Opposition to Christianity in Chazalic literature consists of direct questioning and at times invalidating of Christianity as found in Chazalic literature.Christianity in this sense is inclusive of Christ and the New Testament Of the notable reasons of Chazalic opposition to Christianity is that Christianity is founded on the belief of the Trinity, whereas Judaism follows the belief of unitarian monotheism. Another source of opposition is the belief that the Torah, as given by Moses, along with its interpretation by Chazal, is the supreme and exclusive indicator of Yahweh's instruction to Jews and mankind.
Mishnaic sources
Tosefta References to Christianity are rarely found in Tosefta. A brief mention—albeit allegorically—is found in regards to a Jew who incises his skin on the Shabbat with the intent to engrave a tattoo. The Tanna Rabbi Eliezer is quoted as liableizing (for transgression of Shabbat) the offender for performing one of the activities prohibited on Shabbat, as this is a form of writing. As proof, Rabbi Eliezer cites that "Ben SitdaThis is understood as a nick-name afforded to Yeshu -see Ein Yaakov to Sanhedrin 43a" stole his knowledge of sorcery from Egypt using this type of writingas the Egyptians would not allow foreigners to copy their code of sorcery, hence Ben Sitda needed to "sneak" it out -see "minchas bikkurim" to above tosefta -hence proving its potency as a viable form of writing. Chazal did not accept Rabbi Eliezer's proof, with the counterclaim of "due to one shoteh (fool)foolish in the sense that an individual does an uncommon act thereby making himself a "Shoteh" (in Hebrew "שוטה"; one who "veers" from the normal pattern of common behavior) we should make liable all the normal folk?"Tosefta to tractate shabbat 12:9
Following the debated assumption that Ben Sitida is indeed a reference to Jesus,see Jesus in the Talmud it is inferable from this mentioning that Jesus -as founder of Christianity- was believed to have used sorcery as a method of achieving supernatural events -a method discounted by Chazal as illegitimate.
Midrashic sources Midrashic literature contains a number of references to Christianity. Of note is the Midrash's insistence that the rise of Christianity—as well as its illegitimacy as being of service to Yahweh—was foretold to all nations of mankind by Bilaam the sorcerer:
Midrash HaGadol As the featured Midrashic text of Yemenite Jewry, the Midrash ha-Gadol—in relation to Yeshu—cites the ideal state of Judaism as that where no students or members of the religion "step out" and publicly profess the Rabbinic interpretation of the Torah as invalid.Medrash HaGadol to Bereishit 25:1
The Zohar In the Zohar, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is reported as exclaiming dissatisfaction to those whi forgo the Torah in favor of its antitheses:
Talmudic sources
The Talmud—relative to other Rabbinic sources—takes a unique approach to Christianity in the sense that in differentiates between Yeshu himself—who is portrayed as a complete Jew wanting to remain under his Rabbi's tutelage—and the religion he ultimately established -which the Talmud frowns upon.
In Sanhedrin 107b and Sotah 47a Yeshu is mentioned as a student of Yehoshua ben Perachya who was sent away for misinterpreting a word that in context should have been understood as referring to the Inn, he instead understood it to mean the innkeeper's wife. His teacher said "Here is a nice Inn", to which he replied "Her eyes are crooked", to which his teacher responded "Is this what your are occupied in?" (This happened during their period of refuge in Egypt during the persecutions of Pharisees 88-76 BCE ordered by Alexander Jannæus. The incident is also mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud in Chagigah 2:2 but there the person in question is not given any name.) After several returns for forgiveness he mistook Perachiah's signal to wait a moment as a signal of final rejection, and so he turned to idolatry;
Tzoah rotachat
Ben Sitida and Ben Pandira
See also Judaism's view of Jesus Jesus in the Talmud
References