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Judaism generally views Jesus as one of a number of Jewish Messiah claimants who have appeared
throughout history.[1] Jesus is viewed as having been the most influential, and consequently the most
damaging, of all false messiahs.[2] However, since the mainstream Jewish belief is that the messiah has
not yet come and the Messianic Age is not yet present, the total rejection of Jesus as either messiah or
deity in Judaism has never been a central issue for Judaism.
Judaism has never accepted any of the claimed fulfillments of prophecy that Christianity attributes to
Jesus. Judaism also forbids the worship of a person as a form of idolatry, since the central belief of
Judaism is the absolute unity and singularity of God.[3][4] Jewish eschatology holds that the coming of
the Messiah will be associated with a specific series of events that have not yet occurred, including the
return of Jews to their homeland and the rebuilding of The Temple, a Messianic Age of peace[5] and
understanding during which "the knowledge of God" fills the earth,[6] and since Jews believe that none
of these events occurred during the lifetime of Jesus (nor have they occurred afterwards), he is not a
candidate for messiah.
Traditional views have been mostly negative, although in the Middle Ages Judah Halevi and
Maimonides viewed Jesus (like Muhammad) as an important preparatory figure for a future universal
ethical monotheism of the Messianic Age. Some modern Jewish thinkers have sympathetically
speculated that the historical Jesus may have been closer to Judaism than either the Gospels or
traditional Jewish accounts would indicate, starting in the 18th century with the Orthodox Jacob Emden
and the reformer Moses Mendelssohn, and this view, though rare in Orthodox Judaism, has become
relatively common in Progressive Judaism.
Contents
1 Background
2 Judaism's worldview and Jesus
2.1 Oneness and indivisibility of God
2.2 Judaism's view of the Messiah
2.3 Prophecy and Jesus
2.4 Jesus and salvation
3 Authoritative texts of Judaism that mention Jesus
3.1 The Talmud (ambiguous mentions)
3.1.1 References in Talmud
3.2 Maimonides
3.2.1 Mishneh Torah
3.2.2 Epistle to Yemen
3.3 Nahmanides' disputation at Barcelona
4 Positive historical reevaluations
5 See also
6 Notes and references
Background
The belief that Jesus is God, the Son of God, or a person of the
Trinity, is incompatible with Jewish theology. Jews believe Jesus
did not fulfill messianic prophecies that establish the criteria for
the coming of the messiah.[7] Authoritative texts of Judaism
reject Jesus as God, Divine Being, intermediary between humans
and God, messiah or saint. Belief in the Trinity is also held to be
incompatible with Judaism, as are a number of other tenets of
Christianity.
In his book A History of the Jews, Paul Johnson describes the schism between Jews and Christians
caused by a divergence from this principle:
To the question, Was Jesus God or man?, the Christians therefore answered: both. After 70
AD, their answer was unanimous and increasingly emphatic. This made a complete breach
with Judaism inevitable.[9]
Judaism teaches that it is heretical for any man to claim to be God, part of God, or the literal son of God.
The Jerusalem Talmud (Ta'anit 2:1) states explicitly: "if a man claims to be God, he is a liar."
In the 12th century, the preeminent Jewish scholar Maimonides codified core principles of Judaism,
writing "[God], the Cause of all, is one. This does not mean one as in one of a pair, nor one like a species
(which encompasses many individuals), nor one as in an object that is made up of many elements, nor as
a single simple object that is infinitely divisible. Rather, God is a unity unlike any other possible
unity."[10]
Some Jewish scholars note that the common poetic Jewish expression, "Our Father in Heaven", was used
literally by Jesus to refer to God as "his Father in Heaven" (cf. Lord's Prayer).[11]
Judaism's view of the Messiah differs substantially from the Christian idea of the Messiah. In the Jewish
account, the Messiah's task is to bring in the Messianic age, a one-time event, and a presumed messiah
who is killed before completing the task (i.e., compelling all of Israel to walk in the way of Torah,
repairing the breaches in observance, fighting the wars of God, building the Temple in its place,
gathering in the dispersed exiles of Israel) is not the Messiah. Maimonides states, "But if he did not
succeed in all this or was killed, he is definitely not the Moshiach promised in the Torah... and God only
appointed him in order to test the masses."[12]
Jews believe that the Messiah will fulfill the messianic prophecies of the Prophets Isaiah and
Ezekiel.[13][14][15][16] According to Isaiah, the Messiah will be a paternal descendant of King David[17]
via King Solomon.[18] He is expected to return the Jews to their homeland and rebuild the Temple, reign
as King, and usher in an era of peace[5] and understanding where "the knowledge of God" fills the
earth,[6] leading the nations to "end up recognizing the wrongs they did Israel".[19] Ezekiel states the
Messiah will redeem the Jews.[20]
Therefore, any Judaic view of Jesus per se is influenced by the fact that Jesus lived while the Second
Temple was standing, and not while the Jews were exiled. He never reigned as King, and there was no
subsequent era of peace or great knowledge. Jesus died without completing or even accomplishing part
of any of the messianic tasks, instead promising a second coming. Rather than being redeemed, the Jews
were subsequently exiled from Israel. These discrepancies were noted by Jewish scholars who were
contemporaries of Jesus, as later pointed out by Nahmanides, who in 1263 observed that Jesus was
rejected as the Messiah by the rabbis of his time.[21]
Further, Judaism sees Christian claims that Jesus is the textual messiah of the Hebrew Bible as being
based on mistranslations[22][23] and Jesus did not fulfill the Jewish Messiah qualifications.[24]
Even if someone who appears to be a prophet can perform supernatural acts or signs, no prophet or
dreamer can contradict the laws already stated in the Bible.[30][31] Thus, any divergence from the tenets
of Biblical Judaism espoused by Jesus would disqualify him from being considered a prophet in
Judaism. This was the view adopted by Jesus' contemporaries, as according to rabbinical tradition as
stated in the Talmud (Sotah 48b) "when Malachi died the Prophecy departed from Israel." As Malachi
lived centuries before Jesus it is clear that the rabbis of Talmudic times did not view Jesus as a divinely
inspired prophet.
In the Toledot Yeshu, the name of Yeshu is taken to mean yimach shemo.[40] In all cases of its use, the
references are to Yeshu are associated with acts or behaviour that are seen as leading Jews away from
Judaism to minuth (a term usually translated as "heresy" or "apostasy"). Historically the portrayals of
Jesus in Jewish literature were used as an excuse for antisemitism among Christians.[41]
Modern scholarship on the Talmud has a spectrum[42] of views from Joseph Klausner, R. Travers
Herford and Peter Schfer[43] who see some traces of a historical Jesus in the Talmud, to the views of
Johann Maier, and Jacob Neusner who consider that there are little or no historical traces and texts have
been applied to Jesus in later editing, and others such as Boyarin (1999) who argue that Jesus in the
Talmud is a literary device used by Rabbis to comment on their relationship to and with early
Christians.[44]
References in Talmud
The primary references to Yeshu are found only in uncensored texts of the Babylonian Talmud and the
Tosefta. The Vatican's papal bull issued in 1554 censored the Talmud and other Jewish texts, resulting in
the removal of references to Yeshu. No known manuscript of the Jerusalem Talmud makes mention of
the name although one translation (Herford) has added it to Avodah Zarah 2:2 to align it with similar
text of Chullin 2:22 in the Tosefta. All later usages of the term Yeshu are derived from these primary
references. In the Munich (1342 CE), Paris, and Jewish Theological Seminary of America manuscripts
of the Talmud, the appellation Ha-Notzri is added to the last mention of Yeshu in Sanhedrin 107b and
Sotah 47a as well as to the occurrences in Sanhedrin 43a, Sanhedrin 103a, Berachot 17b and Avodah
Zarah 16b-17a. Student,[45] Zindler and McKinsey[46] Ha-Notzri is not found in other early precensorship partial manuscripts (the Florence, Hamburg and Karlsruhe) where these cover the passages in
question.
Although Notzri does not appear in the Tosefta, by the time the Babylonian Talmud was produced,
Notzri had become the standard Hebrew word for Christian and Yeshu Ha-Notzri had become the
conventional rendition of "Jesus the Nazarene" in Hebrew. For example, by 1180 CE the term Yeshu HaNotzri can be found in the Maimonides' Mishneh Torah (Hilchos Melachim 11:4, uncensored version).
Maimonides
Mishneh Torah
Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon) lamented the pains that Jews felt as a result of new faiths that
attempted to supplant Judaism, specifically Christianity and Islam. Referring to Jesus, he wrote:
Even Jesus the Nazarene who imagined that he would be Messiah and was killed by the
court, was already prophesied by Daniel. So that it was said, And the members of the
outlaws of your nation would be carried to make a (prophetic) vision stand. And they
stumbled (Daniel 11.14). Because, is there a greater stumbling-block than this one? So that
all of the prophets spoke that the Messiah redeems Israel, and saves them, and gathers their
banished ones, and strengthens their commandments. And this one caused (nations) to
destroy Israel by sword, and to scatter their remnant, and to humiliate them, and to exchange
the Torah, and to make the majority of the world err to serve a divinity besides God.[47]
Epistle to Yemen
Jesus is mentioned in Maimonides' Epistle to Yemen, written about 1172 to Rabbi Jacob ben Netan'el alFayyumi, head of the Yemen Jewish community
Ever since the time of Revelation, every despot or slave that has attained to power, be he
violent or ignoble, has made it his first aim and his final purpose to destroy our law, and to
vitiate our religion, by means of the sword, by violence, or by brute force, such as Amalek,
Sisera, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Titus, Hadrian, may their bones be ground to dust,
and others like them. This is one of the two classes which attempt to foil the Divine will.
The second class consists of the most intelligent and educated among the nations, such as
the Syrians, Persians, and Greeks. These also endeavor to demolish our law and to vitiate it
by means of arguments which they invent, and by means of controversies which they
institute....
After that there arose a new sect which combined the two methods, namely, conquest and
controversy, into one, because it believed that this procedure would be more effective in
wiping out every trace of the Jewish nation and religion. It, therefore, resolved to lay claim
to prophecy and to found a new faith, contrary to our Divine religion, and to contend that it
was equally God-given. Thereby it hoped to raise doubts and to create confusion, since one
is opposed to the other and both supposedly emanate from a Divine source, which would
lead to the destruction of both religions. For such is the remarkable plan contrived by a man
who is envious and querulous. He will strive to kill his enemy and to save his own life, but
when he finds it impossible to attain his objective, he will devise a scheme whereby they
both will be slain.
The first one to have adopted this plan was Jesus the Nazarene, may his bones be ground to
dust. He was a Jew because his mother was a Jewess although his father was a Gentile. For
in accordance with the principles of our law, a child born of a Jewess and a Gentile, or of a
Jewess and a slave, is legitimate. (Yebamot 45a). Jesus is only figuratively termed an
illegitimate child. He impelled people to believe that he was a prophet sent by God to clarify
perplexities in the Torah, and that he was the Messiah that was predicted by each and every
seer. He interpreted the Torah and its precepts in such a fashion as to lead to their total
annulment, to the abolition of all its commandments and to the violation of its prohibitions.
The sages, of blessed memory, having become aware of his plans before his reputation
spread among our people, meted out fitting punishment to him.
Daniel had already alluded to him when he presaged the downfall of a wicked one and a
heretic among the Jews who would endeavor to destroy the Law, claim prophecy for
himself, make pretenses to miracles, and allege that he is the Messiah, as it is written, "Also
the children of the impudent among thy people shall make bold to claim prophecy, but they
shall fall." (Daniel 11:14).[49]
In the context of refuting the claims of a contemporary in Yemen purporting to be the Messiah,
Maimonides mentions Jesus again:
You know that the Christians falsely ascribe marvelous powers to Jesus the Nazarene, may
his bones be ground to dust, such as the resurrection of the dead and other miracles. Even if
we would grant them for the sake of argument, we should not be convinced by their
reasoning that Jesus is the Messiah. For we can bring a thousand proofs or so from the
Scripture that it is not so even from their point of view. Indeed, will anyone arrogate this
rank to himself unless he wishes to make himself a laughing stock?[50]
most clearly understood differently from the way proposed by Christiani. Furthermore, Nahmanides
demonstrated from numerous biblical and talmudic sources that traditional Jewish belief ran contrary to
Christiani's postulates.
Nahmanides went on to show that the Biblical prophets regarded the future messiah as a human, a
person of flesh and blood, and not as a divinity, in the way that Christians view Jesus. He noted that their
promises of a reign of universal peace and justice had not yet been fulfilled. On the contrary, since the
appearance of Jesus, the world had been filled with violence and injustice (see also But to bring a
sword), and among all denominations the Christians were the most warlike.
He noted that questions of the Messiah are of less dogmatic importance to Jews than most Christians
imagine. The reason given by him for this bold statement is that it is more meritorious for the Jews to
observe the precepts under a Christian ruler, while in exile and suffering humiliation and abuse, than
under the rule of the Messiah, when every one would be forced to act in accordance with the (Jewish)
Law.
See also
ChristianJewish reconciliation
Christianity and Judaism
Judaism's view of Muhammad
Eliyahu Lizorkin
Islamic views of Jesus
Opposition to Christianity in Chazalic literature
Early Christianity
Rejection of Jesus
Shituf
33. ^ Gerondi, Yonah (1981) [1505]. [ The Gates of Repentance] (in (Hebrew) and (English)).
translated by Shraga Silverstein. Nanuet, New York: Feldheim Publishers. ISBN 978-0-87306-252-7.
34. ^ Delbert Burkett. The Blackwell Companion to Jesus. 2010. p. 220. "Accordingly, scholars' analyses range
widely from minimalists (eg, Lauterbach 1951) who recognize only relatively few passages that actually
have Jesus in mind to moderates (eg, Herford [1903] 2006), to maximalists (Klausner 1943, , 1754;
especially Schfer 2007)."
35. ^ Saadia R. Eisenberg Reading Medieval Religious Disputation: The 1240 "Debate" Between Rabbi Yechiel
of Paris and Friar Nicholas Donin
36. ^ paragraph 22. Vikuach HaRamban found in Otzar Havikuchim by J. D. Eisenstein, Hebrew Publishing
Society, 1915 and Kitvey HaRamban by Rabbi Charles D. Chavel, Mosad Horav Kook, 1963
37. ^ David R. Catchpole The trial of Jesus: a study in the Gospels and Jewish Historiography from 1770 to the
Present Day, Leiden, 1971 Page 62 "(c) Rabbenu Tam (b.Shabb. 104b) declared: 'This was not Jesus of
Nazareth.' But his view, from the 12th century, constitutes no evidence."
38. ^ Section 3 paragraph 65.
39. ^ Berger D. Jewish history and Jewish memory: essays in honor of Yosef Hayim p39 "This discussion makes
it perfectly clear that Duran gave no credence to a theory of two Jesuses." etc.
40. ^ Apocryphal gospels: an introduction
child's name is offered: 'But the name Yeshu means: "May his name be blotted out, and his memory too!"' (
58). The three letters of which the name Jesus in Hebrew consists, yod, sin and waw,"
41. ^ Schfer Jesus in the Talmud 2009 p4 "Whereas in the early modern period the Jesus in the Talmud
paradigm served almost solely as an inexhaustible source for anti-Jewish sentiments, the subject gained more
serious and critical recognition in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries."
42. ^ Robert E. Van Voorst Jesus outside the New Testament: an introduction to the ancient evidence p108
"While Herford was somewhat critical of their accuracy, he seems almost never to have met a possible
reference to Jesus that he did not like!70 On the other end of the spectrum, Johann Maier in his Jesus von
Nazareth in der talmudischen ..." 2000
External links
The False Prophet (http://www.nishma.org/articles/insight/spark5756-22.html)
Their Hollow Inheritance (http://www.drazin.com/), Jewish anti-Christian missionary arguments.
Jewish-Christian Relations (http://www.jcrelations.net/en/)
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