Foundations of Faith

FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH IN JESUS
M. M. NINAN
that informed believers object to the name Yeshu, because they understand it as a rabbinically
modified form of the name Yeshua.
In some versions of the Toledot Yeshu, the name “YeSHU” is used as an acronym for “Yemach
Shemo U’zikhro” which translated means “May his name and memory be blotted out”.
Yemach comes from the root word Machah (H4229) meaning to blot, Shemo from the root word
shem (H8034) which means name or reputation, and zikhro from the root word zayker (H2143),
which means a memorial or remembrance. This statement is spoken in the form of a curse,
because to erase the name and memory of a person is to erase all knowledge of their being. It
should also be noted, that this phrase, or a shortened version is often used in Jewish writings
when the name of a despised individual (Hitler, Amalek, Hayman, etc) has been mentioned.
This could be a possible allusion to Psalms 109:13-15, where king David curses the enemies of
Israel:
13 let his posterity be cut off; let their name be blotted out (yimach shemam) in the following
generation;
14 let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered to YHWH; and let not the sin of his mother be
blotted out;
15 let them be always before YHWH, so that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth;
(v’yak’rat ma’erets zikram)
It could also be fashioned after the Biblical curses found in the Torah, that were placed on the
enemies of Israel, such as Exodus 17:14 and Deuteronomy 25:19.
In Exodus we find “machoh emche et zeykher Amaleq mitachat hashamayim” translated as “I
will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven”. Amalek is also cursed in
Deuteronomy 25:19 as well. "
Shem Tov rewrites Matthew
"In the Shem Tov Matthew, in many places the name of Jesus is also written in the Hebrew as
Yeshu. The Shem Tov Matthew is a theologically altered middle ages manuscript (1390 ce),
which was copied from a Latin text that originated from the Greek making it a third generation
altered copy at best. This anti-Catholic version of the book of Matthew was included in the
writing titled “Even Bohan” which translates as “The Touchstone.”
The Shem Tov Matthew has modified passages in some chapters that use Talmudic references, as
well as some references from the Toldoth Yeshu.
This document was authored by Shem Tov, who resided in Spain during the fourteenth
century. He was an anti-Catholic Jewish writer, who wrote this in an attempt to stop the Jewish
people from accepting Catholiscism as their faith. The Shem Tov Matthew has anti-Catholic
polemical commentary written by him throughout the document. There are a handfull of Shem
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