Jesus in the Talmud

Jesus’ Punishment in Hell 91sitting in hot semen. So what could be the link between Jesus’ heresy andhis sitting in hot excrement? Since the text does not give any clue (as in thecase of Titus) and since we cannot use the Hebrew Bible to fill the gap leftin the Bavli text (as in the case of Balaam), we can only speculate—andthis is what I am prepared to do. We are looking for a connection betweenJesus’ heresy and his punishment (hot excrement), and I propose a connectionas bizarre as the punishment. The Talmud does not tell us whatthe heresy was that Jesus propagated, but we can safely assume—with ourknowledge of the other texts discussed—that it must have to do with idolatryand blasphemy. The first and obvious possibility that comes to mind isJesus’ discussion with the Pharisees in the New Testament when the Phariseesask why Jesus’ disciples do not wash their hands before they eat. Jesusexplains to the crowd following him that “it is not what goes into themouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”30 The disciples get the more detailed explanation:(17) Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters thestomach, and goes out into the sewer? (18) But what comes out ofthe mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. (19) Forout of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication,theft, false witness, slander. (20) These are what defile a person, butto eat with unwashed hands does not defile. 31Hence, what Jesus apparently argues is that the Pharisaic purity rules donot really matter. What is important is not the purity of the hands and ofthe food—because food is processed within the body, and any inherentimpurity will be excreted and ends up in the sewer—but the purity of the“heart” (because it is processed through the mouth and, when uttered,starts a fatal life of its own). In other words, not food is impure but humanintentions and actions are impure. The rabbinic counternarrative aboutJesus’ punishment would then ironically invert his attack on the Pharisaicpurity laws by having him sit in excrement and teaching him (as well ashis followers) the lesson: you believe that only what comes out of themouth defiles, well, you will sit forever in your own excrement and willfinally understand that also what goes into the mouth and comes out ofthe stomach defiles.