Jesus in the Talmud

36 Chapter 3the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai. 10 After having established the chainof tradition from Moses through the members of the “Great Assembly,”the Mishna proceeds first with certain individuals (Shimon the Righteous,Antigonos from Sokho) and then with altogether five “pairs,” all ofthem shrouded in the mists of history, reaching safer historical groundonly with the last pair (Hillel and Shammai). Yehoshua b. Perahya belongsto the second “pair” (together with Nittai ha-Arbeli), whereas Shimonb. Shetah forms (together with Yehuda b. Tabbai) the third one.Except for Shimon b. Shetah and Hillel/Shammai, little is knownabout these early “pairs,” who are presented as the “forefathers” of the rabbis.And why of all possible candidates Yehoshua b. Perahya is chosen asthe one who fled to Egypt (presumably together with his favorite student)remains dubious. 11 A more plausible (although not necessarily historicallymore reliable) setting is suggested by the parallel version of our story inthe Talmud Yerushalmi. 12 There, the heroes of the story are Yehuda b.Tabbai and Shimon b. Shetah, the third “pair,” and it is Yehuda b. Tabbai,who flees to Alexandria—not because of King Yannai’s persecution ofthe Pharisees/rabbis but for a much more mundane reason: he wanted toescape his appointment as naśi (Patriarch) of the Jewish people. This isbut another anachronistic attempt of the rabbis to backdate a later (secondcentury C.E.) rabbinic institution to a much earlier period, but atleast it explains why Shimon b. Shetah so desperately wanted him to returnto Jerusalem. 13The framework plot of our narrative, in both the Bavli and in theYerushalmi versions, does not help much to understand and to locate historicallythe core of the story: the strange incident between a teacher(Yehoshua b. Perahya/Yehuda b. Tabbai) and his favorite student (anonymous/Jesus).The incident occurs in an inn on their way back toJerusalem. 14 Satisfied with how they are received, the master praises theinn, but his student, misunderstanding him as praising the (female)innkeeper, 15 makes a disparaging remark about the less than beautiful appearanceof the lady. The master is horrified by his student’s frivolousthoughts 16 and immediately excommunicates him. The poor student triesto appease his master but initially in vain. When the master finally isready to forgive him, the student misunderstands his body language, 17leaves the master in despair and becomes an idolater. Now the master