Jesus in the Talmud

5. Healing in the Name of JesusThe mysterious heretic by the name of Jacob makes yet another appearancein a story preserved again in Palestinian as well as in Babyloniansources. This time he does not seduce a rabbi by his convincingBible exegesis and expose the poor rabbi’s hidden leanings toward Christianitybut introduces himself as the proverbial miraculous healer whowhispers a potent magical word or phrase over a wound/illness and,through the power of the word(s) used, heals the patient.Rabbinic Judaism seems to be ambiguous about the custom of “whisperingover a wound” for healing purposes. In the famous Mishna Sanhedrin10:2, 1 R. Aqiva counts such miraculous healers among thosewho “have no portion in the world to come”: “one who whispers over awound and says: I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that Ibrought upon the Egyptians, for I the Lord am your healer (Ex. 15:26).”This sounds like a definite prohibition. The Tosefta, however, is muchless strict. There it is stated clearly: “[It is permitted to] whisper over aneye, a serpent, and a scorpion (= over the bite inflicted by a serpent or ascorpion) and to pass [a remedy] over the eye on the Sabbath,” 2 and thistradition is repeated in both the Jerusalem and the Babylonian Talmud. 3The Tosefta and the Talmudim take it for granted, therefore, that peoplewhisper over wounds for healing purposes and even allow this practiceon Sabbath. With a certain sense of irony, the Yerushalmi mentions