15 The use of a dream to ameliorate an event that seems to counter reason is a tactic that Soloveitchik imports from Maimonides’ reading of the three angels who approach Abraham’s tent to tell him of the impending pregnancy of Sarah (Genesis 18:1–15). Maimonides is dealing with the problems of Abraham seeing angels in a wakened state and thus suggests that the entire story is a dream that Abraham had (seeing angels in a dream is not a problem for Maimonides). Soloveitchik uses this dream interpretation to steer away from the Christian idea of virgin birth and from the Jewish critique of virgin birth. See Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed I:43, on angels that are disembodied creatures; and II:42, for the story of the angels and Abraham as a dream. In Jesus in the Talmud, 20–22, Schäfer argues that the Jewish story of Jesus’ birth in BT Sanhedrin 104b (he uses the Munich 95 manuscript written in Paris in 1342) is an intentional counternarrative to the Gospel story in order to subvert any claim of Davidic lineage to Jesus as well as invalidate his miraculous birth. This Talmudic rendition made its way to the anonymous medieval Toledot Yeshu and subsequently became standard fare in traditional Jewish circles until the nineteenth century.
CHAPTER 2
1 In the days of King Hordos, when Yeshua was born in Beit-Leḥem of Yehudah, magi came from the land of the east to Yerushalayim.16
In the days of King Hordos—that is, Herod I (aka Herod the Great). Honored reader, this ancient baseless hatred has been glowing in the hearts of our Christian brothers against our Jewish brothers for over 1,800 years. They said that our fathers struck down their messiah for no wrong that he committed and that we must suffer for the wickedness of our fathers, and they seek his blood from our hands. Until now, their fury has not been appeased, as we saw with the events in Romania, and they deem it a mitzvah to seek vengeance for his blood from the hands of their Jewish brothers.
Even among our Jewish brothers who lack understanding and who suppose that Yeshua of Nazareth is the cause of the evil that happens to them, some accuse their Christian brothers and their messiah; and the fire of the controversy continues to grow.17 Therefore, I saw it as incumbent upon myself to show everyone that it was not the hand of the Jews that put him to death, and I will show that both our Jewish and Christian brothers are mistaken in their understanding of this.18 And even if one can find something in the Talmud against Yeshua, this is not the Yeshua that our Christian brothers hold on to as Messiah, for he was a different Yeshua, and they did not live in the same time period, which I will show using reliable historical writings.19
In the book Universal History, which was printed in London in 1754, in chapter 10, page 675, it is written that the Temple was destroyed seventy years after the birth of Yeshua of Nazareth; and in the same place, it says that Yeshua was killed when he was thirty-three years old. This means that he died thirty-seven years before the destruction of the Temple.20
Now let us search through the Talmud in all the sources that mention Yeshua of Nazareth, and we shall see that nothing evil is spoken against Yeshua (the one called “Messiah”) at all, although we do not deny that there was a dispute between the two sects—between the Pharisees and Essenes. The sages of the Talmud were Pharisees, and Yeshua and all those who accompanied him were from the Essene sect, as we will clarify later.21 But every dispute about Yeshua that we find only concerns how man should conduct himself in accordance with the Torah, in order that he may be able to walk on the path of life, worshiping YHWH who is one, as will be explained.
In BT Sanhedrin 107b, it is said that there are three things that the left hand pushes away and the right hand brings near (see also BT Soṭah 47a). One of the three is a child his father, or a student his rabbi. The meaning is that he will not push away his son with both hands, nor will a rabbi push his student away with both hands:
And not like Yehoshua ben Perachyah, who pushed Yeshua of Nazareth away with both hands. And what did Yehoshua ben Perachyah do? When King Yannai killed all the sages, the sister of Shimon ben Shetach hid him. She was the wife of King Yannai. Then Yehoshua ben Perachyah fled to Alexandria, Egypt, with his disciple Yeshua. When there was peace and the persecutions stopped, he got up and left. He came across an inn, and there they gave him great honor. He said: “How lovely is our hostess!” He [Yeshua] said to him: “Rabbi, her eyes are dim.” Rabbi Yehoshua said to him: “Wicked one, this is what you concern yourself with?!” [meaning, you observe the eyes of the hostess who is the wife of another man?!] He brought out four hundred shofars and excommunicated him. Yeshua came before Rabbi Yehoshua many times and said: “Receive me in repentance!” But he did not receive him. One day, Yeshua came before Rabbi Yehoshua and he decided to receive him back. Rabbi Yehoshua was reciting the Shema, so he signaled him with his hand, but Yeshua thought that he was pushing him away. Yeshua went and bowed down to the moon. Rabbi Yehoshua said: “Repent!” Yeshua said to him: “This is what I have learned from you: anyone who sins or causes many to sin is not able to repent.” A sage said: “Yeshua practiced magic and caused Israel to sin.” Afterward, they judged him and stoned him.22
Those who lack knowledge from among our brothers, the children of Israel, and our Christian brothers, think that this is the same Yeshua that they call “Messiah.” Honored reader, please see just how mistaken they are in their understanding! In Pirkei Avot, chapter 1, the order of the leaders of the Sanhedrin is listed. After Yehoshua ben Perachyah came Yehudah ben Tabbai; after that, Shemayah and Avtalyon; after them, Hillel the Prince. We find that from Yehoshua ben Perachyah to Hillel is four generations. And it is said in BT Shabbat 15a: “Hillel, Shimon, Gamliel, and Shimon led the Sanhedrin 100 years before the destruction of the Temple.” Therefore, from Yehoshua ben Perachyah to Hillel was four generations, and a hundred years from Hillel to the destruction of the Temple. Yeshua (the one they call “Messiah”), however, was born seventy years, and was killed thirty-seven years, before the destruction of the Temple. Thus, the mistake can be seen, and the hatred between Jews and Christians is baseless hatred (sin’at ḥinam).
In BT Shabbat 104b, it is said:
He who scratches a mark on his flesh (on Shabbat)—Rabbi Eliezer required a sin offering and the sages dismissed it…. Rabbi Eliezer said to the sages: “Did not Ben Stada bring sorcery from Egypt through scratching his flesh [meaning: we see that scratching is considered writing].” They said to him: “He was a fool, and fools cannot be as proof.” The Gemara argues: “Ben Stada [i.e., son of Stada]? He is the son of Pandira!” [meaning: how can you say that he is the son of Stada?] Rav Ḥisda said: “The husband was Stada; the lover was Pandira.” The Gemara argues again: “The husband was Pappos ben Yehudah! [meaning: how can you say that the husband was Stada?] Rather, his mother was Stada” [meaning: he is called son of Stada because his mother was called Stada]. The Gemara continues to argue: “His mother was Miriam the hairdresser! And as they say in Pumbedita, that woman turned away from her husband.”
We find that the mother of Ben Stada was Miriam, and her husband was Pappos ben Yehudah, and her lover was Pandira. Her son was a bastard, and therefore they called his mother Stada because she was a harlot. From this section in the Gemara, those who lack knowledge from among both our Jewish and Christian brothers conclude that this speaks about Yeshua, who is called “Messiah.” Therefore, the Christians think badly of their Jewish brothers and speak against the Gemara without limit.23
See, honored reader, how misguided they are in their understanding. How can it be possible that the one called Ben Stada was the same man as Yeshua, their messiah? For his mother’s husband was Pappos ben Yehudah, and Pappos was imprisoned with Rabbi Akiva, just as we find in BT Berakhot 61b:
It was only a few days later that Rabbi Akiva was arrested and put in jail. Pappos ben Yehudah was also arrested and imprisoned with him. Rabbi Akiva said to him: “Pappos, who brought you here?” He answered: “Happy are you, Rabbi Akiva, for having been arrested for studying Torah (for it was against the law to study the Torah, but Rabbi Akiva still studied it); woe to Pappos, who was arrested for idle matters.”24