Jesus in the Talmud

Jesus’ Punishment in Hell 87curse Israel as requested by Balak, the king of Moab, but instead blessedthem. Nevertheless, Balaam is held responsible for initially wanting tocarry out Balak’s request and to curse Israel. 20 Therefore, ironically, the authorof the Bavli narrative puts the verse originally referring to Ammon andMoab into Balaam’s mouth, turning it into an advice against Israel. So inthe end Balaam gets what he always wanted: to curse Israel. And finally Jesusor the sinners of Israel, respectively: They are the only ones who actuallyadvise Onqelos to seek Israel’s welfare and not their harm, that is, inthe present context, to indeed join them. The stark warning “Whoevertouches them is as though he touches the apple of his eye” is an allusion toZechariah 2:12, obviously interpreting “his eye” not as “his own eye” but as“His [God’s] eye.” Hence, Jesus/the sinners of Israel come out on top ofthis “contest” between the wicked of the wicked—but still, they are punishedin the Netherworld for what they did in their lifetime.What is it then that our arch-villains of Jewish history did, and how arethey punished (because, obviously, the punishment stands in direct relationshipto their crime committed against Israel)? Titus’ case is the simplestof the three: He has burned the Temple to ashes and has fittingly decreedthat after his death he shall be burned and his ashes be scatteredover the seas. In an ironical enactment of his will, his punishment consistsof his body being reassembled and burnt and his ashes being scatteredover the seas over and over again—literally forever, as the Tosefta tells us.Balaam’s sin, of course, is his attempt to curse Israel (unfortunately, hecannot take the credit for the fact that the curse failed and was transformedinto a blessing), but what about his punishment in boiling semen?This can be inferred from the biblical account of Israel attaching itself tothe Moabite god Baal-Peor, whose worship entailed, according to theBible, whoring with Moabite women (Num. 25:1–3) and eating sacrificesoffered to the dead (Ps. 106:28). The former is regarded as indulging insexual orgies connected to the worship of Baal-Peor, and since Balaamenticed Israel into this sexual transgression (Num. 31:16), he is appropriatelypunished in the Netherworld by sitting in boiling semen.Now Jesus/the sinners of Israel: We do not hear anything about his/theircrime and cannot, therefore, explain the punishment (which is bizarreenough) as a consequence of any particular crime. The Talmud editor,in his first comment on the Jesus/sinners of Israel part of our narrative,