from THE JEWISH RELIGION: Its Influence Today
by Elizabeth Dilling

# III.
THE TALMUD AND BIBLE BELIEVERS

Chapter Summary

Text Version (Printer Friendly) |
[page 12]
T
he supreme hatred of Talmudic Judaism is reserved for and directed against the hated "adherers to the text" of Scripture who are, thus, accused of spurning the words of the Pharisee "Sages," as enshrined in the Babylonian Talmud. These "adherers" to the Bible are classified as the primary enemies of Judaism. They are all "idolators," "heathen," "goy." They rank not only as animals — like the rest of the non-Jewish human race, but as the lowest and most despised form of life. The Talmud frequently refers to Bible adherents scathingly as "Samaritans" and "Cutheans," phraseology similarly used to excoriate Christians. The Sadducees were the first of these enemies. They were the constant opponents of the Pharisees and their imported Babylonian paganism, misrepresented by the Pharisees as the Tradition of the Elders, the "Oral Law" ostensibly transmitted privately to Moses and on down, superseding anything written in the Bible. In the six years of civil war between the Pharisees and Alexander Jannaeus, King and High Priest of Jerusalem, 50,000 were killed on both sides before this Sadducean ruler succumbed, and his widow Salome turned affairs over to the Pharisees in 79 B.C. Her brother, Simon ben Shetah, had been waiting for such an opportunity. The continued civil war resulted in the sons of Alexander Jannaeus, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, in 63 B.C., going hat in hand to Pompey, Caesar's Roman General in Syria, asking him to invade Palestine and slaughter their respective opponents. This is how Rome happened to be in power when Christ was born. Only after Christ's Ascension did the Pharisees triumph. Other enemies have been the Samaritans, whom Our Lord seemed to favor. They had been brought in from Cutha and other far places in the World Assyrian Empire, to take the place of the ten Israel tribes deported in 721 B.C. They had adopted Biblical Judaism and opposed the return from Babylon in 536 B.C. of the Pharisee-run population. Each year a handful of Samaritans celebrate Passover on the site of their former temple at Mt. Gerizim, an event contemptuously referred to by American Jewish writers. The Karaites arose in the 8th century in Babylonia under Anan to plague the Pharisee top element by scorning the Talmud and holding up the Bible as supreme authority. A molten stream of hatred, therefore, was turned on them. With true Talmudic "Brotherhood" and "tolerance," Anan was expelled from Babylonia, and founded the Karaite sect in Jerusalem. Later, when the few remaining thousands of Karaites were favored by the Czar of Russia, although classed as "untouchables" by Talmudists, the latter offered to join the Karaites to get immunity from Czarist displeasure — but the Karaites turned them down as hypocrites. The supreme curses the Karaites have shared with Christians are due to the adherence of the Karaites to the Bible, instead of the "sages," or Jewish Talmud. They are likened to the Sadducees and Samaritans in this. (See Exhibit 16, Exhibit 24, Exhibit 25, and Exhibit 26). #### Talmudic Anti-Christianity The ultimate object of hatred in Talmudic Judaism is Christ, and the targets of Talmudic hatred are not just Gentile non-Jews, "the people who are like an ass — slaves who are considered the property of the master" (Talmud, Kethuboth 111a). Of these non-Jews, the Christians are most insanely hated and loathed because their doctrines are the opposite of every Talmudic doctrine. They rank not just as animals, like the rest of non-Talmudic humanity, but almost as vermin, to be eradicated. Language in the Talmud is virtually exhausted to find foul and hated names for Christians. Min (plural Minim) is used throughout the Talmud as a term to designate Christians. In the "Shemoneh Esreh," or 18 Benedictions, the word has been changed from time to time as wary non-Jews become aware of its meaning. Note at the left column of Exhibit 284 that "Zaddukim" was substituted, and "Apikoresim." In the right column of Exhibit 284 we see "Epicureans" substituted by Maimonides (a Talmudic pillar). Reference is made to uncensored Talmud editions of Berechoth 28b (left column, same Exhibit), Sanhedrin 27a, Horayoth 11a, and Gittin 45a. The Berechoth statement reads: "The benediction relating to the minim was instituted in Jabneh [Palestine] after the rest." The harangue goes on to decree vengeance against anyone leaving out the benediction against the minim, "because we suspect him of being min." "The censored [ie. editions] have mumuar," says this exhibit from the Jewish Encyclopedia, instead of minim. And, in Sanhedrin 27a, mumar is used to denounce as wholly disqualified one who eats meat which is not slaughtered in kosher manner, thus showing "his contempt for the law" (of the Talmud). The Talmud Gittin 45b reference states that "a scroll of the Law which has been written by a min should be burnt." Distilled hate is the theme. [See Sabbath 116a] The Horayoth 11a citation from the Talmud (page 79 of the Soncino edition, not reproduced here), is another tirade against those who rank below "common people" — the minim. It cites those who drink wine dedicated to an idol, referring to Holy Communion. Christ is always the "idol" denounced by the Talmud, while real idolatry in regard to spirits, planets, child burning to Molech, Baal filth, are permitted in Judaism. [page 13] Present day Jews keep up a continual propaganda that burning anti-Christian, immoral or subversive books is the depth of bigotry, bias and intolerance. But the teaching in Sabbath 111a [correction: Sabbath 116a] of the Talmud is even cited in the Jewish Encyclopedia (under Gentiles), which holds that Christian books should be burned "without regard to the name of God appearing therein." (See Exhibit 273, right hand column.) Characteristic of charging as a crime against others what Talmudists themselves are doing, a Sanhedrin passage denounces Christ as a sorcerer (Talmud, Exhibit 76). It was to refute this Talmudic teaching of hate against Christ, that Martin Luther wrote his "Shemhamphoras" on the charge that Christ did His miracles by sorcery, using the Tetragrammaton, which, in some Talmud passages, He is said to have stolen and hidden in His flesh! Christ was amazingly correct in designating the Talmudic Pharisees as children of the Father of Lies. (John 8:44) #### Christianity Calls from Hell Christianity is likened in the Talmud to one of two daughters of a horse-leech calling from hell, "Bring, bring!" One is the government — "Which constantly imposes fresh taxes and duties" and the other "Minuth" (Christianity) — "Which continually lures the unwary to its erroneous teaching" — a Biblical verse is then misused as a curse "applied to those converted to idolatry" (Christianity). Then another says the voice of hell is calling to bring these two "daughters," "who cry and call in this world," back to hell. (See Exhibit 179) #### Incest Preferable to Christianity The Talmud speaks of a woman who confessed that her younger son was the offspring of her older son and that incest was her lightest sin, and wanted to die in peace but could not, for if incest was her lightest sin "it may be assumed that she had also adopted minuth [Christianity] … that is why she did not die … . Since she said of her guilt that it is one of the lightest, it may be assumed that she was guilty of idolatry [Christianity] also." A tale follows about a Rabbi who visited every harlot in the world, crossing seven rivers to get at the last one. He is allowed to die in peace because he had not committed the unforgivable minuth (Christianity). (Talmud, Abodah Zarah l7a, Exhibit 180) #### Death from Snakebite Preferable The Talmud says that Rabbi Ishmael (sage) has a nephew who is bitten by a snake and wants to let Jacob, a Disciple of Jesus, heal him, but dies in the middle of the sentence. The Rabbi thereupon exclaims: "Happy art thou Ben Dama for thou wert pure in body and thy soul likewise left thee in purity … ." His joy was because, of course, it was preferable to die of snakebite than to be healed by a Christian. (Talmud, Abodah Zarah 27b, see Exhibit 187) #### Jesus and the High Priest's Privy The Talmud tale is told that, because of talking to a Christian Disciple of Jesus, a Rabbi is suspected of being pro-Christian, which makes him deeply ashamed. He tells the lie that Jesus taught that the hire of a harlot may be used to build a privy for the high priest. (Abodah Zarah 16b-17a) This last pleased the rabbi very much, he says. (Exhibit 178) This filthy and false story to defame Christ is used in a typical Pharisee lie by Rabbi Louis Finklestein in his publication "The Pharisees" (See pages xv-xvi of the Foreword. Exhibit 1, Exhibit 2, and Exhibit 3 herein are from same publication.) Any epithets directed at Pharisaism by Christians in the early centuries Finklestein ascribes to conflict between Christians and "their former comrades, who continued loyal to unaltered Pharisaism. Nevertheless, the Pharisee and the Christian remained sufficiently close to regard one another with respect." Then the above Rabbi Eliezer lie is used as a compliment!: "Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, one of the most orthodox of the sages, offered high praise to an interpretation of Scripture given by an early Christian" (Aboda Zara l7a). This is the self-same libel on Christ! #### More Lies to Fool Us At the time the Jewish Encyclopedia was published in 1905 there was no English translation of the Talmud with identifying folio numbers. The first, by Rodkinson in 1903, was not only abridged, but also without folio numbers. Only with the relatively recent Soncino English translation of the Talmud do we have folio numbers and overt, unmistakable references which require no argument or interpretation for non-Jews. However, in 1905, lies concerning the Talmud were quite safe from prying non-Jewish eyes. The 1905 Jewish Encyclopedia states: "During the first century of Christianity the Rabbis lived on friendly terms with the minim" (Christians). Anyone familiar with the liquid fire turned on Pharisaism by Christ in the New Testament is not fooled by this. However, to buttress this lie, the above false privy tale attributed to Jesus is told as though it indicated friendliness — Abodah Zarah 16b-17a. Concerning the above anti-Christian "snakebite" story from the Talmud, the Encyclopedia then states (Exhibit 267 herein): "Ben Dama, a nephew of Rabbi Ishmael, having been bitten by a snake, allowed himself to be cured by means of an exorcism uttered by the min Jacob, a Judaeo-Christian." Does not this one series of circumstances once again illustrate how amazingly correct Christ was in designating the Pharisees as children of the Father of Lies (John 8:44)? #### Jesus Knew The Talmud Rodkinson (M. Levi Frumkin), who made the first English translation of the Babylonian Talmud, asks, in the section on the History of the Talmud: [page 14] Is the literature that Jesus was familiar with in his early years yet in existence in the world? Is it possible for us to get at it? … To such inquiries the learned class of Jewish rabbis answer by holding up the Talmud … . The Talmud then, is the written form of that which, in the time of Jesus, was called the Traditions of the Elders, and to which he makes frequent allusions. (See Exhibit 27) #### The Talmud and Mary, Mother of Jesus She is called "Miriam, a dresser of women's hair." She "committed adultery." (Exhibit 75) "She played the harlot with carpenters." (Exhibit 114) All rabbinical sources ascribe to Jesus, "illegitimate birth ... the seducer was a soldier by the name of Panthera [also called Pandira. and Stada]." "Pappus [husband of Mary] has nothing to do with the story of Jesus, and was only connected with it because his wife happened to be called "Miriam" [Maryl and was known to be an adulteress." All the Life of Jesus (Toledot Yeshu) "editions contain a similar story of a dispute which Jesus carried on with the scribes who on the ground of that dispute declared him to be a bastard." (Jewish Encyclopedia, "Jesus," Exhibit 277) #### Christ as "Balaam" Under the name of "Balaam" the most lewd Talmud passages concerning Jesus appear. Proof that Jesus is called "Balaam" is found in the Jewish Encyclopedia (under "Balaam") which, after enumerating His alleged loathsome qualities, states: "Hence … the pseudonym 'Balaam' given to Jesus in Sanhedrin 106b and Gittin 57a." (See Exhibit 111, Exhibit 112, Exhibit 113, Exhibit 114, Exhibit 115, Exhibit 274, Exhibit 275, Exhibit 278, and Exhibit 279) In the same article, we are told that the Talmud likens the Gospel Christians and Christ to Baal sex-worshippers because of whose abominations 24,000 Israelites died of plague at the time of Balaam. (Numbers 25:1-9) Because Balaam had been asked to curse the Israelites but instead did not and foretold the coming Messiah (Numbers 24:17), the flimsy pretext is made that Jesus was a curse like Balaam. "He is pictured as blind of one eye and lame in one foot and his disciples distinguished by three morally corrupt qualities …" He is called "one that ruined a people," and His churches are likened to nudist Baal worship. And, "this hostility against his memory finds its climax in the dictum that whenever one discovers a feature of wickedness or disgrace in his life, one should preach about it." (Sanhedrin 106b) Turning to Exhibit 114, which is Sanhedrin 106a-l06b of the Talmud, mentioned above, we see the likening of Jesus to the supposed act of Balaam in causing 24,000 Israelites to go whoring and die of plague (some 1450 years before Christ was born). He is due for his "reward" for this infamy. His mother, Mary, is "She who … played the harlot with carpenters … They subjected him to four deaths, stoning, burning, decapitation and strangulation … he was thirty-three or thirty-four years old." Another says: "I … have seen Balaam's Chronicle in which it stated, 'Balaam the lame was thirty years old when Phinehas the Robber killed him.'" The footnote explains: "Balaam is frequently used in the Talmud as a type for Jesus." The mother of Jesus is identified, the four deaths enumerated, "and … all the Balaam passages are anti-Christian in tendency, Balaam being used as an alias for Jesus, Phinehas the Robber is thus taken to represent Pontius Pilate, and the Chronicle of Balaam probably to denote a Gospel." Verifying the Jewish Encyclopedia account above on Balaam being Jesus in the Talmud we see: "in the case of the wicked Balaam: whatever you find written about him, lecture upon it to his disadvantage." (Exhibit 115) Christian churches are likened to tents for Baal prostitution, with old women outside, young ones inside to get customers drunk and disrobe and worship the "idol," Jesus, in Baal manner, by prostitution. (Exhibit 112) Hanging a calumny on the brief mention in the Bible that Balaam was slain (Numbers 32:8), the above passage in Sanhedrin is cited by the Jewish Encyclopedia thus: "In the process of killing Balaam [Num. xxxi.8], all four legal methods of execution — stoning, burning, decapitating, and strangling — were employed" [Sanh. 1.c]. (See Exhibit 274) "He met his death at the age of thirty-three (Ibid) and it is stated that he had no portion in the world to come" (Sanh. x. 2; 90a). Sanhedrin 90a of the Talmud, denying "Balaam" a place in the world to come, begins with Exhibit 96 herein. There it is stated that the resurrection being denied by Sadducees and Samaritans, "It was to oppose these that the doctrine was emphatically asserted in the second of the Eighteen Benedictions." The "sin" of pronouncing the Tetragrammaton is cited against Christ and Christians. (Exhibit 97) The curse of Christians, as those who pronounce the "Name" as "spelt" (Tetragrammaton) and read "uncanonical books," begins with a Mishnah (starting with Exhibit 97). Vague meanderings to throw off a possible Christian reader appear in the footnotes (Exhibit 97) with a hint that the "uncanonical books" may mean this or that, but: "There are indications, however, that something more is meant." But the footnote to "uncanonical books," still being discussed 68 pages later (See Exhibit 102) overtly reveals that the reference is to the New Testament, and that the word "Sadducees" is used to indicate "Gentiles." #### The 18 Benedictions The "religious" Orthodox Jew recites the "Eighteen Benedictions," or "Shemoneh Esreh," three times week days, four times on holidays and Sabbaths, the 7th and 12th of which curse the Christians and non-Jews to hell and perdition. Thus, the "good Orthodox Jew" gives us Christians 6 cursings on ordinary days, 8 on "specials." Note all the varieties of double talk which have been utilized down the centuries to keep the truth about the "Shemoneh Esreh" from the non-Jews, who might not be friendly to those who recite this "Brotherhood" litany religiously 6 to 8 times daily! Note: "In order to obviate hostile misconstructions, the text was modified …," and one change after another [page 15] to fool the non-Jew is enumerated. (See Exhibit 284) The 12th benediction, the "Birkat ha-Minim" (curse against Christians, etc.) "furnished the traducers of Judaism and the Jews a ready weapon of attack." (See Exhibit 284) This "Petition Against Enemies" (non-Jews) is called an "imprecatory appeal." "Imprecatory" means, of course, "invoking evil, a curse" (Webster). It is further stated by the cautious Jewish Encyclopedia (same Exhibit), "The seventh benediction … looks like a duplication and is superfluous." The Jewish Encyclopedia also cites a recommendation by the "sages" for daily recitation of the "benediction:" "Blessed be thou who hast not made me a goy." (See Exhibit 273) In the Talmud, the Christian is also planted in Hell for eternity under a deluge of "boiling excrement" if opposing "Judaism:" "Whoever mocks the words of the Sages is punished with boiling hot excrement." (Talmud, Gittin 57a; Exhibit 202) On this same page, where the ordinary Christian gets this eternal fate, Christ is similarly punished forever in hell with "boiling semen." #### The Talmud — Five Deaths to Jesus Jesus, as stated in both the Talmud and Jewish Encyclopedia, gets "four legal methods of execution" and is Crucified as well, as a blasphemer of Pharisee Judaism. Jesus stoned, then "hanged" or crucified, Sanhedrin 43a-45b (Exhibit 46 and Exhibit 48); Sanhedrin 67a (Exhibit 75), where under another phony name (Ben Stada) Jesus is identified as "Jesus of Nazareth." See Jewish Encyclopedia, Exhibit 277 and Exhibit 8. As to Judas, we are told (Exhibit 279) that: "when Judas found he could not touch Jesus in any way, in aerial battle, he defiled him" (the "privy concept," once again, which runs through the Talmud). Jesus' apostles all killed, Sanhedrin 43a, b (Exhibit 47). Their names are decoded by Jewish Encyclopedia (see Exhibit 278, right column.) Jesus crucified as a "blasphemer," Sanhedrin 46a (Exhibit 51), Jewish Encyclopedia (Exhibit 276). Jesus burned, Sanhedrin 52a (Exhibit 52); manner of burning, Yebamoth 6b (Exhibit 151), verified by Jewish Encyclopedia under "Balaam" (Exhibit 274). He is "lowered into dung up to his armpits then a hard cloth was placed within a soft one, wound round his neck and the two loose ends pulled in opposite directions forcing him to open his mouth. A wick was then lit, and thrown into his mouth so that it descended into his body and burnt his bowels … his mouth was forced open with pinchers against his wishes (Exhibit 52) And: "The death penalty of 'burning' was executed by pouring molten lead through the condemned man's mouth into his body, burning his internal organs. (Exhibit 152) Jesus strangled: "He was lowered into dung up to his armpits then a hard cloth was placed within a soft one, wound round his neck, and the two ends pulled in opposite directions until he was dead." (Talmud, Sanhedrin 52a, Exhibit 53) This is repeated (Sanhedrin 106b; Exhibit 114) and verified by the Jewish Encyclopedia (Exhibit 274). Jesus in hell where His punishment is "boiling in hot semen." (Talmud, Gittin 57a; Exhibit 202) The subject is identified as Jesus in a footnote, also in the Jewish Encyclopedia under "Balaam." (Exhibit 275) Christians in hell (in the above passage) are punished by "boiling hot excrement" which is the punishment for all who mock "at the words of the sages" (i.e. the Talmud). Jesus "committed bestiality," "corrupted the people," is "turned into hell." (Talmud Sanhedrin 105a; Exhibit 106 and Exhibit 107) Jesus "limped on one foot" and "was blind in one eye," "he practiced enchantment by means of his membrum," "he committed bestiality with his ass," he was a fool who "did not even know his beast's mind." (Talmud, Sanhedrin l05a-105b; Exhibit 108 and 109) The ridiculous and foul misuse of Judges 5:27 about Sisera's dying convulsions meaning sexual intercourse is here applied to Jesus, with a footnote "explanation" of Judges 5:27: "This is taken to mean sexual intercourse …" Jesus attempts to seduce women, is excommunicated by a rabbi and then worships a brick, was a seducer of Israel, and practiced magic. (Talmud, Sanhedrin l07b; Exhibit 117), also the Jewish Encyclopedia (See Exhibit 277). Jesus is cited in the index of the Sanhedrin portion of Talmud, "chief repository of the criminal law of the Talmud" (See Exhibit 43), which shows the page numbers where He is denounced. (Exhibit 118) Jesus' resurrection is cursed: "Woe unto him who maketh himself alive by the name of God." (Talmud, Sanhedrin 106a; Exhibit 111) The trial of Jesus: "It was by the action of the priests that Jesus was sent before Pontius Pilate." The Sanhedrin priests "had most reason to be offended with Jesus' action in cleansing the Temple," the probable place of His trial, according to the Talmud. His cry: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" … was in all its implications itself a disproof of the exaggerated claims made for him. The very form of his punishment would disprove these claims in Jewish eyes. No Messiah that Jews could recognize could suffer such a death; for "He that is hanged is accursed of God" (Deuteronomy xxi. 23). This refers to an "evil son" and Talmudist Rashi adds "an insult to God." The foregoing is from the Jewish Encyclopedia under "Jesus." (See Exhibit 276) Other foul charges against Jesus and His mother, His being a "bastard," and the like, follow. (Exhibit 277 from the same Encyclopedia) Next: Chapter IV. Exploitation of Non-Jews Table of Contents Index Introduction to Elizabeth Dilling Navigate This Site