L | A (Translated with ChatGPT)
By Dor Saar-Man
Jesus carries the cross. The Jewish hat on the knights' emblem (background, right) is meant to emphasize the Jews' responsibility for Jesus' death (painting, Draskovic Fortress, Güssing, Austria, 1469)
In 1979, the film Monty Python's Life of Brian was released and immediately sparked controversy. In this wild parody of his life, Jesus Christ was depicted not as a holy figure born to a virgin but as a loser who stumbled into a ridiculous situation, leading many Jews to mistakenly believe he was the Messiah, despite performing no miracles.
Monty Python's mockery wasn't truly directed at Jesus himself but was aimed mainly at religious and political extremism.
However, the British troupe was not the first to create a parody of Jesus's life. Preceding the film by at least a thousand years was an anonymous Jewish work titled Sefer Toledot Yeshu (The Book of the History of Jesus). As its name suggests, the text aims to recount the life and death of Jesus Christ. Yet it does so in a mocking manner.
While the basis of the story appears to be the familiar narrative from the New Testament, the Jewish authors who composed this work chose to invert the roles, portraying Jesus as a cunning and brazen fraud.
The details about the composition itself remain somewhat unclear to this day. It is unknown who authored it, and there is no certainty about when it was written, although some speculate that it has roots as early as the third century CE. By the ninth century, however, the text was likely already established and well-known, with several versions circulating in Aramaic and Hebrew.
It is probable that it drew upon popular Jewish traditions that sought to mock the New Testament. Even today, there are multiple versions of the text, with notable differences between them.
A statue of Jesus on Charles Bridge with Hebrew inscriptions in golden letters. Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1987
In the text, Jesus is portrayed in a way completely opposite to the New Testament. He is not described as being born of a miraculous virgin birth to Mary, who was married to Joseph the carpenter. Instead, the story claims that Mary was married to another man, and Joseph seduced and then raped her while she was menstruating, resulting in the birth of Jesus, who is depicted as a bastard child.
As Jesus grows up, he is noted to be very intelligent but equally insolent. He is said to have stolen a note containing the Tetragrammaton (the explicit name of God), which he used to perform various magical acts.
According to the narrative, Jesus did not perform miracles because he was the Son of God but rather used magical means and was essentially a sorcerer. Interestingly, the Jewish text does not claim that Jesus performed mere sleight of hand but instead that he illicitly harnessed divine power.
The text frequently offers a mocking reinterpretation of well-known stories from the New Testament. For example, the miracle of the loaves is recast as a tale in which Jesus begs a man for bread. The man replies that Jesus can have the bread if he dances for him. Humiliating himself, Jesus complies, dances, and receives the bread.
The text also asserts that Jesus himself fabricated the story of his mother’s virginity. Embarrassed by the fact that he was a bastard, he allegedly preferred to spread the narrative that Christians still believe today.
In the New Testament, Judas Iscariot is considered a traitor, but in the Toledot Yeshu, he becomes the hero of the story. He does indeed betray Jesus to the Jewish authorities—but only because Jesus stole the note with the sacred name.
The ascension of Jesus is portrayed like a sitcom misunderstanding: after Jesus is crucified, Judas takes his body for proper burial in a coffin. However, when Jesus' disciples arrive at the crucifixion site, they don't find his body and mistakenly believe that a miracle occurred and Jesus ascended to heaven.
Even when Judas takes them to the burial site and shows them Jesus' body (which is described as covered in excrement), they remain unconvinced.
But the Toledot Yeshu is a unique work not only because of the way it describes the life and death of Jesus but also because of the last part, in which the Jews attempt to explain why Christianity continued to exist after Jesus' death: His disciples became violent toward the Jews, and the Romans feared their rebelliousness.
"Toledot Yeshu," one of the first editions
Therefore, the Romans and the Jews decided to play a prank that got out of control. They turned to Peter (who, for Christians, is the first pope) for help, and he decided to reach out to all the believers in Jesus and forge the Gospels of the New Testament and the Book of Revelation.
He invented an entire doctrine for the disciples, claiming that Jesus had instructed them to show forgiveness, wait for his return in the end times, and, in the meantime, not harm the Jews, as their revenge would come in the distant future.
Peter is presented here in a completely positive light in the eyes of the Jews: he is part of the Roman-Jewish mechanism that allowed for handling the wayward disciples of Jesus, expelling them from Judaism, and ensuring the continuation of the Jewish existence.
In her research on the work, Professor Ora Limor showed that for the Jewish authors, Jesus was indeed a despised figure, but he was not necessarily portrayed as evil.
The character of Jesus in the work resembles the heroes of Greek tragedy: his origins as a bastard child and his low social status largely determined his tragic fate and end. Ironically, Peter, the saintly figure in the eyes of Christians, suddenly becomes a Jewish hero. Although the work mocks the Christians, it also expresses a certain acceptance of their very existence.
One of the reasons that many details about the work remain unknown to this day is due to its problematic nature. It is not surprising to discover that throughout history, Jews rarely wrote about the work, which mocks and disgraces Christians, primarily out of fear that if Christians discovered it, they would use it as a weapon against the Jews.
Starting in the 12th century, Christians began to meticulously search for passages in Talmudic literature that demean Jesus, aiming to undermine the status of Jews as a minority to be protected – and instead present them as an arrogant minority that must be dealt with harshly.
The clear Jewish fear was that if the Toledot Yeshu became known to Christians, it would be yet another pretext for harming them.
They were right. Starting in the late Middle Ages, the book was discovered by many Christians, and thinkers like Martin Luther saw it as proof of the degradation and treachery of the Jews. In modern times, even Jewish thinkers strongly distanced themselves from the work, claiming that such a crude parody should never have seen the light of day.
However, this work can also be seen from another perspective. The Jewish-Christian debate in literature was often intellectual in nature, leading to deep philosophical arguments among elites. The Toledot Yeshu shows that the polemic was not confined to the elites – even crude popular parodies, which the leadership preferred to hide, played an important and significant role in the debate.
For further reading:
Judaism Looks at Christianity: The Polemic of the Priest's Nest and The History of Jesus by Ora Limor
By Dor Saar-Man
Jesus carries the cross. The Jewish hat on the knights' emblem (background, right) is meant to emphasize the Jews' responsibility for Jesus' death (painting, Draskovic Fortress, Güssing, Austria, 1469)
In 1979, the film Monty Python's Life of Brian was released and immediately sparked controversy. In this wild parody of his life, Jesus Christ was depicted not as a holy figure born to a virgin but as a loser who stumbled into a ridiculous situation, leading many Jews to mistakenly believe he was the Messiah, despite performing no miracles.
Monty Python's mockery wasn't truly directed at Jesus himself but was aimed mainly at religious and political extremism.
However, the British troupe was not the first to create a parody of Jesus's life. Preceding the film by at least a thousand years was an anonymous Jewish work titled Sefer Toledot Yeshu (The Book of the History of Jesus). As its name suggests, the text aims to recount the life and death of Jesus Christ. Yet it does so in a mocking manner.
While the basis of the story appears to be the familiar narrative from the New Testament, the Jewish authors who composed this work chose to invert the roles, portraying Jesus as a cunning and brazen fraud.
The details about the composition itself remain somewhat unclear to this day. It is unknown who authored it, and there is no certainty about when it was written, although some speculate that it has roots as early as the third century CE. By the ninth century, however, the text was likely already established and well-known, with several versions circulating in Aramaic and Hebrew.
It is probable that it drew upon popular Jewish traditions that sought to mock the New Testament. Even today, there are multiple versions of the text, with notable differences between them.
A statue of Jesus on Charles Bridge with Hebrew inscriptions in golden letters. Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1987
In the text, Jesus is portrayed in a way completely opposite to the New Testament. He is not described as being born of a miraculous virgin birth to Mary, who was married to Joseph the carpenter. Instead, the story claims that Mary was married to another man, and Joseph seduced and then raped her while she was menstruating, resulting in the birth of Jesus, who is depicted as a bastard child.
As Jesus grows up, he is noted to be very intelligent but equally insolent. He is said to have stolen a note containing the Tetragrammaton (the explicit name of God), which he used to perform various magical acts.
According to the narrative, Jesus did not perform miracles because he was the Son of God but rather used magical means and was essentially a sorcerer. Interestingly, the Jewish text does not claim that Jesus performed mere sleight of hand but instead that he illicitly harnessed divine power.
The text frequently offers a mocking reinterpretation of well-known stories from the New Testament. For example, the miracle of the loaves is recast as a tale in which Jesus begs a man for bread. The man replies that Jesus can have the bread if he dances for him. Humiliating himself, Jesus complies, dances, and receives the bread.
The text also asserts that Jesus himself fabricated the story of his mother’s virginity. Embarrassed by the fact that he was a bastard, he allegedly preferred to spread the narrative that Christians still believe today.
In the New Testament, Judas Iscariot is considered a traitor, but in the Toledot Yeshu, he becomes the hero of the story. He does indeed betray Jesus to the Jewish authorities—but only because Jesus stole the note with the sacred name.
The ascension of Jesus is portrayed like a sitcom misunderstanding: after Jesus is crucified, Judas takes his body for proper burial in a coffin. However, when Jesus' disciples arrive at the crucifixion site, they don't find his body and mistakenly believe that a miracle occurred and Jesus ascended to heaven.
Even when Judas takes them to the burial site and shows them Jesus' body (which is described as covered in excrement), they remain unconvinced.
But the Toledot Yeshu is a unique work not only because of the way it describes the life and death of Jesus but also because of the last part, in which the Jews attempt to explain why Christianity continued to exist after Jesus' death: His disciples became violent toward the Jews, and the Romans feared their rebelliousness.
"Toledot Yeshu," one of the first editions
Therefore, the Romans and the Jews decided to play a prank that got out of control. They turned to Peter (who, for Christians, is the first pope) for help, and he decided to reach out to all the believers in Jesus and forge the Gospels of the New Testament and the Book of Revelation.
He invented an entire doctrine for the disciples, claiming that Jesus had instructed them to show forgiveness, wait for his return in the end times, and, in the meantime, not harm the Jews, as their revenge would come in the distant future.
Peter is presented here in a completely positive light in the eyes of the Jews: he is part of the Roman-Jewish mechanism that allowed for handling the wayward disciples of Jesus, expelling them from Judaism, and ensuring the continuation of the Jewish existence.
In her research on the work, Professor Ora Limor showed that for the Jewish authors, Jesus was indeed a despised figure, but he was not necessarily portrayed as evil.
The character of Jesus in the work resembles the heroes of Greek tragedy: his origins as a bastard child and his low social status largely determined his tragic fate and end. Ironically, Peter, the saintly figure in the eyes of Christians, suddenly becomes a Jewish hero. Although the work mocks the Christians, it also expresses a certain acceptance of their very existence.
One of the reasons that many details about the work remain unknown to this day is due to its problematic nature. It is not surprising to discover that throughout history, Jews rarely wrote about the work, which mocks and disgraces Christians, primarily out of fear that if Christians discovered it, they would use it as a weapon against the Jews.
Starting in the 12th century, Christians began to meticulously search for passages in Talmudic literature that demean Jesus, aiming to undermine the status of Jews as a minority to be protected – and instead present them as an arrogant minority that must be dealt with harshly.
The clear Jewish fear was that if the Toledot Yeshu became known to Christians, it would be yet another pretext for harming them.
They were right. Starting in the late Middle Ages, the book was discovered by many Christians, and thinkers like Martin Luther saw it as proof of the degradation and treachery of the Jews. In modern times, even Jewish thinkers strongly distanced themselves from the work, claiming that such a crude parody should never have seen the light of day.
However, this work can also be seen from another perspective. The Jewish-Christian debate in literature was often intellectual in nature, leading to deep philosophical arguments among elites. The Toledot Yeshu shows that the polemic was not confined to the elites – even crude popular parodies, which the leadership preferred to hide, played an important and significant role in the debate.
For further reading:
Judaism Looks at Christianity: The Polemic of the Priest's Nest and The History of Jesus by Ora Limor
