Jesus in the Talmud

152 Notes to Chapter 1witchcraft (keshafim) descended to the world: nine were taken by Egypt and oneby the rest of the world.”36. See Morton Smith, Jesus the Magician, San Francisco: Harper & Row,1978, especially pp. 21–44.37. See below, ch. 5.38. In Mk. 6:3, Jesus is called a carpenter.39. In Greek ton andra (lit. “the man”), which in this context can only mean“the husband.”40. The evangelist Mark, who does not report about Jesus’ birth, mentionsjust in passing that he has brothers and sisters, in other words, belongs to a completely“normal” family (Mk. 6:3).41. Who is again anachronistically called “her husband” (1:19).42. Martin Hengel reminds me that Matthew puts the emphasis very muchon Joseph, unlike Luke with his emphasis on Mary. If we accept the dating ofMatthew about fifteen–twenty years later than Luke, namely between 90 and 100C.E. (see Hans-Jürgen Becker, Auf der Kathedra des Mose. RabbinischtheologischesDenken und antirabbinische Polemik in Matthäus 23,1–12, Berlin:Institut Kirche und Judentum, 1990, p. 30 with n. 155), we might find inMatthew’s account of the story of Jesus’ birth a response to Jewish reproacheswith regard to the doubtful origins of Jesus.43. Apart, of course, from the Toledot Yeshu, which does not belong to theestablished canon of rabbinic Judaism.44. R. Yehoshua b. Hananya is famous for these dialogues, and the emperorvery often is Hadrian; see Moshe David Herr, “The Historical Significance of theDialogues between Jewish Sages and Roman Dignitaries,” Scripta Hierosolymitana22, 1971, pp. 123–150 (which is still useful, despite its rather positivistictendency).45. b Bekh 8b.46. Mt. 5:13.47. This has been suggested already by Moritz Güdemann, ReligionsgeschichtlicheStudien, Leipzig: Oskar Leiner, 1876, pp. 89ff., 136ff.; and PaulBillerbeck, “Altjüdische Religionsgespräche,” Nathanael 25, 1909, pp. 13–30,33–50, 66–80 (p. 68); see also Hermann L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck, Kommentarzum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch, vol. 1: Das Evangeliumnach Matthäus, Munich: Beck, 1922, p. 236. Maier even did not consider thestories worthy of being included in his Jesus von Nazareth. However, he does dis-