Individual(s) mentioned in rabbinic literature in reference to Jesus of Nazareth
This article is about an individual or individuals found in Jewish literature. For the similar-sounding Hebrew or Aramaic name, see Yeshua (name). For references to Jesus of Nazareth in the Talmud, see Jesus in the Talmud.
Yeshu (Hebrew: יֵשׁוּ Yēšū) is the name of an individual or individuals mentioned in rabbinic literature,[1] thought by some to refer to Jesus when used in the Talmud. The name Yeshu is also used in other sources before and after the completion of the Babylonian Talmud. It is also the modern Israeli spelling of Jesus.
The identification of Jesus with any number of individuals named Yeshu has numerous problems, as most of the individuals are said to have lived in time periods far detached from that of Jesus;
Yeshu the sorcerer is noted for being executed by the Hasmonean government which lost legal authority in 63 BC, Yeshu the student is described being among the Pharisees who returned to Israel from Egypt in 74 BC, and Yeshu ben Pandera/ben Stada's stepfather is noted as speaking with Rabbi Akiva shortly before the rabbi's execution, an event which occurred in c. 134 AD. During the Middle Ages, Ashkenazi Jewish authorities were forced to interpret these passages in relation to the Christian beliefs about Jesus of Nazareth. As historian David Berger observed,
Whatever one thinks of the number of Jesuses in antiquity, no one can question the multiplicity of Jesuses in Medieval Jewish polemic. Many Jews with no interest at all in history were forced to confront a historical/biographical question that bedevils historians to this day.[2]: 36
However, a probable answer is that rabbinic literature is often not literal but allegorical, thus stories can be made up to conjure a deeper meaning or a secret message that requires insider knowledge to fully understand.[3]
In 1240, Nicholas Donin, with the support of Pope Gregory IX, referred to Yeshu narratives to support his accusation that the Jewish community had attacked the virginity of Mary and the divinity of Jesus. In the Disputation of Paris, Yechiel of Paris conceded that one of the Yeshu stories in the Talmud referred to Jesus of Nazareth, but that the other passages referred to other people. In 1372, John of Valladolid, with the support of the Archbishop of Toledo, made a similar accusation against the Jewish community; Moses ha-Kohen de Tordesillas argued that the Yeshu narratives referred to different people and could not have referred to Jesus of Nazareth.[4][2] Asher ben Jehiel also asserted that the Yeshu of the Talmud is unrelated to the Christian Jesus.[5]
There are some modern scholars who understand these passages to be references to Christianity and the Christian figure of Jesus,[6] and others who see references to Jesus only in later rabbinic literature.[4][7] Johann Maier argued that neither the Mishnah nor the two Talmuds refer to Jesus.[8]
^Cite error: The named reference individuals was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abBerger, David (1998). "On the Uses of History in Medieval Jewish Polemic against Christianity: The Quest for the Historical Jesus". In Carlebach, Elishiva; Efron, John M.; Myers, David N. (eds.). Jewish History and Jewish Memory: Essays in Honor of Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi (Google Books preview). The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry. Vol. 29. Hanover, NH: Brandeis University Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-87451-871-9. LCCN 98-14431. OCLC 44965639. It is well known that when R. Yehiel of Paris was confronted in 1240 with the argument that the Talmud should be banned partly because of blasphemies against Jesus, he maintained that the Jesus of the Talmud and the Jesus of the Christians are two different people.…Whatever one thinks of the sincerity of the multiple Jesus theory, R. Yehiel found a way to neutralize some dangerous rabbinic statements, and yet the essential Ashkenazic evaluation of Jesus remains even in the text of this disputation.…In the fourteenth century, Moses ha-Kohen de Tordesillas made much stronger use of the theory of two Jesuses in defending Judaism and the Talmud against renewed attack.
^Kister, Menahem (1991). Allegorical Interpretations of Biblical Narratives in Rabbinic Literature, Philo and Origen: Some Case Studies. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
^ abTheissen, Gerd; Merz, Annette (1998). The Historical Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress. pp. 74–76. ISBN 978-0-8006-3122-2. LCCN 98016181. OCLC 38590348.
^Tosafot HaRosh (Sotah 47a)
^Robert E. Van Voorst. Jesus outside the New Testament. 2000 ISBN 978-0-8028-4368-5. p. 124. "This is likely an inference from the Talmud and other Jewish usage, where Jesus is called Yeshu, and other Jews with the same name are called by the fuller name Yehoshua, "Joshua""
^Meier (1991), p. 98.
^Johann Maier, Jesus von Nazareth in der talmudischen Uberlieferung (Ertrage der Forschung 82; Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1978)
Yeshu (Hebrew: יֵשׁוּ Yēšū) is the name of an individual or individuals mentioned in rabbinic literature, thought by some to refer to Jesus when used...
Sefer Toledot Yeshu (ספר תולדות ישו, The Book of the Generations/History/Life of Jesus), often abbreviated as Toledot Yeshu, is a medieval text which...
before, the consonant shin (ש). It also differs from the Hebrew spelling Yeshu (ישו) which is found in Ben-Yehuda Dictionary and used in most secular contexts...
some scholars to be references to Jesus. The name used in the Talmud is "Yeshu", the Aramaic vocalization (although not spelling) of the Hebrew name Yeshua...
version). In the Toledot Yeshu the name of Yeshu is taken to mean yimakh shemo. In all cases of its use, the references to Yeshu are associated with acts...
assumed the Yeshu of the Talmud was born after 103 BC but before 88 BC. Hagigah 2:2 also depicts Yeshu similarly, while also claiming that Yeshu became an...
Bajirao in the drama Peshwa Bajirao and King Antipas in television series Yeshu. In 2015, he appeared in the Bollywood film Bajirao Mastani featuring Ranveer...
formation of the canonical narratives themselves. The Toledot Yeshu claims that Yeshu had entered the Temple with 310 of his followers. That Christ's...
medieval Jewish writings and sayings reinforced this notion, referring to "Yeshu ben Pantera", which translates as "Jesus, son of Pantera". Tabor's hypothesis...
Ishoʿ (īšōʕ), a cognate of the Hebrew term Yeshu, is the Eastern Syriac pronunciation of the Aramaic form of the name of Jesus. It is still commonly used...
Mor Julius Yeshu Cicek (born Julius Yeshu Çiçek; Turkish: Yulyus Yeşu Çiçek, born 1 January 1942 in Kafro `Elayto, Tur Abdin, Turkey – died 29 October...
جے مسیح کی, translation: Victory to Christ or Praise the Messiah) or Jai Yeshu Ki (Hindi: जय येशु की, Urdu: جے یسوع کی, translation: Victory to Jesus or...
written and compiled from the 3rd to the 5th century AD. In one such story, Yeshu HaNozri ("Jesus the Nazarene"), a lewd apostate, is executed by the Jewish...
another tradition he is also the teacher of Yeshu (in uncensored manuscripts of the Talmud), where he and Yeshu flee to Egypt. In other manuscripts his student...
sound sh, but substituted s, and rejected the Semitic evanescent gutturals, Yēshū(ā) became Yēsū' (Ἰησοῦ), in the nominative case Yēsū'∙s (Ἰησοῦς). In Latin...
Dionysius VII ʿAngur (1252–1261) John XIII bar Ma'dani (1252–1263) Ignatius IV Yeshu (1264–1282/1283) Philoxenus I Nemrud (1283–1292) On the death of Patriarch...
Metropolitan Mor Athanasius Yeshue Samuel (Arabic: صموئيل، أثناسيوس يشوع; 1909–1995), more often referred to as Mor Samuel, was a The First Metropolitan...
the Torah continued to retain currency. In the Teliya Yeshu, the name Belial is given to Yeshu, the son of Miriam Magdala, also called Ben Stada and Ben...
Galatians 3:13) is found in the Babylonian Talmud: On the eve of the Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went...
Talmud. Onkelos raises up a spirit named Yeshu by necromancy, and asks him about his punishment in Gehinnom. Yeshu replies that he is in "boiling excrement...
John XII Yeshu was the Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1208 until his death in 1220. Yeshu, son of a priest called John...
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However, Toledot Yeshu is not considered either canonical or normative within rabbinic literature. Van Voorst states that Toledot Yeshu is a medieval document...