# Jesus in the Talmud **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 14, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-in-the-talmud/502977 "2009-07-14T13:59:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-in-the-talmud/502977/1 "2009-07-14T13:59:11Z")
Sort of a GQ, but in GD because of the religious content: While looking for a list of task to be performed by the Messiah (in response to **Stink Fish Pot** ’s [question in this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=524466)) I cam across this Google book - [Questions Christians Ask the Rabbi](http://books.google.com/books?id=fKv9b5NgJloC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s). On page 12 (question 17) is posed the question “Is much written about Jesus in Jewish Texts?”, to which the author responds (paraphrased, except where quoting): Jesus lived in tumultuous times and he and his band were fairly insignificant, so when the Talmud came to be written down 500 yrs later, “little or no information” was available. Consequently “few references” to Jesus were included in the “early editions of the Talmud” and in “1580 the Church forced Jews to expunge all references”. Can anyone elaborate further on either what _was_ included in the early Talmud or the process of expunging? Thanks Grim ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-in-the-talmud/502977/2 "2009-07-14T14:19:14Z")
Basically, there were a handful of comments about men named Yeshua or something similar that some people consider references to Jesus of Nazareth. There were a few other theological comments about the errors of Christianity. Whatever was said in the Talmud is still in the Talmud. There has never been a time when the Roman Catholic Church, (or even a larger body of Christianity), controlled every location where Jews lived and any reference removed in (say) Italy would still have existed in other parts of the world. One thing to remember about the Talmud is that it was the world’s first blog. It expresses many theological beliefs that are held true by Judaism, but it also includes the comments and arguments that preceded and led up to the acceptance of those thruths, so finding something in the Talmud means only that some Jewish author with a certain level of respect opined, conjectured, or argued about a particular event or belief. Here is one site that addresses the issue of Jesus in the Talmud. I cannot vouch for its accuracy, although I have not yet found any glaring errors. > **[The Jesus Narrative In The Talmud](https://www.angelfire.com/mt/talmud/jesusnarr.html)** > > Jesus in the Talmud. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-in-the-talmud/502977/3 "2009-07-14T15:05:31Z")
tomndebb: > [@](#): > > Whatever was said in the Talmud is still in the Talmud. There has never been a time when the Roman Catholic Church, (or even a larger body of Christianity), controlled every location where Jews lived and any reference removed in (say) Italy would still have existed in other parts of the world. While it’s true that the Roman Catholic Church didn’t control everywhere that Jews lived, for a decent chunk of time, between the 11th and 15th centuries give-or-take, it controlled pretty much everywhere that advanced Talmudic scholarship was being done. There were great scholars in Muslim-controlled areas of Spain and Northern Africa (Maimonides, for one) but most of the Talmudic commentary was produced by the schools in France and Germany and in Christian parts of Spain. And because that’s where the Talmudic scholars disseminated their works, many of the texts in non-Christian parts of the world came from or were copied from texts that originated in Christian areas. The RCC vey much had the ability to censor Talmudic texts, and a number of passages that might be construed as unflattering to Christians or their namesake are known to us only from a few surviving unaltered texts. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-in-the-talmud/502977/4 "2009-07-14T15:45:35Z")
Interesting. I was under the impression that that effort was occurring in Spain, Egypt, and Mesopotamia during that period. I was not aware that Talmudic discussions were that strong in late Medieval Europe. I withdraw my comment. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-in-the-talmud/502977/5 "2009-07-14T15:52:58Z")
The most famous Talmudic commentators of the Middle Ages were Rashi, from France, and his son-in-law, Judah ben Nathan.