View source for Yeshu

{{Short description|Possible name for Jesus in rabbinic literature}}
{{about|an individual or individuals found in Jewish literature|the similar-sounding Hebrew or Aramaic name|Yeshua (name)|references to Jesus of Nazareth in the Talmud|Jesus in the Talmud}}

'''''Yeshu''''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: {{Script/Hebrew|יֵשׁוּ}} ''Yēšū'') is the name of possibly one individual or numerous separate individuals mentioned in [[rabbinic literature]].<ref name="individuals"/> The name is thought by some to refer to [[Jesus]] [[Jesus in the Talmud|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 with this name in Rabbinic texts are referenced as having lived in time periods far detached from, and non-overlapping with that of Jesus. For example,
[[#Yeshu the sorcerer|Yeshu the sorcerer]] is noted for being executed by the [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean government]] which lost legal authority in 63 BC, [[#Yeshu the student of Joshua ben Perachiah|Yeshu the student]] is described being among the [[Pharisees]] who returned to Israel from Egypt in 74 BC, and [[#Yeshu ben Pandera|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 Jews|Ashkenazi Jewish]] authorities were forced by [[Holy Orders|Catholic clergy]] to interpret these passages as being in relation to the Christian beliefs about [[Jesus of Nazareth]]. As historian [[David Berger (historian)|David Berger]] observed,
{{blockquote|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.<ref name=Berger />{{rp|36}}}}

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, mother of Jesus|Mary]] and the [[Christology|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.<ref name = "Theissen&Merz">{{cite book
| first1        = Gerd
| last1         = Theissen
| first2        = Annette
| last2         = Merz
| author1-link  = Gerd Theissen
| title         = The Historical Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide
| year      = 1998
| publisher = [[Augsburg Fortress]]
| location  = [[Minneapolis]]
| isbn      = 978-0-8006-3122-2
| oclc      = 38590348
| lccn      = 98016181
| pages     = 74–76
}}
</ref><ref name = "Berger">{{cite book
| last       = Berger
| first      = David
| author-link = David Berger (professor)
| editor1-last  = Carlebach
| editor1-first = Elishiva
| editor1-link  = Elisheva Carlebach Jofen
| editor2-last  = Efron
| editor2-first = John M.
| editor3-last  = Myers
| editor3-first = David N.
| title         = Jewish History and Jewish Memory: Essays in Honor of Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi
| year      = 1998
| series    = The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry
| volume    = 29
| url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=E0RU0gMX7WkC&q=Jewish+History+and+Jewish+Memory:+Essays+in+Honor+of+Yosef+Hayim+Yerushalmi
| type      = [[Google Books]] preview
| publisher = [[University Press of New England|Brandeis University Press]]
| location  = [[Hanover, New Hampshire|Hanover, NH]]
| isbn      = 978-0-87451-871-9
| oclc      = 44965639
| lccn      = 98-14431
| page      = 33
| chapter   = On the Uses of History in Medieval Jewish Polemic against Christianity: The Quest for the Historical Jesus
| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=E0RU0gMX7WkC&q=multiple+Jesus
| quote     = 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.
}}
</ref> [[Asher ben Jehiel]] also asserted that the Yeshu of the Talmud is unrelated to the Christian Jesus.<ref>[[Tosafot#Tosafot ha-Rosh|Tosafot HaRosh]] ([[Nashim|Sotah]] 47a)</ref>

There are some modern scholars who understand these passages to be references to Christianity and the Christian figure of Jesus,<ref>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""</ref> and others who see references to Jesus only in later rabbinic literature.<ref name="Theissen&Merz"/>{{sfnp|Meier|1991|p=98}} [[Johann Maier (talmudic scholar)|Johann Maier]] argued that neither the [[Mishnah]] nor the two Talmuds refer to Jesus.<ref>Johann Maier, Jesus von Nazareth in der talmudischen Uberlieferung (Ertrage der Forschung 82; Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1978)</ref>

==Etymology==
Bauckham notes that the spelling ''Yeshu'' is found on one ossuary, Rahmani 9, which supports that the name ''Yeshu'' was not invented as a way of avoiding pronouncing the name ''[[Yeshua]]'' or ''[[Yehoshua (given name)|Yehoshua]]'' in relation to Jesus, but that it may still be that rabbinical use of ''Yeshu'' was intended to distinguish Jesus from rabbis bearing the biblical name "Joshua", ''Yehoshua''.{{sfnp|Bauckham|2008|p={{pn|date=June 2023}}}} [[George William Foote|Foote]] and Wheeler considered that the name "Yeshu" was simply a shortened form of the name "Yehoshua" or Joshua.<ref name = "Foote&Wheeler">{{cite book
| editor1-first = George W.
| editor1-last  = Foote
| editor1-link  = George William Foote
| editor2-first = J.M.
| editor2-last  = Wheeler
| title         = The Jewish Life of Christ: Being the Sepher Toldoth Jeshu
| url           = http://www.ftarchives.net/foote/toldoth/tjtitle.htm
| access-date    = August 3, 2011
| year      = 1885
| publisher = Progressive Publishing Company
| location  = [[London]]
}}
</ref>

Another explanation given is that the name "Yeshu" is actually an acronym for the formula {{Script/Hebrew|ימח שמו וזכרו(נו)}} (''{{transliteration|he|[[Y'mach Sh'mo|'''Y'''imach '''Sh'''emo]] '''V'''<nowiki>'</nowiki>Zichro[no]}}''), meaning "may his name and memory be obliterated".<ref>David M. Neuhaus, [https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-how-israeli-jews-fear-of-christianity-turned-into-hatred-1.9516266 'How Israeli Jews' Fear of Christianity Turned Into Hatred,'] [[Haaretz]] 6 February:'The religious public in Israel is in many cases aware of the traditional interpretation of the term “Yeshu”: an acronym in Hebrew for “may his name and memory be blotted out.” .'</ref> There ''are'' instances in the Talmud where the name "Yeshu" is written with ''[[gershayim]]'', a punctuation mark used to indicate acronyms or abbreviations,<ref name="academy-punctuation-guidelines-31">[http://hebrew-academy.huji.ac.il/decision5.html Hebrew punctuation guidelines, § 31], [[Academy of the Hebrew Language]] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015065211/http://hebrew-academy.huji.ac.il/decision5.html |date=October 15, 2007}}</ref> however, this only occurs in a single [[Masekhet|tractate]].<ref>Sanhedrin 107b:12</ref> The earliest known example of this theory comes from medieval ''[[Toledot Yeshu]]'' narratives.<ref name ="ToldosYeshu">{{cite book
| last       = Edman
| first      = L.
| title         = Sefer Toledot Yeshu: sive Liber de ortu et origine Jesu ex editione wagenseiliana transcriptus et explicatus
|trans-title=Sefer Toledot Yeshu: or The Book of the rising and origin of Jesus from the Wagenseiliana edition: Transcription and Explanation
| url           = https://archive.org/stream/sefertoledotyes00unkngoog#page/n0/mode/2up
| access-date    = August 2, 2011
| year      = 1857
| publisher = C. A. Leffler
| type      = Original copy from [[Harvard Divinity School]]
| language  = he, la
| page      = 8
}}
</ref><ref name="Howard">{{cite book
| last       = Howard
| first      = George
| author-link = George Howard (Hebraist)
| title         = Hebrew Gospel of Matthew
| url           = https://books.google.com/books?id=4tdEBdVXg3AC
| via       = [[Google Books]]
| access-date    = August 3, 2011
| year      = 1995
| publisher = [[Mercer University Press]]
| location  = [[Macon, Georgia]]
| isbn      = 0-86554-442-5
| lccn      = 95016849
| pages     = 206–211
| chapter   = Shem-Tob and the Tol'doth Yeshu
| chapter-url    = https://books.google.com/books?id=4tdEBdVXg3AC&pg=PA206
}}</ref> This has led to the accusation, first voiced by the [[Anti-Judaism|anti-Judaist]] writer [[Johann Andreas Eisenmenger]] in his ''[[Johann Andreas Eisenmenger#Entdecktes Judenthum|Entdecktes Judenthum]]'', that "Yeshu" was always such a deliberately insulting term for Jesus.<ref name="Hansen">{{cite conference
| url           = http://jewsforjesus.org/answers/jesus/names
| title         = An Introduction to the Names Yehoshua/Joshua, Yeshua, Jesus and Yeshu
| first         = Kai
| last          = Kjær-Hansen
| date          = March 23, 1992
| conference    = Ninth North American Coordinating Committee Meeting of the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism
| publisher     = [[Jews for Jesus]]
}}
</ref> Eisenmenger claimed that Jews believed that they were forbidden to mention names of false gods and instead were commanded to change and defame them and did so with Jesus' name as they considered him a false god. He argued that Jesus' original name was "Yeshua" and as Jews did not recognize him as saviour (''moshia`'') or that he had even saved (''hoshia`'') himself, they left out the ''ayin'' from the root meaning "to save".<ref name="Hansen" /> Eisenmenger's book against Judaism was denounced by the Jews as malicious libel, and was the subject of a number of refutations.<ref name = "JE-Eisenmenger">{{cite encyclopedia
 | last = Deutsch
 | first = Gotthard
 | author-link = Gotthard Deutsch
 | encyclopedia =[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]
 | title = Eisenmenger, Johann Andreas
 | url = http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=99&letter=E
 | access-date = August 2, 2011
 | year = 1906
 | publisher = [[Funk & Wagnalls]]
}}
</ref>

Early-20th-century writers such as {{harvtxt|Herford|1903|pp=37–38}} and Klausner{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}} assume that references to ''Yeshu'' and ''Yeshu ha Notzri'' in the Talmud relate to Jesus. Indeed, in the [[Septuagint]] and Greek language Jewish texts such as the writings of [[Josephus]] and [[Philo of Alexandria]], ''Jesus'' is the standard Greek translation of the common Hebrew name ''Yehoshua'' {{Script/Hebrew|יְהוֹשֻׁעַ}} (Joshua), Greek having lost the ''h'' sound, as well as of the shortened form ''Yeshua'' {{Script/Hebrew|יֵשׁוּעַ}} which originated in the Second Temple period. ''Jesus'' was also used for the name ''Hoshea'' in the Septuagint in one of the three places where it referred to [[Joshua]] son of [[Nun (biblical figure)|Nun]].) The term "Yeshu" is not undisputedly attested prior to the Talmud and Tosefta, let alone as a Hebrew original for "Jesus". (In the case of the Jesus of Christianity, [[Clement of Alexandria]] and [[St. Cyril of Jerusalem]] claimed that the Greek form itself was his original name and that it was not a transliteration of a Hebrew form.)<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08374x.htm Origin of the Name Jesus Christ] in The Catholic Encyclopedia</ref> [[Adolf Neubauer]] (19th century), aware of the problem but believing the term to be a reference to Jesus, argued that it was a shortened form of ''Yeshua'' resulting from the final letter ''ayin'' no longer being pronounced.<ref>A. Neubauer, ''Jewish Controversy and the Pugio Fidei'', in ''The Expositor'', no. 7, 1888, p. 24)</ref> [[Hugh J. Schonfield]] argued in a similar fashion that it was the northern pronunciation resulting from a silent ''ayin''.<ref>Hugh J. Schonfield, ''The History of Jewish Christianity, From the First to the Twentieth Century'' London, Duckworth, 1936</ref> This view was shared by [[Joachim Jeremias]]<ref>J. Jeremias, ''Neutestamentliche Theologie'', Gütersloh, 1973, vol. I, p. 13</ref> and {{harvtxt|Flusser|1989|p=15}} who argue that it was the Galilean pronunciation. The views of these theological scholars however are contradicted by the studies of Hebrew and Aramaic philologist E. Y. Kutscher,<ref name="Hansen" /> Professor of Hebrew Philology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and member of the Hebrew Language Academy, who noted that although the ''ayin'' became a silent letter it is never dropped from written forms nor is its effect on the preceding vowel lost (the change of the "u" to the diphthong "ua") as would have had to occur if ''Yeshu'' were derived from ''Yeshua'' in such a manner. Kutscher noted moreover that the guttural ''ayin'' was still pronounced in most parts of Galilee.<ref>E.Y. Kutscher, ''Studies in Galilean Aramaic'', Ramat-Gan, 1976 pp. ??</ref>

==Talmud and Tosefta==
{{main|Jesus in the Talmud}}
[[File:Early Syriac alphabet form of the name of Jesus.svg |thumb|''Isho'' or ''Eesho'', the [[Aramaic]] name of [[Jesus]]]]
The earliest undisputed occurrences of the term Yeshu are found in five anecdotes in the [[Tosefta]] (''c'' 200 AD) and [[Babylonian Talmud]] (''c'' 500 AD). The anecdotes appear in the Babylonian Talmud during the course of broader discussions on various religious or legal topics. The Venice edition of the [[Jerusalem Talmud]] contains the name Yeshu, but the [[Leiden Jerusalem Talmud|Leiden manuscript]] has a name deleted, and "Yeshu" added in a marginal gloss. {{harvtxt|Schäfer|2007|pg=163&166}} writes that due to this, Neusner treats the name as a gloss and omitted it from his translation of the Jerusalem Talmud.

===The Talmudic accounts in detail===

====Yeshu ben Pandera====
{{Main|Jacob the heretic}}
In the Tosefta, ''Chullin'' 2:22-24 there are two anecdotes about the ''[[Heresy in Judaism#Minim|min]]'' (heretic) named [[Jacob the Min|Jacob]] naming his mentor ''Yeshu ben Pandera'' (Yeshu son of Pandera).

*''Chullin'' 2:22-23 tells how Rabbi Eleazar ben Damma was bitten by a snake. [[Jacob the Min|Jacob]] came to heal him (according to [[Saul Lieberman|Lieberman]]'s text<ref name="talmud.faithweb.com">{{cite web|url=http://talmud.faithweb.com/images/jnarr6.JPG|format=JPG|title=Remote linking forbidden|access-date=2023-09-01|url-status=dead}}</ref>) "on behalf of Yeshu ben Pandera". (A variant text of the Tosefta considered by Herford reads "Yeshua" instead of "Yeshu". This together with anomalous spellings of Pandera were found by [[Saul Lieberman]] who compared early manuscripts, to be erroneous attempts at correction by a copyist unfamiliar with the terms.)
:The account is also mentioned in corresponding passages of the Jerusalem Talmud (''Avodah Zarah'' 2:2 IV.I) and Babylonian Talmud (''Avodah Zarah'' 27b) The name Yeshu is not mentioned in the Hebrew manuscripts of these passages but reference to "Jeshu ben Pandira" is interpolated by Herford's in his English paraphrasing of the Jerusalem Talmud text. Similarly the Rodkinson translation of the Babylonian Talmud account interpolates "with the name of Jesus".
*''Chullin'' 2:24 tells how [[Eliezer ben Hyrcanus|Rabbi Eliezer]] was once arrested and charged with ''[[minuth]]''. When the chief judge (''hegemon'') interrogated him, the rabbi answered that he "trusted the judge." Although Rabbi Eliezer was referring to God, the judge interpreted him to be referring to the judge himself, and freed the Rabbi. The remainder of the account concerns why Rabbi Eliezer was arrested in the first place. Rabbi Akiva suggests that perhaps one of the ''minim'' had spoken a word of ''minuth'' to him and that it had pleased him. Rabbi Eliezer recalls that this was indeed the case, he had met Jacob of the town of Sakhnin in the streets of Sepphoris who spoke to him a word of ''minuth'' in the name of Yeshu ben Pandera, which had pleased him. (A variant reading used by Herford has ''Pantiri'' instead of ''Pandera''.)
*''Avodah Zarah'', 16b-17a in the Babylonian Talmud essentially repeats the account of ''Chullin'' 2:24 about Rabbi Eliezer and adds additional material. It tells that Jacob quoted Deuteronomy 23:19: "You shall not bring the fee of a whore or the price of a dog into the house of the Lord your God in fulfillment of any vow." Jacob says that he was taught this by Yeshu. Jacob then asked Eliezer whether it was permissible to use a whore's money to build a retiring place for the High Priest? (Who spent the whole night preceding the Day of Atonement in the precincts of the Temple, where due provision had to be made for all his conveniences.) When Rabbi Eliezer did not reply, Jacob quoted Micah 1:7, "For they were amassed from whores' fees and they shall become whores' fees again." This was the teaching that had pleased Rabbi Eliezer.

The surname ben Pandera is not found in the Talmud account. (Rodkinson's translation drawing on the Tosefta account paraphrases the reference to Yeshu having taught Jacob by "so taught Jeshu b. Panthyra", in this case not translating "Yeshu" as "Jesus".) The name is found again in the [[Midrash]]ic text ''[[Kohelet Rabba]]'' 10:5 where a healer of the grandson of Rabbi [[Yehoshua ben Levi]] is described as being of ben Pandera. The source of this account is ''Shabbat'' 14:4-8 and ''Avodah Zarah'' 40 in the Jerusalem Talmud, but there ben Pandera is not mentioned. The word ''Yeshu'' is however found as a secondary marginal gloss to the first passage in the Leiden manuscript which together with the Midrashic version show that the account was understood to be about a follower of Yeshu ben Pandera. (Herford again takes liberty and adds "in the name of Jeshu Pandera" to his translation of the Talmud passages despite these words not being in the original text. Schäfer similarly provides a paraphrased translation mentioning "Jesus son of Pandera" which he admittedly has constructed himself by combining the Talmudic and Midrashic texts and the marginal glosses.<ref name="Schafer"/>) ''Kohelet Rabba'' also relates the account of Rabbi Eliezer (''Kohelet Rabba'' 1:24) in this case some copies mention ''Yeshu ben Pandera'' as in the Tosefta passage but others instead read ''peloni'' a [[placeholder name]] equivalent to English "so-and-so".<ref name="Schafer"/>

Jeffrey Rubenstein has argued that the accounts in ''Chullin'' and ''Avodah Zarah'' reveal an ambivalent relationship between rabbis and Christianity. In his view the tosefta account reveals that at least some Jews believed Christians were true healers, but that the rabbis saw this belief as a major threat. Concerning the Babylonian Talmud account in ''Avoda Zarah'', Dr. Boyarin views Jacob of Sechania as a Christian preacher and understands Rabbi Eliezer's arrest for [[minuth]] as an arrest by the Romans for practising Christianity (the text uses the word for heretic). When the Governor (the text uses the word for chief judge) interrogated him, the rabbi answered that he "trusted the judge." Boyarin has suggested that this was the Jewish version of the [[Br'er Rabbit]] approach to domination, which he contrasts to the strategy of many early Christians, who proclaim their beliefs in spite of the consequences (i.e. martyrdom). Although Rabbi Eliezer was referring to God, the Governor interpreted him to be referring to the Governor himself, and freed the rabbi. According to them the account also reveals that there was greater contact between Christians and Jews in the 2nd century than commonly believed. They view the account of the teaching of Yeshu as an attempt to mock Christianity. According to Dr. Rubenstein, the structure of this teaching, in which a biblical [[prooftext]] is used to answer a question about Biblical law, is common to both the rabbis and early Christians. The vulgar content, however, may have been used to parody Christian values. Dr. Boyarin considers the text to be an acknowledgment that rabbis often interacted with Christians, despite their doctrinal antipathy.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>{{page needed|date=June 2023}}

A medieval account of Jesus, in which Jesus is described as being the son of Joseph, the son of Pandera (see translation of the 15th-century [[Yemenite Jews|Yemenite]] manuscript: [[s:Translation:Story of Jesus|''Toledot Yeshu'']]), gives a contemporary view of Jesus and where he is portrayed as an impostor.<ref name="Sutcliffe2005">{{cite book|first=Adam |last=Sutcliffe |year=2005 |title=Judaism and Enlightenment |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vjilDDXfmqEC&pg=PA141 |isbn=978-0-521-67232-0 |pages=141–}}</ref>

=====Meaning and etymology of Pandera=====
The meaning and etymology of this name are uncertain. Besides the form Pandera, variations have been found in different Tosefta manuscripts for example ''Pantiri'' and ''Pantera''.<ref name="Herford"/> Saul Lieberman's investigation of Tosefta variations revealed Pandera to be the original form. (Some authors such as Herford spell it ''Pandira'' in English.)

Celsus in his discourse ''[[The True Word]]'' gives the name as ''Panthera'' in Greek.<ref name="Herford"/> This name is not known from any graves or inscriptions, but the surname Pantera (a [[Latin]] rendering) is known from the 1st-century tombstone of [[Tiberius Julius Abdes Pantera]].<ref>Marcello Craveri, ''La vita di Gesù'', Feltrinelli, Milano, 1966</ref> [[Origen]] (c. 248 AD) responded to Celsus' claim by saying that ''Pantheras'' was the patronymic of [[Saint Joseph|Joseph]] the husband of Mary on account of his father, Jacob, being called Panther. An alternative claim was made in the ''Teaching of Jacob'' (634 AD) where Panther is said to be the grandfather of Mary.<ref>Hugh Joseph Schonfield, ''According to the Hebrews'', Duckworth, 1937</ref> [[Friedrich August Nitzsch]] (1840) suggested that the name may refer to a [[Panthera|panther]] being a lustful animal and thus have the meaning of "whore", additionally being a pun on ''parthenos'' meaning virgin.<ref name="Schafer"/> Herford also considered the Greek ''pentheros'' meaning father-in-law,<ref name="Herford"/> however he dismissed all of these forms including Celsus' ''Panthera'' as spurious explanations of the Hebrew Pandera as they do not match phonetically. He noted that Hebrew would have represented the sounds correctly if any of these were the origin.<ref name="Herford"/> The interpolated form ''Panthyra'' appearing in the Rodkinson translation of the Talmud suffers the same problem.

Neubauer understand the name to be [[Pandareus]].<ref>''Mediaeval Jewish Chronicles and Chronological Notes'', Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1887–1895</ref> The ''Toledot Yeshu'' narratives contain elements resembling the story of Pandareus in Greek mythology, namely stealing from a temple and the presence of a bronze animal.

[[Robert Eisler]]<ref name="Eisler">Robert Eisler, Alexander Haggerty Krappe, trans., ''The Messiah Jesus and John the Baptist according to Flavius Josephus' recently rediscovered 'Capture of Jerusalem' and other Jewish and Christian sources'', The Dial Press, 1931</ref> considered the name to be derived from [[Pandaros]]. He also argued that it may not have been a real name but instead as a generic name for a betrayer. He notes that in the ''[[Iliad]]'', Pandaros betrays the Greeks and breaks a truce confirmed by solemn oath. He argues that the name came to be used as a generic term for a betrayer and was borrowed by Hebrew. The name is indeed found in ''[[Genesis Rabba]] 50'' in the expression ''qol Pandar'' (literally "voice of Pandaros" denoting false promises of a betrayer) used as a derogatory placeholder name for a judge of Sodom. The ''-a'' at the end of the form Pandera can be understood to be the [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] definite article.<ref name="Herford"/>

====Yeshu Ha-Notzri====
In the surviving pre-censorship Talmud manuscripts, ''Yeshu'' is sometimes followed by the epithet ''Ha-Notzri''. [[R. Travers Herford]], [[Joseph Klausner]] and others translated it as "the Nazarene". The term does not appear consistently in the manuscripts and [[Menachem Meiri]] (1249 – c. 1310) in his commentary on the Talmud ''Beit HaBechirah'' regarded it as a late interpolation.

Klausner noted objections by other scholars on grammatical and phonetic grounds to the translation of ''[[Nazarene (title)|Notzri]]'' as "Nazarene" meaning a person from Nazareth (Hebrew ''Natzrat''),<ref name="Klausner">{{cite book
| last       = Klausner
| first      = Joseph
| author-link = Joseph Klausner
| title         = Jesus of Nazareth: His life, times, and teaching
| orig-year  = 1925
| year      = 1989
| publisher = [[Bloch Publishing Company]]
| isbn      = 978-0-8197-0590-7
| lccn      = 25017357
}}
</ref>{{Page needed|date=August 2011}} however the etymology of "Nazarene" is itself uncertain and one possibility is that it is derived from ''Notzri'' and did not mean a person from Nazareth.<ref>William David Davies, Dale C. Allison, ''A critical and exegetical commentary on the gospel according to Saint Matthew'', Continuum International Publishing Group, 1997</ref>

In 1180 AD [[Maimonides]] in his ''[[Mishneh Torah]]'', ''Hilchos Melachim'' 11:4 briefly discusses [[Jesus]] in a passage later censored by the Church. He uses the name ''Yeshua'' for Jesus (an attested equivalent of the name unlike ''Yeshu'') and follows it with ''HaNotzri'' showing that regardless of what meaning had been intended in the Talmudic occurrences of this term, Maimonides understood it as an equivalent of Nazarene. Late additions to the [[Josippon]] also refer to Jesus as ''Yeshua HaNotzri'' but not ''Yeshu HaNotzri''.<ref>David Flusser, ''The Josippon (Josephus Gorionides)'', The Bialik Institute, Jerusalem, 1978</ref>

Among other passages, the Talmud names ''Yeshu HaNotzri'' ([[Jesus the Nazarene]]) as a character who was sentenced by God to spend his afterlife in [[Tzoah Rotachat|boiling excrement]] for having “mocked the words” of the Jewish sages:

{{quote|Onkelos then went and raised Jesus the Nazarene from the grave through necromancy. Onkelos said to him: Who is most important in [[Jewish eschatology#World to come|that world]] where you are now? Jesus said to him: The Jewish people. Onkelos asked him: Should I then attach myself to them in this world? Jesus said to him: Their welfare you shall seek, their misfortune you shall not seek, for anyone who touches them is regarded as if he were touching the apple of his eye.

Onkelos said to him: What is the punishment of that man, a euphemism for Jesus himself, in the next world? Jesus said to him: He is punished with boiling excrement. As the Master said: Anyone who mocks the words of the Sages will be sentenced to boiling excrement. And this was his sin, as he mocked the words of the Sages. The Gemara comments: Come and see the difference between the sinners of Israel and the prophets of the nations of the world. As [[Balaam]], who was a prophet, wished Israel harm, whereas Jesus the Nazarene, who was a Jewish sinner, sought their well-being.|Gittin 57a:3-4<ref>{{cite web |title=Gittin 57a:3-4 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Gittin.57a.3-4?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref>}}

====Yeshu the sorcerer====
''Sanhedrin 43a'' relates the trial and execution of Yeshu and his five disciples. Here, Yeshu is a sorcerer who has enticed other Jews to apostasy. A [[herald]] is sent to call for witnesses in his favour for forty days before his execution. No one comes forth and in the end he is stoned and hanged on the eve of [[Passover]]. His five disciples, named Matai, Nekai, Netzer, Buni, and Todah, are then tried. Word play is made on each of their names, and they are executed. It is mentioned that excessive leniency was applied because of Yeshu's influence with the royal government (''malkhut'').

In the [[Florence]] manuscript of the Talmud (1177 AD) an addition is made to ''Sanhedrin 43a'' saying that Yeshu was hanged on the eve of the [[Shabbat|Sabbath]].

====Yeshu summoned by Onkelos====
In ''Gittin 56b, 57a'' a story is mentioned in which [[Onkelos]] summons up the spirit of a Yeshu who sought to harm Israel. He describes his punishment in the afterlife as [[Tzoah Rotachat|boiling in excrement]], but encourages Onkelos to convert to Judaism, prompting the Talmud to praise "the sinners of Israel." The current standard text does not name the individual Onkelos summons, but a footnote cites a textual variant that identifies the tormented spirit as ''Yeshu''.

====Yeshu the son who burns his food in public====
''Sanhedrin 103a'' and ''Berachot 17b'' talk about a Yeshu who burns his food in public, possibly a reference to pagan sacrifices. The account is discussing [[Manasseh of Judah|Manasseh]] the king of Judah, infamous for having turned to idolatry and having persecuted the Jews (2 Kings 21). It is part of a larger discussion about three kings and four commoners excluded from paradise. These are also discussed in the [[Shulkhan Arukh]] where the son who burns his food is explicitly stated to be Manasseh.

====Yeshu the student of Joshua ben Perachiah====
In ''Sanhedrin 107b'' and ''Sotah 47a'' a Yeshu is mentioned as a student of [[Joshua ben Perachiah]] 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 you are occupied in?" (This happened during their period of refuge in [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] during the persecutions of [[Pharisees]] 88–76 BC 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 (described by the euphemism "worshipping a brick"). The story ends by invoking a [[Mishna]]ic era teaching that Yeshu practised black magic, deceived and led Israel astray. This quote is seen by some as an explanation in general for the designation ''Yeshu''.

According to Dr. Rubenstein, the account in ''Sanhedrin'' 107b recognizes the kinship between Christians and Jews, since Jesus is presented as a disciple of a prominent rabbi. But it also reflects and speaks to an anxiety fundamental to [[Rabbinic Judaism]]. Prior to the destruction of the Temple in 70, Jews were divided into different sects, each promoting different interpretations of the law. Rabbinic Judaism domesticated and internalized conflicts over the law, while vigorously condemning any sectarianism. In other words, rabbis are encouraged to disagree and argue with one another, but these activities must be carefully contained, or else they could lead to a schism. Although this story may not present a historically accurate account of Jesus' life, it does use a fiction about Jesus to communicate an important truth about the rabbis. Moreover, Rubenstein sees this story as a rebuke to overly harsh rabbis. Boyarin suggests that the rabbis were well aware of Christian views of the Pharisees and that this story acknowledges the Christian belief that Jesus was forgiving and the Pharisees were not (see Mark 2:1–2), while emphasizing forgiveness as a necessary rabbinic value.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>{{page needed|date=June 2023}}

====Ben Pandera and ben Stada====
Another title found in the Tosefta and [[Talmud]] is ''ben Stada'' (son of Stada). However, in ''Shabbat 104b'' and ''Sanhedrin 67a'' in the Babylonian Talmud, a passage is found that some have interpreted as equating ben Pandera with ben Stada. The passage is in the form of a Talmudic debate in which various voices make statements, each refuting the previous statement. In such debates the various statements and their refutations are often of a Midrashic nature, sometimes incorporating subtle humour and should not always be taken at face value. The purpose of the passage is to arrive at a Midrashic meaning for the term Stada.

''Shabbat 104b'' relates that a ben Stada brought magic from [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] in incisions in his flesh. ''Sanhedrin 67a'' relates that a ben-Stada was caught by hidden observers and hanged in the town of Lod on the eve of [[Passover]]. The debate then follows. It begins by asking if this was not ben Pandera rather than ben Stada. This is refuted by the claim that it is both, his mother's husband was Stada but her lover was Pandera. This is countered with the claim the husband was [[Pappos ben Yehuda]] (a 2nd-century AD figure elsewhere remembered as having locked up his unfaithful wife and visiting Rabbi Akiva in jail after the [[Bar Kokhba revolt|Bar-Kokhba revolt]]) and that the mother was named Stada. This is then refuted by the claim that the mother was named Miriam, the dresser of women's hair, but that she had gone astray from her husband (a Miriam the daughter of Bilgah, is mentioned elsewhere as having had an affair with a Roman soldier). In Aramaic, "gone astray" is ''satat da'', thus a Midrashic meaning for the term Stada is obtained. Real historical relationships between the figures mentioned cannot be inferred due to the Midrashic nature of the debate. Pappos and Miriam might have been introduced simply as a result of their being remembered in connection with a theme of a woman having gone astray.

Ben-Stada is also mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud. In ''Shabbat 12:4 III'' he is mentioned as having learnt by cutting marks in his flesh. In ''Sanhedrin 7:12 I'' he is mentioned as an example of someone caught by hidden observers and subsequently stoned. This information is paralleled in the Tosefta in ''Shabbat 11:15'' and ''Sanhedrin 10:11'' respectively.

===Interpretation===

====Tannaim and Amoraim====
The [[Tannaim]] and [[Amoraim]] who recorded the accounts in the Talmud and Tosefta use the term ''Yeshu'' as a designation in ''Sanhedrin'' 103a and ''Berakhot'' 17b in place of King [[Manasseh of Judah|Manasseh]]'s real name. ''Sanhedrin'' 107b uses it for a Hasmonean era individual who in an earlier account (Jerusalem Talmud ''Chagigah'' 2:2) is anonymous. In ''Gittin'' 56b, 57a it is used for one of three foreign enemies of Israel, the other two being from past and present with ''Yeshu'' representing a third not identified with any past or present event.

====Early Jewish commentators (Rishonim)====
These accounts of Celsus and the ''[[Toledot Yeshu]]'' do not form part of Orthodox Jewish interpretation. The only classical Jewish commentator to equate Yeshu with Jesus was the [[Rishonim|Rishon]] (early commentator) [[Abraham Ibn Daud]] who held the view that the Jesus of Christianity had been derived from the figure of Yeshu the student of ben Perachiah. Ibn Daud was nevertheless aware that such an equation contradicted known chronology but argued that the Gospel accounts were in error.<ref>G. Cohen, ''A critical Edition with a Translation and Notes of the Book of Tradition (Sefer haKabbalah) by Abraham Ibn Daud''</ref>

Other [[Rishonim]], namely Rabbi Jacob ben Meir ([[Rabbeinu Tam]]), [[Nachmanides]], and [[Yechiel of Paris]]<ref name = "Berger" /> explicitly repudiated the equation of the Yeshu of the Talmud and Jesus. [[Menachem Meiri]] observed that the epithet ''Ha-Notzri'' attached to Yeshu in many instances was a late gloss.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

====The Church====
Friar [[Raymond Martini]], in his anti-semitic polemical treatise ''Pugio Fidei'', began the accusation echoed in numerous subsequent anti-semitic pamphlets that the ''Yeshu'' passages were derogatory accounts of Jesus.<ref name="Schafer">{{cite book
| last       = Schäfer
| first      = Peter
| author-link = Peter Schäfer
| title      = Jesus in the Talmud
| edition   = 3rd
| year      = 2007
| publisher = [[Princeton University Press]]
| location  = [[Princeton, New Jersey]]
| isbn      = 978-0-691-12926-6
| oclc      = 70823336
| lccn      = 2006050392
}}
</ref>

In 1554 a [[papal bull]] ordered the removal of all references from the [[Talmud]] and other Jewish texts deemed offensive and blasphemous to Christians. Thus the ''Yeshu'' passages were removed from subsequently published editions of the Talmud and Tosefta.<ref>Simon Cohen, Isaac Landman ed. ''The Universal Jewish encyclopedia: an authoritative and popular presentation of Jews and Judaism since the earliest times'', The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia inc., 1941, article ''Censorship''</ref> Nevertheless, several church writers{{Who|date=February 2022}} would refer to the passages as evidence of Jesus outside the Gospels.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}}

====Later Jewish commentators (Acharonim)====
{{See also|Acharonim}}
[[Jehiel Heilprin]] held that Yeshu the student of Yehoshua ben Perachiah was not Jesus.<ref>Jehiel Heilprin, ''Seder ha-dorot'', ed. Leṿin-Epshṭein ṿe-M. Ḳalinberg, 1867</ref> [[Jacob Emden]]'s writings also show an understanding that the Yeshu of the Talmud was not Jesus.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}

====Contemporary Orthodox scholars====
Rabbi [[Adin Steinsaltz]] translates "Yeshu" as "Jesus" in his translation of the Talmud.<ref name="Steinsaltz">Steinsaltz, Adin. ''The Talmud: The Steinsaltz Edition.'' Random House, 1989</ref> Elsewhere he has pointed out that Talmudic passages referring to Jesus had been deleted by the Christian censor.<ref>Steinsaltz The essential Talmud - Page 105 2006 "Wherever the Talmud makes derogatory reference to Jesus or to Christianity in general, the comment was completely erased, and the name of Christ was systematically removed, even when the reference was not negative."</ref>

====Theosophists and esotericists====
The interpretation of ''Yeshu'' as a proto-Jesus first seen in Abraham ibn Daud's work would be revisited by Egyptologist [[Gerald Massey]] in his essay ''The Historical Jesus and Mythical Christ'',<ref>Gerald Massey, ''The Historical Jesus and Mythical Christ'', Star Publishing Company, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1886</ref> and by [[G. R. S. Mead]] in his work ''Did Jesus Live 100 B.C.?''.<ref>G. R. S. Mead, ''Did Jesus Live 100 B.C.?'', Theosophical Publishing Society, London, 1903</ref> The same view was reiterated by Rabbi [[Avraham Korman]].<ref>Avraham Korman, ''Zeramim VeKitot Bayahdut'', Tel Aviv, 1927</ref> These views reflect the theosophical stance and criticism of tradition popular at the time but was rejected by later scholars. It has been revived in recent times by [[Alvar Ellegård]].<ref>Alvar Ellegård, ''Jesus – One Hundred Years Before Christ: A Study In Creative Mythology'', London, 1999</ref>

====Critical scholarship====
Modern critical scholars debate whether Yeshu does or does not refer to the historical Jesus, a view seen in several 20th-century encyclopedia articles including ''The Jewish Encyclopedia'',<ref name = "Je-Jesus">{{cite encyclopedia
 | author1 = Joseph Jacobs |author2=Kaufmann Kohler |author3=Richard Gottheil |author4=Samuel Krauss
 | author1-link = Joseph Jacobs |author2-link=Kaufmann Kohler |author3-link=Richard James Horatio Gottheil |author4-link=Samuel Krauss
 | editor =  Gotthard Deutsch
 | encyclopedia =[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]
 | title = Jesus of Nazareth
 | url = http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=254&letter=J
 | access-date = August 2, 2011
 | year = 1906
 | publisher = [[Funk & Wagnalls]]
 | quote = The Jewish legends in regard to Jesus are found in three sources, each independent of the others—(1) in New Testament apocrypha and Christian polemical works, (2) in the Talmud and the Midrash, and (3) in the life of Jesus ("Toledot Yeshu'") that originated in the Middle Ages.…The references to Yannai, Salome Alexandra, and Joshua b. Peraḥyah indicate that according to the Jewish legends the advent of Jesus took place just one century before the actual historical date; and some medieval apologists for Judaism, as Naḥmanides and Salman Ẓebi, based on this fact their assertion that the "Yeshu'" mentioned in the Talmud was not identical with Jesus; this, however, is merely a subterfuge.
}}
</ref> Joseph Dan in the ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' (1972, 1997).<ref>Encyclopaedia Judaica CD-ROM Edition 1.0 1997, article ''Jesus''</ref> and the ''Encyclopedia Hebraica'' (Israel). R. Travers Herford based his work on the understanding that the term refers to Jesus,{{sfnp|Herford|1903|pp=37–38}} and it was also the understanding of [[Joseph Klausner]].<ref name = "Theissen&Merz" /> They agree that the accounts offer little independent or accurate historical evidence about Jesus.<ref name = "Theissen&Merz" /> Herford argues that writers of the Talmud and Tosefta had only vague knowledge of Jesus and embellished the accounts to discredit him while disregarding chronology.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} Klausner distinguishes between core material in the accounts which he argues are not about Jesus and the references to "Yeshu" which he sees as additions spuriously associating the accounts with Jesus.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} Recent scholars in the same vein include Peter Schäfer,<ref name="Schafer"/> {{Citation needed span|text=Steven Bayme, and Dr. [[David C. Kraemer]].|date=August 2011}}

Recently, some scholars have argued that Yeshu is a literary device, and that the Yeshu stories provide a more complex view of early Rabbinic-Christian interactions. Whereas the [[Pharisees]] were one sect among several others in the Second Temple era, the [[Amoraim]] and [[Tannaim]] sought to establish Rabbinic Judaism as the normative form of Judaism. Like the rabbis, early Christians claimed to be working within Biblical traditions to provide new interpretations of Jewish laws and values. The sometimes blurry boundary between the rabbis and early Christians provided an important site for distinguishing between legitimate debate and heresy. Scholars like [[Jeffrey Rubenstein]] and [[Daniel Boyarin]] argue that it was through the Yeshu narratives that rabbis confronted this blurry boundary.<ref name = "Boyarin">{{cite book
| last       = Boyarin
| first      = Daniel
| author-link = Daniel Boyarin
| title         = Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism
| url           = https://books.google.com/books?id=JD_ep2riNtgC&q=dying+for+god+boyarin
| access-date    = August 14, 2011
| year      = 1999
| publisher = [[Stanford University Press]]
| location  = [[Stanford, California]]
| isbn      = 978-0-8047-3704-3
| oclc      = 41925527
| lccn      = 99040509
| page      = 26
| chapter   = 1. The Close Call; Or, Could a Pharisee Be a Christian?
| quote         = More to my point, however, the fact that the Talmud, in what seems clearly to be a late tradition, still reports on the founding of Christianity in this particular thematological vein connotes that in their eyes, Christianity was still seen structurally as a Jewish heresy indeed as a deviant Judaism, just as in the narrative of Mar Saba, Christianity is seen as only a true form of Judaism.  Close reading of some rabbinic texts will suggest that a couple of centuries earlier, the boundaries on the ground were drawn even less firmly, for all the desire of the "official" text to obscure this ambiguity.
}}</ref>

According to Jeffrey Rubenstein, the account in ''Sanhedrin'' 107b recognizes the kinship between Christians and Jews, since Jesus is presented as a disciple of a prominent rabbi. But it also reflects and speaks to an anxiety fundamental to Rabbinic Judaism. Prior to the destruction of the Temple in 70, Jews were divided into different sects, each promoting different interpretations of the law. Rabbinic Judaism domesticated and internalized conflicts over the law, while vigorously condemning any sectarianism. In other words, rabbis are encouraged to disagree and argue with one another, but these activities must be carefully contained, or else they could lead to a schism. Although this story may not present a historically accurate account of Jesus' life, it does use a fiction about Jesus to communicate an important truth about the rabbis.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite book |first=Jeffrey |last=Rubenstein |title=Rabbinic Stories |series=The Classics of Western Spirituality |place=New York |publisher=The Paulist Press |year=2002}}{{page needed|date=June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Daniel |last=Boyarin |title=Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism |place=Stanford, CA |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=1999}}{{page needed|date=June 2023}}</ref> Moreover, Rubenstein sees this story as a rebuke to overly harsh rabbis. Boyarin suggests that the rabbis were well aware of Christian views of the Pharisees and that this story acknowledges the Christian belief that Jesus was forgiving and the Pharisees were not (see Mark 2), while emphasizing forgiveness as a necessary rabbinic value.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>{{page needed|date=June 2023}}

An intermediate view is that of [[Hyam Maccoby]],<ref>{{cite book |editor=Hyam Maccoby |title=Judaism on Trial |series=Littman Library of Jewish Civilisation}}{{full citation needed|date=June 2023}}</ref> who argues that most of these stories were not originally about Jesus, but were incorporated into the Talmud in the belief that they were, as a response to Christian missionary activity.

====Skeptical writers====
[[Dennis McKinsey]] has challenged the view that the term refers to Jesus at all and argues that Jewish tradition knew of no historical Jesus.<ref>{{cite book |author=Dennis McKinsey |title=Biblical Errancy, A Reference Guide |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=2000}}</ref> Similar views have been expressed by skeptical science writer Frank R. Zindler in his polemical work ''The Jesus the Jews Never Knew: Sepher Toldoth Yeshu and the Quest of the Historical Jesus in Jewish Sources'',<ref>{{cite book |author=Frank R. Zindler |title=The Jesus the Jews Never Knew: Sepher Toldoth Yeshu and the Quest of the Historical Jesus in Jewish Sources |publisher=American Atheist Press |year=2003}}</ref> deliberately published outside the realm of Christian and Jewish scholarship.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

====Points on which writers have differed====
Writers have thus differed on several distinct but closely related questions:{{citation needed|date=June 2019}}
*whether Yeshu was intended to mean Jesus or not (e.g. Herford vs Nahmanides)
*whether the core material in the accounts regardless of the name was originally about Jesus or not (e.g. Herford vs Klausner)
*whether the core material is derivative of Christian accounts of Jesus, a forerunner of such accounts or unrelated (e.g. Herford vs Ibn Daud vs McKinsey)
*whether Yeshu is a real name or an acronym (e.g. Flusser vs Kjaer-Hansen)
*whether Yeshu is a genuine Hebrew equivalent for the name Jesus, a pun on the name Jesus or unrelated to the name Jesus (e.g. Klausner vs Eisenmenger vs McKinsey)

==The Toledot Yeshu==
{{Main|Toledot Yeshu}}
The ''Toledot Yeshu'' are not part of rabbinic literature and are considered neither canonical nor normative.<ref name="JudaicaToldoth">{{cite EJ
 | last = Dan
 | first = Joseph
 | author-link = Joseph Dan
 | title = Toledot Yeshu
 | url = http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CCX2587519928&v=2.1&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w
 | access-date = August 3, 2011
 | volume = 20
 | pages = 28–29
}}
</ref> There is no one authoritative ''Toledot Yeshu'' story; rather, various medieval versions existed that differ in attitudes towards the central characters and in story details. It is considered unlikely that any one person wrote it, and each version seems to be from a different set of storytellers.<ref name="JudaicaToldoth"/> In these manuscripts, the name "Yeshu" is used as designation of the central character. The stories typically understand the name "Yeshu" to be the acronym ''{{transliteration|he|Y'mach Sh'mo V'Zichrono}}'',{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} but justify its usage by claiming that it is wordplay on his real name, Yehoshua (i.e. [[Joshua (name)|Joshua]], a Hebrew equivalent of "Jesus"). The story is set in the [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean era]], reflecting the setting of the account of Yeshu the student of Yehoshuah ben Perachiah in the Talmud.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} Due to the Gospel parallels, the Toledot Yeshu narratives are typically viewed as a derogatory account of the life of Jesus resulting from Jewish reaction to persecution by Christians.<ref name="ReferenceA">Morris Goldstein, ''Jesus in the Jewish Tradition'', Macmillan, 1950</ref>

==Other occurrences==
The name Yeshu has also been found on the 1st-century AD [[ossuary]] of a ''Yeshua bar Yehoseph'', published by [[E. L. Sukenik]] in 1931, and catalogued by L. Y. Rahmani in 1994. Although Sukenik considered this the same as the term in the Talmud, he also entertained the possibility that the final letter ''ayin'' was left out due to lack of space between the decorations between which it was inscribed. The fully spelled out name ''Yeshua'' and the [[patronymic]] are also found on the ossuary.<ref name = "Sukenik">{{cite book
| last       = Sukenik
| first      = Eleazar Lipa
| author-link = Eleazar Sukenik
| title         = Jüdische Gräber Jerusalems um Christi Geburt
|trans-title=Jewish Graves of Jerusalem at Christ's Birth
| year      = 1931
| publisher = Azriel Press
| location  = [[Jerusalem]]
| language  = de
| oclc      = 729079
}}</ref><ref name= "Bauckham2008p81">{{cite book
| last       = Bauckham
| first      = Richard
| author-link = Richard Bauckham
| editor-last  = Quarles
| editor-first = Charles
| title        = Buried Hope or Risen Savior: The Search for the Jesus Tomb
| year      = 2008
| publisher = [[LifeWay Christian Resources|B&H Academic]]
| location  = [[Nashville, Tennessee]]
| isbn      = 978-0-8054-4717-0
| oclc      = 156832186
| lccn      = 2011282833
| page      = 81
| chapter   = The Names on the Ossuaries
}}
</ref><ref>Ada Yardeni Textbook of Aramaic, Hebrew and Nabataean documentary texts 2000  "(Rahmani 9) Yeshua son of Yehosef"</ref><ref>[[Hershel Shanks]], [[Ben Witherington]] (2004). ''Brother of Jesus''. p.59. "One of these, published by Professor [[E. L. Sukenik]] of the Hebrew University in 1931 (but purchased by the Palestine Archaeological Museum in 1926), is twice inscribed – once simply Yeshu (Jesus) and then Yeshua bar Yehosef."</ref><ref>ʻAtiqot: 29-30 Israel. Rashut ha-ʻatiḳot (1996). "The name yeshua (Yeshua = Jesus), a derivative of Yehoshua (Joshua), has been found on five ossuaries in the Israel State Collections, yeshu (Yeshu) on one, yehoshua (Yehoshua) on one (Rahmani 1994:293-295)."</ref> [[Richard Bauckham]] considers this a legitimate, if rare, form of the name in use at the time, and writes that this ossuary shows that the name Yeshu "was not invented by the rabbis as a way of avoiding pronouncing the real name of Jesus of Nazareth".<ref name= "Bauckham2008p81" />

The name Yeshu has also been found in a fragment of the [[Jerusalem Talmud]] from the Cairo [[Genizah]], a depository for holy texts which are not usable due to age, damage or errors. Flusser takes this as evidence of the term being a name;<ref name="Flusser">{{cite book |last       = Flusser
 |first      = David
 |author-link = David Flusser
 |others     = English translation by John Glucker
 |title      = Jewish sources in early Christianity
 |year       = 1989
 |publisher  = MOD Books
 |location   = [[Tel Aviv]]
 |isbn       = 965-05-0466-4
 |oclc       = 24082669
 |url        = https://archive.org/details/jewishsourcesine0000flus
}}
</ref> however, the standard text of the Jerusalem Talmud refers to one of the numerous Rabbi ''Yehoshua''s of the Talmud and moreover the fragment has the latter name at other points in the text.<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=L. |editor-last=Ginzberg |title=Yerushalmi Fragments from the Genizah |place=New York |year=1909}}{{full citation needed|date=June 2023}}</ref>

Yeshu is also mentioned in [[Isaac Luria]]'s "Book of the Reincarnations", chapter 37. Within the long list of Jewish [[Tzadik]]s it is written:

{{quote|
בלכתך מ[[צפת]] לצד צפון ללכת אל כפר [[עין זיתון]], דרך אילן אחד של חרוב, שם קבור [[יש"ו הנוצרי]]

On your way from [[Safed]] toward the North to the village of [[Ein al-Zeitun]], passing a carob tree, Yeshu Ha-Notzri is buried there.}}

A similar legend was reported by a Spanish monk when he visited Safed in 1555, with the difference in that the place was not where he was buried but where he hid.<ref name="http://www.zadikim.com/?catID=70766">{{Cite web|url=http://www.zadikim.com/?catID=70766|title = אגודת אהלי צדיקים|date = 10 May 2020}}</ref>

==Use in modern Hebrew as a name for Jesus==
The term ''Yeshu'' was used in Hebrew texts in the Middle Ages then through [[Rahabi Ezekiel]] (1750) and [[Elias Soloweyczyk]] (1869) who identified Jesus with the character of the [[Toledoth Yeshu]] narratives. Likewise ''Yeshu Ha-Notzri'' is the modern Hebrew equivalent for "Jesus the Nazarene" although in Christian texts the spellings ''Yeshua'' (i.e. "Joshua") and ''Yeshua Ha-Notzri''{{Citation needed|date=November 2012}} are preferred, as per the Hebrew New Testaments of [[Franz Delitzsch]] (BFBS 1875) and [[Isaac Salkinsohn]] (TBS 1886). In [[Israeli Hebrew]] ''Yeshu'' is used for Jesus of Nazareth as in [[Aaron Abraham Kabak]]'s novel "On the narrow path" ''Ba-Mishcol Ha-Tsar'' (1937). As with Bauckham's observation of medieval sources, the name Yeshu is still never applied to any of the other Joshuas in modern Hebrew, and lexicographers such as [[Reuben Alcalay]] distinguish ''Yeshua'' ("Joshua") and ''Yeshu'' ("Jesus").

==See also==
* [[Jacob the Min]]
* [[Jesus in the Talmud]]
* [[Yeshua]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2|refs=
<ref name="Herford">{{cite book
| last       = Herford
| first      = Robert Travers
| author-link = R. Travers Herford
| title         = Christianity in Talmud and Midrash
| url           = https://books.google.com/books?id=tA9WAAAAMAAJ
| via       = [[Google Books]]
| access-date    = August 2, 2011
| year      = 1903
| publisher = Williams & Norgate
| location  = [[London]]
| isbn      = 978-0-576-80168-3
| oclc      = 620683
| lccn      = a17000325
}}
</ref>

<ref name="individuals">See:<br />
*[[Gustaf Dalman]], ''Jesus-Jeshua'', London and New York, 1922, 89, cited in [[Joachim Jeremias]], ''Eucharistic Words of Jesus'', 1935, 3rd German ed. 1960, English 1966, p. 19.
*[[Joachim Jeremias]], ''Eucharistic Words of Jesus'', 1935, 3rd German Ed. 1960, English 1966 p. 19, footnote 7. "On the other hand, as [[Gustaf Dalman|G. Dalman]], ''Jesus-Jeshua'', London and New York, 1922 (ET of ''Jesus-Jeschua'', Leipzig, 1922), 89, rightly supposed, the often quoted passage b. Sanh. 43a (Bar.): 'on the day of preparation Jeshu was hanged' does not refer to Jesus but to a namesake, a disciple of R. [[Joshua ben Perachyah|Joshua b. Peraiah]] (c. 100 BC), cf. b.Sanh. 107b ( Bar.) par. b.Sot 47a."
*[[Roger T. Beckwith]], ''Calendar and Chronology, Jewish and Christian'', [[Brill Academic Publishers]], 2005, p. 294. "... the rest of the baraita, which states he was first stoned, and that his execution was delayed for forty days while a herald went out inviting anyone to say a word in his favour, suggest that it may refer to a different Yeshu altogether." footnote citing Jeremias 1966.
*Mark Allan Powell, ''Jesus as a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee'', [[Westminster John Knox]], 1998, [https://books.google.com/books?id=IJP4DRCVaUMC&pg=PA34 p. 34]. "Scholars debate whether there may be obscure references to Jesus in some of the collections of ancient Jewish writings, such as the Talmud, the Tosefta, the targums, and the midrashim... 'On the eve of Passover, they hanged Yeshu [= Jesus?] and the herald went before him 40 days... (Sanhedrin 43a)."
*[[Amy-Jill Levine]], ''The Historical Jesus in Context'', [[Princeton University Press]], 2008, p. 20. "Similarly controversial is the Babylonian Talmud's account of Jesus' death (to the extant that some Rabbinic experts do not think the reference is to the Jesus of the New Testament!)".
*{{cite book|last=Meier|first=John P.|author-link=John P. Meier|title=The Roots of the Problem and the Person |series=A marginal Jew: rethinking the historical Jesus |volume=1|year=1991|publisher=[[Anchor Bible Series]] |isbn=978-0-385-26425-9|oclc=316164636 |lccn=91010538 |page=98|quote=While not accepting the full, radical approach of Maier, I think we can agree with him on one basic point: in the earliest rabbinic sources, there is no clear or even probable reference to Jesus of Nazareth. Furthermore, I favor the view that, when we do finally find such references in later rabbinic literature, they are most probably reactions to Christian claims, oral or written.}}
</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
* Steven Bayme, ''Understanding Jewish History'' (KTAV), 1997
* Daniel Boyarin, ''Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999
* Robert Goldenberg, ''The Nations Know Ye Not: Ancient Jewish Attitudes towards Other Religions'' New York: New York University Press 1998
* Mark Hirshman, ''A Rivalry of Genius: Jewish and Christian Biblical Interpretation in Late Antiquity'' trans. Baya Stein. Albany: SUNY PRess 1996
* Joseph Klausner, ''Jesus of Nazareth'' (Beacon Books), 1964
* Thierry Murcia, ''Jésus dans le Talmud et la littérature rabbinique ancienne'', Turnhout (Brepols), 2014
* Jacob Neusner, ''Judaism in the Matrix of Christianity'' Philadelphia: Fortress Press 1986
* Jeffrey Rubenstein ''Rabbinic Stories'' (The Classics of Western Spirituality) New York: The Paulist Press, 2002
* R. Travers Herford, ''Christianity in Talmud and Midrash'' (KTAV), 1975
* Peter Schäfer, Jesus in the Talmud, Princeton University Press, 2007
* Dennis McKinsey, Biblical Errancy, A Reference Guide, Prometheus Books, (2000)
* Frank R. Zindler, The Jesus the Jews Never Knew: Sepher Toldoth Yeshu and the Quest of the Historical Jesus in Jewish Sources, American Atheist Press, 2003

==External links==
*[http://www.lost-history.com/toldoth.php The Sepher Toldoth Yeshu and its Links to the Gospel Jesus]
*[http://talmud.faithweb.com/articles/jesus.html (Refutations about) Jesus in the Talmud by Gil Student]
*[http://talmud.faithweb.com/articles/jesusnarr.html The (alleged) Jesus Narrative In The Talmud by Gil Student]
*[http://skeptically.org/bible/id4.html Did Jesus of Nazareth Exist? (The Talmud) by Dennis McKinsey]
*[https://www.ancientjewreview.com/articles/2014/12/25/a-quick-introduction-to-toledot-yeshu Toldoth Yeshu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201215032831/https://www.ancientjewreview.com/articles/2014/12/25/a-quick-introduction-to-toledot-yeshu |date=2020-12-15 }} One version of the Toledot Yeshu commonly approximately dated to the 6th century.
* [http://www.gnosis.org/library/grs-mead/jesus_live_100/index.htm Did Jesus Live 100 B.C.? By G. R. S. Mead], a classic work dedicated to this topic
* [http://www.jewishjournal.com/world/article/jesus_death_now_debated_by_jews_20031010/ Jesus' Death Now Debated by Jews] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304131304/http://www.jewishjournal.com/world/article/jesus_death_now_debated_by_jews_20031010/ |date=2016-03-04 }} by Eric J. Greenberg, The Jewish Week, USA, October 3, 2003

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