The Toledot Yeshu (History of Jesus) is a collection of Jewish Gospel parodies about the life of Jesus, called in the text. There is no definitive version of the Toledot Yeshu. Instead, many versions exist scattered across its numerous manuscripts throughout medieval Europe and the Middle East. Historians did not seriously study the Toledot Yeshu until the early 21st century,Flannery, Edward H. (1965). The Anguish of the Jews: Twenty-three centuries of Anti-Semitism. NY, Macmillan, page 283 (footnote 30 to chapter 2). when its value in understanding Late Antique and medieval Jewish perspectives about Jesus and Christianity was realized.Meerson, Michael & Schäfer, Peter (2014). Toledot Yeshu: The life story of Jesus. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 159. Vol.1, Introduction and translation. Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck. . The Toledot is interpreted by some to reflect the polemical and defensive context of many historical Jewish communities under Christian rule, as well as a source that fuelled Christian hostility towards Judaism. The story likely originated in Mesopotamian Babylonia, in the same milieu as the Babylonian Talmud, with which it shares several of its polemics against Jesus.
In the Toledot Yeshu, Jesus is portrayed as an illegitimate child conceived from an adulterous rape. As a child, he is a troublemaker who stirs tension in the rabbinic study house. In his adulthood, he is depicted as a sorcerer who taught a heretical Judaism, seduced women, was defeated by Judas, and died a shameful death. His tomb was robbed by a gardener, who hid the corpse in a drainage ditch, leading his followers to mistakenly believe that he has risen from the dead. The Toledot accepts many miracles of Jesus (such as creating birds from clay, resurrecting the dead, and healing the blind), but attributes the ability of Jesus to do this as being because of his magical prowess and sorcery instead of his divinity. According to Encyclopaedia Judaica, "The narrative in all versions [of the Toledot] 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."Dan, Joseph (2007). "Toledot Yeshu" in Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed.
Name Many different titles/names appear in manuscripts of the Toledot Yeshu. Only Group I manuscripts consistently preserve the beginning of the text, and in these, a different name appears in every manuscript. These names include:
Book of Nazoreans, as decreed concerning Yeshua, the son of Panderas Book of the Governor and Yeshu ha-Notsri [Jesus the Nazarene] The Story of Yeshua ha-Notsri [Jesus the Nazarene]
Group II manuscripts have more consistent names. They all have a common core: Maʿaseh-Yeshu (ben Pandera ha-Notsri). Different parts of the Group II manuscript tradition add different curses to the core name. In Late Yemenite manuscripts, the curse "may the name of the wicked rot" (from Proverbs 10:7) is added. In Late Oriental manuscripts from Bukhara, the curse "Story of Yeshu the Cursed (Maʿaseh Yeshu ha-ʾArur), may his name and his memory be erased" is added. Italian manuscripts possess a few variations, such as "Story of That One and his Son (Maʿaseh de-ʾoto we-ʾet beno)". With a few exceptions, Group III manuscripts consistently use the title Toledot Yeshu (ha-Notsri).
Summary The Toledot Yeshu offers a satirical and critical narrative of the life of Jesus, portraying him as an illegitimate child and false messiah who uses magic to deceive people in a manner that discredits Christian claims about the divinity of Christ. The Toledot narrates Jesus' rise and fall, the refutation of his divinity, and a strategic schism that takes place between Judaism and Christianity after his death. While several versions of the story exist, the following summary is based on the Strasbourg manuscript, which possesses a comprehensive account from Jesus' birth until his death as well as what happened to his movement after his death. It is also one of the best known versions of the story.
The story begins with the birth of Jesus. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a pious Jewish woman who is engaged to a man named John from the house of David. However, she is raped by her neighbor Joseph ben Pantera on a Sabbath eve while menstruating, a period of time where physical contact is prohibited by Jewish law. This incident results in Mary's conception of Jesus. When the truth emerges from Mary's pregnancy, John denounces Mary and flees to Babylonia to preserve his reputation. When Jesus is born, he is called a "bastard" (mamzer) and the "son of a menstruating woman" (ben niddah), titles that reflect the Jewish community's exclusion of him. As he grows up, Jesus excels in his studies. At the same time, he is portrayed as disrespecting his teachers, passing by them with his head uncovered, and he defies the customs of the rabbis. This results in a formal inquiry about him where Mary ends up confessing that the true father of Jesus is Joseph. For this, Jesus is sentenced to death. To escape execution, he flees to Jerusalem.
It is there that an episode takes place that results in him learning the ineffable name of God from the foundation stone of the Great Temple. Upon learning this name, he gains the magical ability to perform miracles, including raising the dead, healing lepers, and turning clay into living birds. He claims to be the Messiah and gains followers. Soon enough, he is arrested by the Jews and brought before Queen Helena (possibly Queen Helena of Adiabene or a conflated figure) on the accusation of sorcery. Jesus defends himself by performing miracles that impress Helena, but his accusers persist. Judas Iscariot, having also learned the ineffable name, challenges Jesus to a flying contest. Judas realizes, during the contest, that neither one of them will win unless one loses access to the powers granted by the use of the divine name. Judas reasons that if he can defile Jesus, then the divine name's powers will no longer work for him. His reasoning proves correct: after he urinates on Jesus, Jesus loses his powers and falls to the ground. According to the narrative, this event demonstrates to the audience that he is a charlatan, which results in him being arrested. The authorities call for his death, and Helena places his fate in the hands of the Jewish sages. They send him to the city of Tiberias and tie him to an ark. However, in one episode, his followers intervene and begin throwing stones at the sages. This creates a diversion that allows them to take Jesus and escape.
Later, on Passover Eve, Jesus returns to Jerusalem with his followers, riding on a donkey. They enter into a study house, but here Jesus is betrayed by someone named Geisa. This time, he is arrested and promptly killed. The authorities try to hang his corpse on a tree, but the tree refuses, because of his previous use of the divine name. Eventually, he is hung on a cabbage stalk, and finally buried. Later, the followers of Jesus visit his burial site but discover an empty tomb: this brings them to the belief that Jesus has risen from the dead, which they proclaim all over the streets, including to Queen Helena. Helena demands an explanation from the sages, who begin to panic. However, a certain rabbi bumps into a gardener who had stolen the body of Jesus. The rabbi shares the news, and the body of Jesus is dragged through the streets of Jerusalem all the way to Queen Helena, a defiling act that definitively disproves the claim that he was the Messiah or resurrected.
Composition history
Background and sources The traditions found in the Toledot Yeshu reflect many very early, historical polemics in Jewish tradition towards Christians. Origen, among other early Christian authors, reflects Jewish accusations of the illegitimacy of the birth of Jesus and his practice of magic and sorcery. Many obscenities found in early sources ended up compiled in the Toledot Yeshu. For example, Origen quotes the philosopher Celsus reporting a Jewish contemporaries claim that the paternity of Jesus goes to a Roman soldier named Pantera, an idea that also appears in the Toledot.Cited by Origen, Contra Celsus 1.32 Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho, another early account, presented a fictional dialogue between a Christian and a Jew, demonstrating the existence of polemical interactions and exchange of stories between Jews and Christians.Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho ch. 17. It is possible that an early version of the Toledot lacked the story about Mary's relationship with a Roman soldier, with the original goal of the story being to return Jewish apostates into the fold, with the aspersion only being added in later versions.
Some historians have suggested the dependency of the Toledot on early Jewish-Christian gospelsPrice, Robert (2003) Incredible Shrinking Son of Man pg 40 or that the oral traditions behind the written versions of the might go all the way back to the formation of the canonical narratives themselves.Alexander, P. Jesus and his Mother in the Jewish Anti-Gospel (the Toledot Yeshu), in eds. C. Clivaz et al., Infancy Gospels, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck GmbH & Co. KG, 2011, pp. 588-616. The largest source of input to the seems to be anecdotes gathered from various parts of the Talmud and Midrash.E.g., the Talmudic references in Division 1.A of Herford, R. Travers, Christianity in Talmud and Midrash (1903, London; reprinted 1966, NJ, Reference Book Publ'rs) pages 35-96 https://archive.org/details/christianityinta00herfuoft These appear to be popular adaptations of material aimed against two Christian doctrines: the virgin birth and the ascension. Some of the Talmudic anecdotes seems to be incompatible with each other or with known historical fact.Klausner, Joseph, Jesus of Nazareth: His life, times, and teaching (orig. 1922, Engl. transl. 1925, London, George Allen & Unwin) pages 26 & 51 ("the book contains no history worth the name"), as an example. In some instances, the Talmudic source of the is obscure or of doubtful authenticity, and may not originally have been relevant to Jesus. Another source may have been the canonical Gospels themselves. The miracles performed by Jesus in these texts is not denied, but instead, the ability of Jesus to perform them is delegated to the use of Egyptian magic or an appropriation of the Ineffable Name (the Divine Name), but not to diabolical incantations. Trachtenberg, Joshua, The Devil and the Jews (1961, Philadelphia, Jewish Publ'n Society) page 230 (footnote 11 to chapter 4). Others have suggested the use of apocryphal gospels created in the 4th–6th centuries as a source by the Toledot.
Manuscripts and translations Over a hundred manuscripts of the Toledot exist, with the earliest one dating to the 11th century.Stökl Ben Ezra, Daniel, An Ancient List of Christian Festivals in Toledot Yeshu, Harvard Theological Review, vol. 102, nr. 4 (Oct. 2009) pages 483-484. The original text was probably written in Aramaic, but it was translated into multiple languages: several Hebrew, Judeo-Persian, Arabic, Judeo-Arabic, Yiddish, and Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) manuscript versions of the text are known.
A critical edition and English translation of the Toledot Yeshu was published by Meerson and Schafer in 2014.
Recensions