Jesus in the Talmud

174 Notes to Chapter 927. See above, ch. 2.28. Also, the similarity of the punishments for Balaam and Jesus/the sinnersof Israel (hot semen and hot excrement) makes it highly probable that the hotexcrementpunishment originated in the context of our b Gittin story rather thanof b Eruvin.29. As Maier again takes for granted (Jesus von Nazareth, p. 98). Quite theopposite seems to be the case if we follow the logic of the story: Jesus is the climaxat the end and as such the “sinner of Israel” par excellence.30. Mt. 15:1–20; Mk. 7:1–23; Lk. 11:37–41.31. Mt. 15:17–20; Mk. 7:18–23.32. The credit—or the blame (depending on the viewpoint)—for this particularlybold interpretation must be given to Israel Yuval: in this case, I still remembervividly that when we were preparing our seminar and were pressing the obviousanalogy between Balaam and Jesus, he suddenly came up with this suggestion,which has the advantage of taking seriously the particular punishment of Jesus.33. Mt. 26:26–28; Mk. 14:22–24; Lk. 22:19–20; cf. 1 Cor. 11:23–26.34. Ignatius, Letter to the community of Smyrna 7:1 (Early Christian Fathers,vol. 1, trans. and ed. by Cyril C. Richardson, Philadelphia: Westminster, 1953,p. 114). And see Justin, Apol. I:66.35. John 6:48–58.36. Yuval, Two Nations in Your Womb, p. 71, comes to a different conclusion.He sees here, put into the mouth of Jesus, an echo of Augustine’s theologicalclaim to protect the life of the Jews and to save them for future salvation.Chapter 9Jesus in the Talmud1. Even a scholar like Morton Smith cannot conceal his indignation at the“pure fantasy” and “nonsense” when discussing some of our rabbinic stories; see,e.g., his Jesus the Magician, p. 49.2. On the rabbinic concept of history, see Arnold Goldberg, “Schöpfung undGeschichte. Der Midrasch von den Dingen, die vor der Welt erschaffen wurden,”Judaica 24, 1968, pp. 27–44 (reprinted in idem, Mystik und Theologie desrabbinischen Judentums. Gesammelte Studien I, ed. Margarete Schlüter and Pe-