Jesus; later sections deal with the exploits of his apostles. Supplementary chapters tell of NestoriusNestorius
Nestorius was Archbishop of Constantinople from 10 April 428 to 22 June 431.Drawing on his studies at the School of Antioch, his teachings, which included a rejection of the long-used title of Theotokos for the Virgin Mary, brought him into conflict with other prominent churchmen of the time,...
and his attempts to keep Christians obeying Jewish custom, and the story of Simeon Kepha who is construed to be the Apostle Peter or Paul.
Wagenseil's version is derivative in character, making heavy use of the canonical gospels, Acts
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
, and the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
. Some items about Jesus are adaptations from references to him in the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
. Jesus is portrayed as a seducer and a heretic
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
, showing a connection to the traditions in Celsus
Celsus
Celsus was a 2nd century Greek philosopher and opponent of Early Christianity. He is known for his literary work, The True Word , written about by Origen. This work, c. 177 is the earliest known comprehensive attack on Christianity.According to Origen, Celsus was the author of an...
, and has correspondence to Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr, also known as just Saint Justin , was an early Christian apologist. Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and a dialogue survive. He is considered a saint by the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church....
's Dialogue with Trypho
Dialogue with Trypho
In the Dialogue with Trypho, Christian theologian Justin Martyr undertakes to show that Christianity is the new law for all men, and to prove from Scripture that Jesus is the Christ via a fictitious intellectual conversation between Justin and Trypho, a Jew...
(17, 108) where Jesus is a deceiver, crucified by the Jews, whose disciple
Disciple (Christianity)
In Christianity, the disciples were the students of Jesus during his ministry. While Jesus attracted a large following, the term disciple is commonly used to refer specifically to "the Twelve", an inner circle of men whose number perhaps represented the twelve tribes of Israel...
s stole his body and deceived others by proclaiming his resurrection
Resurrection
Resurrection refers to the literal coming back to life of the biologically dead. It is used both with respect to particular individuals or the belief in a General Resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The General Resurrection is featured prominently in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim...
. Derivations from the Talmud appear to be popular adaptions – polemic material aimed at two Christian doctrines, the virgin birth and the ascension.
Concurrences with the gospel accounts include: his being the offspring of Joseph
Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....
and Mary; that he was born in Bethlehem
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...
; that he was bold toward the Jewish elders; that he could perform miracles (here made out to be sorcery); that he pretended to be born of a virgin; that he claimed to be the Son of God; that he applied Isaiah 7:14
Isaiah 7:14
Isaiah 7:14 is a verse of the Book of Isaiah in which the prophet Isaiah, addressing king Ahaz of Judah , promises the king a sign that his oracle is a true one...
to himself; that he raised the dead; that he healed a leper; that Jews fell down and worshipped him; that he entered Jerusalem upon an ass; that he applied to himself Zacharias
Book of Zechariah
The Book of Zechariah is the penultimate book of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew and Christian Bible, attributed to the prophet Zechariah.-Historical context:...
9:9; that he charged the Jews with being stiff-necked people; that he applied to himself the 2nd and 110th Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
; that he walked on water; that he was betrayed by Judas
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...
; that he was scourged, crowned with thorns, and given vinegar to drink; that he was put to death on the Passover
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
and buried before the Sabbath
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
began; and that his twelve apostles spread a story of his resurrection.
Summary of Wagenseil version
A great misfortune struck Israel in the year 3651 (c. 90 BCE). A man of the tribe of JudahTribe of Judah
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Judah was one of the Tribes of Israel.Following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes after about 1200 BCE, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes....
, Joseph Pandera, lived near a widow who had a daughter called Miriam. This virgin was betrothed to Yohanan, a Torah-learned and God-fearing man of the house of David
David
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
. Before the end of a certain Sabbath
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
, Joseph looked lustfully at Miriam, knocked on her door and pretended to be her husband, but she only submitted against her will. When Yohanan came later to see her, she was surprised how strange his behavior was. Thus they both knew of Pandera’s crime and Miriam’s fault. Without witnesses to punish Pandera, Yohanan left for Babylonia.
Miriam gave birth to Yehoshua
Yeshua (name)
Yeshua, was a common alternative form of the name Joshua "Yehoshuah" in later books of the Hebrew Bible and among Jews of the Second Temple Period...
, whose name later depreciated to Yeshu
Yeshu
Yeshu is the name of an individual or individuals mentioned in Rabbinic literature. The oldest works in which references to Yeshu occur are the Tosefta and the Talmud, although some scholars consider the references to Yeshu to be post-Talmudic additions....
. When old enough, she took him to study the Jewish tradition. One day he walked with his head uncovered, showing disrespect, in front of the sages. This betrayed his illegitimacy and Miriam admitted him as Pandera’s son. Scandalised, he fled to Upper Galilee
Upper Galilee
The Upper Galilee is a geographical-political term in use since the end of the Second Temple period, originally referring to a mountainous area overlapping the present northern Israel and southern Lebanon, its borders being the Litani river in the north, the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the Beit...
.
Yeshu later went to the Jerusalem Temple
Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
and learned the letters of God’s ineffable name (one could do anything desired by them). He gathered 310 young men and proclaimed himself the Messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
, claiming Isaiah
Isaiah 7:14
Isaiah 7:14 is a verse of the Book of Isaiah in which the prophet Isaiah, addressing king Ahaz of Judah , promises the king a sign that his oracle is a true one...
’s “a virgin shall conceive and bear a son” and other prophets prophesied about him. Using God’s name he healed a lame man, they worshipped him as the Messiah. The Sanhedrin
Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Biblical Land of Israel.The Great Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel made of 71 members...
decided to arrest him, and sent messengers to invite him to Jerusalem. They pretended to be his disciples to trick him.
Bound before Queen Helen, the sages accused him of sorcery
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
. When he brought a corpse to life, she released him.
Accused again, the queen sent for his arrest. He asked his disciples not to resist. Using God’s name he made birds of clay and caused them to fly. The sages then got Judah Iskarioto
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...
to learn the name. At a contest of miracles between the two, they both lost knowledge of the name.
Yeshu was arrested and beaten with pomegranate staves. He was taken to Tiberias and bound to a synagogue pillar. Vinegar was given to him to drink and a crown of thorns
Crown of Thorns
In Christianity, the Crown of Thorns, one of the instruments of the Passion, was woven of thorn branches and placed on Jesus Christ before his crucifixion...
was put on his head. An argument broke out between the elders and Yeshu followers resulting in their escape to Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
(or Egypt). On the day before the Passover
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
, Yeshu decided to go to the Temple and recover the secret name. He entered Jerusalem riding on an ass, but one of his followers, Judah Iskarioto, told the sages he was in the Temple. On a day before the Passover, they tried to hang him on a tree; using the name he caused it, and any tree they should use, to break. A cabbage stalk, being not a tree, was used successfully to hang him on, and he was buried.
His followers on Sunday told the queen that he was not in his grave, that he ascended to heaven as he had prophesied. As a gardener took him from the grave, they searched it and could not find him. But the gardener confessed he had taken it to prevent his followers from stealing his body and claiming his ascension to heaven. Recovering the body, the sages tied it to horse tail and took it to the queen. Convinced he was a false prophet, she ridiculed his followers and commended the sages.
Strassburg Manuscript
In the Strassburg Manuscript, Mary was seduced by a soldier called Ben Pandera. The child Jesus shows great impudence by appearing bareheaded and disputing the LawTorah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
with teachers. The miracle working powers of Jesus are attributed to having stolen the Name of God
Names of God in Judaism
In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title; it represents the Jewish conception of the divine nature, and of the relationship of God to the Jewish people and to the world. To demonstrate the sacredness of the names of God, and as a means of showing respect and reverence for...
from the Temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
. Jesus claims messianic dignity and is accused of sorcery
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
by the Jews in front of Queen Helena of Jerusalem
Helena of Adiabene
Helena of Adiabene was queen of Adiabene and wife of Monobaz I. With her husband she was the mother of Izates II and Monobaz II. She died about 56 CE. Her name and the fact that she was her husband's sister indicate a Hellenistic origin...
, but Jesus raises a man from the dead in front of the Queen's eyes and is released. Jesus goes to Galilee
Galilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...
where he brings clay birds to life and makes a millstone float. (Klausner notes that the Toledot scarcely ever denies Gospel miracles, but merely changes good to evil.) Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...
, the hero of the tale, learns the Divine Name as well, and Jesus and Judas fly through the sky engaged in aerial combat, with Judas victorious. The now powerless Jesus is arrested and put to death by being hung upon a carob tree, and buried. The body is taken away and his ascension is claimed by his apostles on the basis of the empty tomb. But Jesus's body is found hidden in a garden and is dragged back to Jerusalem and shown to Queen Helena.
Huldreich version, 1705
A third major recension was published by Johann Jacob Huldreich (or Huldrich) in Leyden, Holland, in 1705, with a Latin translation, as Historia Jeschuae Nazareri by "Johannes Jocabus Huldricus". This was based on a Hebrew manuscript, now lost, and has its own unique variants. A summary of it is presented by Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lost and Hostile Gospels (1874, London) pages 102-115, who surmised (because of some of the errors and anecdotes) that it was of medieval German origin, perhaps not even predating Martin Luther (page 115).Krauss compilation, 1902
Samuel KraussSamuel Krauss
Samuel Krauss was professor at the Jewish Teachers' Seminary, Budapest, 1894–1906, and at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Vienna, 1906-1938. He came to England as a refugee and spent his last years at Cambridge.He was a contributor to the Jewish Encyclopedia as S...
reprinted a version recounting that Miriam
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
had been betrothed to a nobleman by the name of Yochanan, who was both a descendant of the House of David
Davidic line
The Davidic line refers to the tracing of lineage to the King David referred to in the Hebrew Bible, as well as the New Testament...
, and a God-fearing Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
scholar. In Yochanan's absence her neighbor, Yosef ben Pandera forced his way upon her, coercing her into an act of sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
during her Niddah
Niddah
Niddah is a Hebrew term describing a woman during menstruation, or a woman who has menstruated and not yet completed the associated requirement of immersion in a mikveh ....
(i.e., menstruation, a period of ritual impurity during which relations are forbidden according to Jewish Law). The fruit of the affair was a son she named Yeshu, "the bastard son of a menstruate woman."
Krauss's book, Das Leben Jesu nach juedischen Quellen, published in Berlin in 1902, contained a study of nine different versions of the Toledot, and remains the leading scholarly work in the field (but has not yet been translated into English).
Historicity
Due probably to its offensive nature both Jewish and Christian scholars have until recently paid little attention to it. 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." As Hugh J. Schonfield noted, "... only a very limited number of Jews set any store by it. By most it was even at this time regarded as a jest, a dubious after-dinner take for Christmas eve, and those who retailed its sordid details only faintly associated the principal character with the Jesus of the Christians."According to Alan Humm: "There is no scholarly consensus on to what extent the text might be a direct parody of a now lost gospel. H.J. Schonfield argued that it was so closely connected to the Gospel of the Hebrews
Gospel of the Hebrews
The Gospel of the Hebrews , commonly shortened from the Gospel according to the Hebrews or simply called the Hebrew Gospel, is a hypothesised lost gospel preserved in fragments within the writings of the Church Fathers....
that he attempted to reconstruct that lost work from the Toledoth."
In 1874, Sabine Baring-Gould
Sabine Baring-Gould
The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould was an English hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist and eclectic scholar. His bibliography consists of more than 1240 publications, though this list continues to grow. His family home, Lew Trenchard Manor near Okehampton, Devon, has been preserved as he had it...
published The Lost and Hostile Gospels, which included lengthy summaries of two versions of the Toledoth Jeschu - the Wagenseil and one called the Huldreich (so named from the editor of a 1705 Latin edition and with differences from other versions) - as well as quotations and descriptions of apocryphal and lost gospels of early Christian history. He evidently regarded the Toledoth as representing early anti-Christian folklore, largely motivated by the oppression suffered by Jews. In 1903, G.R.S. Mead, a well known Theosophist, published Did Jesus Live 100 BC?, which treated the Toledoth Yeshu as sufficiently authentic and reliable to postulate, on the basis of its mention of historic figures such as Queen Helene, that Jesus actually lived a century earlier than commonly believed. In 1937, the Jewish New Testament scholar, Hugh J. Schonfield
Hugh J. Schonfield
Hugh Joseph Schonfield was a British Bible scholar specializing in the New Testament and the early development of the Christian religion and church. He was born in London, and educated there at St Paul's School and King's College, doing postgraduate religious studies in Glasgow, Doctor of Sacred...
, published According to the Hebrews, which theorized that the Toledoth was considerably more ancient than commonly thought and may have constituted the "Gospel of the Hebrews", a lost (and presumably heretical) book mentioned by name, but not otherwise described, in some early Christian literature. These books provided translations of the Toledoth - Mead including some indelicate verses omitted by Schonfield, and Schonfield identifying Talmudic and Islamic passages that may have supplied the content of the Toledoth.
Scholarly consensus, according to van Voorst, dismisses it as an unreliable source for the historical Jesus
Historical Jesus
The term historical Jesus refers to scholarly reconstructions of the 1st-century figure Jesus of Nazareth. These reconstructions are based upon historical methods including critical analysis of gospel texts as the primary source for his biography, along with consideration of the historical and...
: "It may contain a few older traditions from ancient Jewish polemics against Christians, but we learn nothing new or significant from it". Scholars, however, still look for reliable traditions on Jesus in it. Jane Schaberg
Jane Schaberg
Jane D. Schaberg is a Professor of Religious Studies and Women's Studies at the University of Detroit Mercy. Schaberg earned a BA in Philosophy from Manhattanville College, an MA in Systematic theology from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from the Union Theological Seminary. She...
contends it lends weight to the theory that Mary conceived Jesus
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
as the result of being rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
d.
Parallels
Other Jewish polemic or apologetic sources:- Jesus in the TalmudJesus in the TalmudThe Talmud contains passages that some scholars have concluded are references to Christian traditions about Jesus.The history of textual transmission of these passages is complex and scholars are not agreed concerning which passages are original, and which were added later or removed later in...
- Sefer Nestor ha-KomerSefer Nestor ha-KomerSefer Nestor Ha-Komer or The Book of Nestor the Priest is the earliest surviving anti-Christian Jewish polemic. The book is in Hebrew, but also exists in an Arabic translation. It cites extensively and critically from New Testament and Church sources...
or The Book of Nestor the Priest c.600 CE - Milhamoth ha-ShemMilhamoth ha-ShemMilhamoth ha-Shem , "The Wars of the NAME", is the title of several Hebrew texts. Among these the most notable are:-Milhamoth ha-Shem of Salmon ben Jeroham, 10th C.:...
of Jacob Ben Reuben 12C - Sefer Nizzahon YashanSefer Nizzahon YashanSefer Nizzahon Yashan “The Book of Victory” is a 13th Century anonymous Jewish apologetic text. In medieval times this was known in Latin as the Nizzahon Vetus. A modern edition was published by Mordechai Breuer in 1978....
or Nizzahon vetus 13C - Sefer Joseph HamekaneSefer Joseph HamekaneSefer Joseph Hamekane the Book of Joseph the Official is a 13th C. Jewish apologetic text. The primary edition is by Judah Rosenthal...
of R. Joseph hen R. Nathan l'official 13C (Paris MS) - The Touchstone of Ibn ShaprutIbn ShaprutShem-Tob ben Isaac Shaprut of Tudela was a Spanish Jewish philosopher, physician, and polemicist. He is often confused with the physician Shem-Ṭob ben Isaac of Tortosa, who lived earlier...
- Hasdai CrescasHasdai CrescasHasdai ben Judah Crescas was a Jewish philosopher and a renowned halakhist...
- Leon Modena
The works bear striking resemblance to Christian legends regarding Simon Magus
Simon Magus
Simon the Sorcerer or Simon the Magician, in Latin Simon Magus, was a Samaritan magus or religious figure and a convert to Christianity, baptised by Philip the Apostle, whose later confrontation with Peter is recorded in . The sin of simony, or paying for position and influence in the church, is...
, and to 12th century Christian portrayals of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
.
Mentions in modern literature
The book is mentioned in the poem The Ring and the BookThe Ring and the Book
The Ring and the Book is a long dramatic narrative poem, and, more specifically, a verse novel, of 21,000 lines, written by Robert Browning...
by Robert Browning
Robert Browning
Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.-Early years:...
.
See also
- Apocalypse of ZerubbabelApocalypse of ZerubbabelSefer Zerubbabel is a medieval Hebrew apocalypse written at the beginning of the 7th century in the style of biblical visions placed into the mouth of Zerubbabel, the last descendant of the Davidic line to take a prominent part in Israel's history, who laid the foundation of the Second Temple in...
- Gospel of BarnabasGospel of BarnabasThe Gospel of Barnabas is a book depicting the life of Jesus, and claiming to be by Jesus' disciple Barnabas, who in this work is one of the twelve apostles...
- Marcello CraveriMarcello CraveriMarcello Craveri was an Italian biblical scholar. Born in Turin, he earned his doctorate in 1940 and then saw military service.His most widely read work probably is The Life of Jesus published in 1966, and in paperback English translation in 1967...
author of the similarly titled The Life of Jesus
Further reading
- Sefer Toledot Yeshu: sive Liber de ortu et origine Jesu ex editione wagenseiliana transcriptus et explicatus (Sefer Toledot Yeshu: or The Book of the rising and origin of Jesus from the Wagenseiliana edition: Transcription and Explanation)
- http://books.google.com/books?id=Vxs3AAAAMAAJ&oe=UTF-8 Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lost and Hostile Gospels (1874, London), a study of the Toledot with summaries of both the Wagenseil and Huldreich versions.
- http://www.archive.org/details/daslebenjesunac00kraugoog Samuel Krauss, Das Leben Jesu nach juedischen Quellen (1902, Berlin; reprinted by Hildesheim, 1977 & 1994), the most thorough study, of nine versions of the Toledoth (in Hebrew and German).
- Toledoth Yeshu, English translation
- http://www.archive.org/details/didjesuslive100b00meaduoft G.R.S. Mead, Did Jesus Live 100 BC? (1903, London)
- http://www.ftarchives.net/foote/toldoth/tjtitle.htm G.W. FooteGeorge William FooteGeorge William Foote was a British secularist and journal editor.He was born in Plymouth, England and brought up in the Anglican tradition...
& J.M. Wheeler, The Jewish Life of Christ being the Sepher Toldoth Jeshu (1885, London), an English translation of the Toledot, of unknown provenance, with an introduction and notes of Freethinker inclination - "We venture to think that the Christian legend of Jesus may have originated with the Jewish story of Jeshu." This 1885 booklet was retyped (badly, with many proper names uncapitalized) and reprinted, with an introduction by Madalyn Murray O'Hair, by the American Atheist Press, Austin, Texas, in 1982.