Some Jew-hater on Twitter has posted the following regarding ostensibly anti-Christian quotes from the Talmud, thinking it somehow a “win” for those who hate Jews and Judaism.
However, he seems to have forgotten to edit out Ben Shapiro’s excellent response!
Even though Ben Shapiro’s response is indeed excellent, it would have been even better had he rebutted the quotes brought up by the questioner.
I’ll start with the second quote – “Even the best of the gentiles should be killed” – since I actually rebutted it here in August. In short: it’s a mistranslated and taken-out-of-context opinion of a Rabbi in the Talmud.
But now to the claim that the Talmud teaches that Jesus is boiling in hellfire and excrement.
There is a quote in Gittin 57a of the Babylonian Talmud, to which the young man seems to be referring. There are many Rabbis, like Rabbi Gil Student, who claim this is not the same Jesus of Christianity, who is not mentioned in the Talmud at all:
[Onkelos Bar Kalonikus] called up Balaam from the dead. [Onkelos] asked: Who is honored in that world? [Balaam] replied: Israel. [Onkelos asked:] What about joining them? [Balaam] replied: (Deut. 23:7) “You shall not seek their peace or welfare all your days.” [Onkelos] asked: What is your punishment? [Balaam answered]: In boiling semen.[Onkelos] called up Yeshu from the dead. [Onkelos] asked: Who is honored in that world? [Yeshu] replied: Israel. [Onkelos asked:] What about joining them? [Yeshu] replied: Seek their good. Do not seek their bad. Whoever touches them is as if he touched the pupil of his eye. [Onkelos] asked: What is your punishment? [Yeshu answered]: In boiling excrement. As the mast said: Whoever mocks the words of the sages in punished in boiling excrement.Here we see a story of the famous convert Onkelos who, prior to converting, used black magic to bring up famous villains of history and ask them whether their wickedness saved them in the world to come. In both cases (there is a third case of Onkelos calling up Titus as well) the sinner is being terribly punished in the afterlife while Israel is being rewarded. Presumably, this helped convince Onkelos to convert to Judaism.
As we have explained elsewhere, Yeshu is not Jesus of the New Testament. He is most likely a prominent sectarian of the early first century BCE who deviated from rabbinic tradition and created his own religion combining Hellenistic paganism with Judaism. While Yeshu may be the proto-Jesus some scholars point to as inspiring the early Christians, he is definitely not the man who was crucified in Jerusalem in the year 33 CE.
Rabbi Student also mentions another important point, in rebuttal to those many people who claim “Balaam” is codeword for the Jesus of Christianity:
Interestingly, if someone were to claim that Yeshu in the passage above is Jesus, then Balaam cannot also refer to Jesus because both Balaam and Yeshu are in the passage together. In other words, it is self-contradicting to claim that the passages above about Balaam’s mother being a harlot or dying young refer to Jesus and to claim that the passage above about Yeshu being punished also refers to Jesus. You can’t have it both ways.
Now I won’t pretend that there aren’t also some Rabbis who argue that ‘Jesus’ of Gittin 57a is the same Jesus. But even if one accepts this interpretation (which I believe to be in the minority), I would respond by agreeing with what Ben Shapiro mentioned, namely that one needs to remember the Talmud was written at a time when Jews were being persecuted by Christians in the Roman Empire. So it is not inconceivable that some anti-Christian sentiment might be reflected in this book at such a time.
Nevertheless, I am more in the camp that it is not the same Jesus, especially given Judaism’s attitudes towards non-Jews.
The Talmud (Gittin 62a) writes one should address non-Jews with the Hebrew term Shalom, one of God’s Names, meaning we should bless a non-Jew with God’s Name when greeting him. The Talmud (Berachot 58a)1 teaches that one who sees a non-Jewish scholar of note should recite the blessing, “Blessed are you God who grants wisdom to flesh and blood.” The Talmud (Kiddushin 33a) dictates that one should arise for an elderly non-Jew and show them respect. Jews are mandated to give charity to non-Jews, visit their sick, and assist in burying them (Gittin 61a). Judaism requires Jews to treat non-Jews with kindness and decency.
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Furthermore, Judaism does not believe that only Jews capable of achieving a connection to the divine. Judaism maintains that any human being who leads a good and moral life achieves a relationship and connection to God. Non-Jews can attain a portion in the World to Come (Sanhedrin 105a),2 through their observance of the Noahide laws, which are a universal code of ethics mandated for all of mankind.3
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato, the great 18th century Kabbalist and ethicist, writes in his philosophical work The Way of God, “Man is unique because he possesses free will. Therefore, a quality is found in man that doesn’t exist in other creatures, namely, that his actions are repaid measure for measure. This reward is divided into parts, one in this world, the other in the world to come.” The choices of all human beings, Jew and non-Jew alike, are predicated by personal choice rather than instinct. Since they determine their moral and ethical behavior, the subsequent reward that follows positive choices is earned.
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Regarding the Messianic era, the Talmud (Pesachim 68a) and Midrash (Bereishit Rabba 26-2) are clear that righteous non-Jews are participants.7
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, one of the outstanding Jewish leaders of the 19th century wrote the following:
The truth is that the attitude of Judaism toward all other religious faiths and all human intellectual pursuits differs basically from the attitude of other religions. Judaism is probably the only religion that doesn’t declare, “There is no salvation outside myself,” that happily welcomes any intellectual or moral advance, no matter what its origin. The words of the Jewish prophets look with firm assurance to the ever growing, ever spreading spiritual and moral ennoblement not only of the Jews but of all mankind.
Judaism is probably the only religion that does not presume to reign supreme over all other religions. Judaism perceives itself as an instrument working for all mankind but not as a dictate to be obeyed by all men on earth. It welcomes any human, spiritual or ethical advance brought about by other religious faiths. – Collected writings vol. 7 pages 85-87.
When considering all of this, Judaism emerges as a shining example of tolerance and acceptance of people of different persuasions.
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