Jesus in the Talmud

The Torah Teacher 43answers. First of all, it remains completely unclear why R. Eliezer was arrestedand what the heresy was of which the Roman governor suspectedhim. R. Eliezer is the famous Eliezer b. Hyrkanos (late first–early secondcentury C.E.), the favored disciple of Rabban Yohanan b. Zakkai and theparagon of rabbinic zeal and determination. 15 The Roman authorities,however, certainly did not arrest him for nothing, yet the only accusationwe hear from the trial is that he was occupying himself with “such idlethings.” 16 The accused even does not bother to defend himself; he simplyputs his fate into the hands of the heavenly judge. The earthly judge, believingthat the accused refers to him, acquits the rabbi.What can the “idle things” have been with which the rabbi was occupyinghimself and which provoked the wrath of the Roman authorities?Strangely enough, R. Eliezer does not know himself of what he was accusedand he needs one of his students (Aqiva) to remind him. Evenworse, the rabbi seems to accept the accusation because—instead of beinghappy about his obviously unexpected release—he needs to be comfortedfor what he did. A clue to the mysterious accusation may be foundin an addition that is preserved only in the Tosefta Hullin version of ourstory. There, the governor says: “Since you have deemed me reliable foryourself, so thus I have said (= ruled): [...] dimissus: you are acquitted!”Unfortunately, what precisely the governor says before he reaches his conclusionof dimissus is difficult to understand. The Hebrew text reads: efsharšhsybw hallalu to