Jesus in the Talmud

110 Chapter 9If the whore’s son (bera di-zeneta) tells you:There are two gods,answer him:I am the one from the sea—and I am the one from Sinai! [ ...]And if the whore’s son tells you:There are two gods,answer him:It is not written here (in Deut. 5:4): “Gods 54 spoke (dibberu elohim) [toyou] face to face,” but “The Lord 55 spoke (dibber YHWH) [to you]face to face on the mountain.”As was the case with the previous midrash, the two answers given to theheretical question are standard rabbinic theology. The first refers to the famousmidrash about God who, despite his various historical manifestations(exemplified by his appearance at the Red Sea and on MountSinai), always remains one and the same. Although at the Red Sea he appearedas a warrior, and hence a young man, and on Mount Sinai as thewise and serene giver of the Torah, and hence an old man, God is and remainsalways the same God. He does not change, and one certainly cannotconclude from his various appearances that there is more than oneGod. 56 Similarly, that God is referred to in the Bible verse about the revelationon Mount Sinai in the singular and not in the plural is clear proofthat he is one God and not two or more. 57However, this use of traditional midrashic material does not necessarilymean that our text has nothing to do with Jesus. 58 Nor does the possibilitythat we may instead be dealing with anti-gnostic polemics pose a persuasivecounterargument. 59 Quite on the contrary, “gnosticism” is too vague alabel to be of much value—and should not be played off against “Christianity”anyhow, since often enough neither can be neatly separated in ourrabbinic sources. And the main argument in favor of anti-Jesus polemic, ofcourse, is the programmatic opening “If the whore’s son tells you.” Whoelse could be the “son of the whore” other than Jesus, the bastard, bornfrom an adulterous mother, who distinguishes himself from his fellow rabbisby leading a life of sexual promiscuity and frivolity? The proposal thatthis disparaging epithet refers, instead of to Jesus, just to pagan idolaters 60 is