Jesus in the Talmud

Notes to Chapter 3 15530. Sifre Deuteronomy, 357:10 (ed. Finkelstein, p. 430); Seder Eliyahu Zuta,ed. Friedmann, p. 191; b BB 15b; BamR 20:1; Tanhuma, Balaq 1.31. Targumim (Codex Neofiti, Fragment-Targums, Pseudo-Jonathan) onNum. 24:25; y Sanh 10:2/25–29, fol. 28d; b Sanh 106a; Sifre Numbers, 131 (ed.Horovitz, pp. 170f.). See on Balaam, Peter Schäfer, “Bileam II. Judentum,” inTRE 6, 1980, pp. 639f.32. The same problem should apply, however, to Doeg as well because he isan Edomite.Chapter 3The Frivolous Disciple1. b Sanh 107b and b Sot 47a. I follow the version in Sanhedrin and refer tothe variant readings in the manuscripts.2. b Sanh: Yehoshua b. Perahya/Jesus are preserved in Mss. Yad ha-RavHerzog 1, Firenze II.1.8–9 and in the Vilna printed edition; Ms Munich 95erases “Jesus the Nazarene” (le-Yeshu is still faintly visible). b Sot: Yehoshua b.Perahya/Jesus are preserved in Mss. Oxford Heb. d. 20 (2675), Vatican 110,and this time also Munich 95, whereas the Vilna printed edition reads: “andnot as Yehoshua b. Perahya, who pushed one of his disciples away with bothhands.”3. b Sot adds: “Shimon b. Shetah was hidden by his sister” (who happened tobe, according to rabbinic tradition, king Yannai’s wife).4. Vilna printed edition: “and Jesus.”5. “Jesus (the Nazarene)” in Mss. Yad ha-Rav Herzog 1 (b Sanh) and OxfordHeb. d. 20 (2675) (b Sot).6. Or “bleared, dripping” (terutot); cf. Jastrow, Dictionary, s.v. “tarut.”7. Mss. Munich 95 (Sanh 107b), Vatican 110, and the Vilna printed edition(Sot 47a) have only “He [the disciple].”8. For a detailed analysis of the story and its Christian parallels, see StephenGero, “The Stern Master and His Wayward Disciple: A ‘Jesus’ Story in the Talmudand in Christian Hagiography,” JSJ 25, 1994, pp. 287–311; also the brieftreatment in Daniel Boyarin, Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making ofChristianity and Judaism, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999,pp. 23–26.