Daf Ditty Shabbes 104 Rembrandt's Depictions of the Trial of Jesus
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Daf Ditty Shabbes 104 Rembrandt's Depictions of the Trial of Jesus Bomberg edition of Talmud San 43a with attempts to erase lines on the trial of Jesus 1 הוֹצִיא סָטָדָא בֶּן וַהֲא :לַחֲ כָמִים אֱ לִיעֶ ז ֶר רַ בִּי לָהֶן אָמַר ,תַּ נ ְי ָא .בְּשָׂ רוֹ עַל הַמְסָרֵט מִן רְ אָי ָה מְבִיאִין אֵין ו ְ ,הָ י ָה שׁוֹטֶה :לוֹ אָמְרוּ ?בְּשָׂ רוֹ שֶׁעַל בִּסְרִיטָה מִ מִּ צְרַ י ִם כְּשָׁ פִים בּוֹעֵל ,״סָטָדָ א״ בַּעַל :חִסְדָּא רַב אָמַר !הוּא פַּנְדִּירָא בֶּן ?סָטָדָ א״ ״בֶּן .הַשּׁוֹטִים שְׂעַר מְ גַדְּ לָא מִ רְ י ָם אִמּוֹ .״סָטָדָ א״ אִמּוֹ אֶלָּא ?הוּא יְהוּדָה בֶּן פַּפּוּס בַּעַל .״פַּנְדִּירָ א״ .מִ בַּעְלַהּ דָּא סְטָת :בְּפוּמְבְּדִיתָא כִּדְאָמְרִי לָּא אֶ ?הֲוַאי נ ְשַׁ יּ ָא We learned in the Mishnah: If one unwittingly scratches letters on his flesh on Shabbat, Rabbi Eliezer deems him liable to bring a sin-offering and the Sages deem him exempt. It was taught in a baraita that Rabbi Eliezer said to the Rabbis: Didn’t the infamous ben Stada take magic spells out of Egypt in a scratch on his flesh? They said to him: He was a fool, and you cannot cite proof from a fool. That is not the way that most people write. Incidentally, the Gemara asks: Why did they call him ben Stada, when he was the son of Pandeira? Rav Ḥisda said: His mother’s husband, who acted as his father, was named Stada, but the one who had relations with his mother and fathered him was named Pandeira. The Gemara asks: Wasn’t his mother’s husband Pappos ben Yehuda? Rather, his mother was named Stada and he was named ben Stada after her. The Gemara asks: But wasn’t his mother Miriam, who braided women’s hair? The Gemara explains: That is not a contradiction. Rather, Stada was merely a nickname, as they say in Pumbedita: This one strayed [setat da] from her husband. mentioned Stada ben the identify to attempted have scholars Many: ב ן ּ ֶ ס טְ דָ ָא – Stada Ben here. For a number of reasons, including the censorship that removed this passage from the Talmud, many people thought that this referred to Jesus of Nazareth. Yeshu Panaturi and Mary Magdala are mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud. However, Tosafot has pointed out that chronologically this is impossible, because Pappos ben Yehuda was a well-known personality and interacted with Rabbi Akiva during his later years. The Gemara also relates his great jealousy of Rabbi Akiva’s wife, which came to nothing. Therefore, according to these sources, ben Stada cannot be Jesus. It is also worth noting that in various places in uncensored editions of the Talmud, Jesus is mentioned by name, and there is no reason that he would not be named if he was indeed being referred to in this context. For these reasons, it seems that the ben Stada was one of the so-called prophets and leaders of one of the many breakaway sects of those times.1 1 Steinzaltz Shabbes 104b “personalities” 2 to made been have Attempts: ב ן ּ ֶ ס טְ דָ ָא ב ּ◌ן ֶּ פ נ ַ דְ ירֵּ ָא – Pandeira of son the Stada, Ben interpret the term stada, but no clear source for the word has been found. It seems that Pandeira comes from the Greek name Pandaros. Rebbi Eliezer brought a proof from Ben Satda - who transported witchcraft from Egypt, hidden under an incision in his skin (to escape the magicians who strictly forbade such an act), that people do sometimes write on their skin. The Rabbanan counter Rebbi Eliezer's proof however - by branding ben Satda as an idiot (meaning that in this instance, he behaved totally irrationally) and one cannot use the deeds of an idiot as a yardstick. TOSFOS DH BEN STADA תוספות ד"ה בן סטדא ( Tosfos says that this is the same Ben Stada mentioned elsewhere.) אור''ת דהא בן סטדא דאמרינן הכא דהוה בימי פפוס בן יהודה דהוה בימי רבי עקיבא כדמוכח בפרק בתרא דברכות (דף סא:) (a) Explanation (R. Tam): Ben Stada that it says here was in the days of Papus ben Yehudah, who was in the days of R. Akiva, like is proven in Brachos (61b. The original, uncensored text of Tosfos proves that Ben Stada is not "Oso ha'Ish", who was a Talmid of R. Yehoshua ben Perachya, who was long before R. Akiva.) Sanhedrin 67a elaborates on his fate further… 3 הפסח בערב ותלאוהו בלוד סטדא לבן עשו וכן :ס"הש מחסרונות הוספה] And the court did the same to an inciter named ben Setada, from the city of Lod, and they hanged him on Passover eve. יהודה בן פפוס בעל פנדירא — בועל סטדא — בעל חסדא רב אמר הוא פנדירא בן סטדא בן דא סטת בפומדיתא כדאמרי הואי נשיא מגדלא מרים אמו סטדא אמו אֵימא אלא הוא [:מבעלה The Gemara asks: Why did they call him ben Setada, when he was the son of Pandeira? Rav Ḥisda says: Perhaps his mother’s husband, who acted as his father, was named Setada, but his mother’s paramour, who fathered this mamzer, was named Pandeira. The Gemara challenges: But his mother’s husband was Pappos ben Yehuda, not Setada. Rather, perhaps his mother was named Setada, and he was named ben Setada after her. The Gemara challenges: But his mother was Miriam, who braided women’s hair. The Gemara explains: That is not a contradiction; Setada was merely a nickname, as they say in Pumbedita: This one strayed [setat da] from her husband. כ׳:א מ״ג סנהדרין וכרוז יוצא לפניו לפניו אין מעיקרא לא והתניא בערב הפסח תלאוהו לישו והכרוז יוצא לפניו מ' יום ישו יוצא ליסקל על שכישף והסית והדיח את ישראל כל מי שיודע לו זכות יבא וילמד עליו ולא מצאו לו זכות ותלאוהו בערב הפסח Sanhedrin 43a:20 The mishna teaches that a crier goes out before the condemned man. This indicates that it is only before him, i.e., while he is being led to his execution, that yes, the crier goes out, but from the outset, before the accused is convicted, he does not go out. The Gemara raises a difficulty: But isn’t it taught in a baraita: On Passover Eve they hung the corpse of Jesus the Nazarene after they killed him by way of stoning. And a crier went out before him for forty days, publicly proclaiming: Jesus the Nazarene is going out to be stoned because he practiced sorcery, incited people to idol worship, and led the Jewish people astray. Anyone who knows of a reason to acquit him should come forward and teach it on his behalf. And the court did not find a reason to acquit him, and so they stoned him and hung his corpse on Passover eve. א׳:א י״ז זרה עבודה והנאך ועליו נתפסת אמר לו עקיבא הזכרתני פעם אחת הייתי מהלך בשוק העליון של ציפורי ומצאתי אחד יא שמו אמר לי כתוב בתורתכם (דברים כג, יט) לא תביא אתנן זונה ומתלמידי ישו הנוצרי ויעקב איש כפר סכנ וגו'] מהו לעשות הימנו בהכ"ס לכ"ג ולא אמרתי לו כלום] Avodah Zarah 17a:1 and you derived pleasure from it, and because of this you were held responsible by Heaven. Rabbi Eliezer said to him: Akiva, you are right, as you have reminded me that once I was walking in the upper marketplace of Tzippori, and I found a man who was one of the students of Jesus the Nazarene, and his name was Ya’akov of Kefar Sekhanya. He said to me: It is written in your Torah: 4 “You shall not bring the payment to a prostitute, or the price of a dog, into the house of the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 23:19). What is the halakha: Is it permitted to make from the payment to a prostitute for services rendered a bathroom for a High Priest in the Temple? And I said nothing to him in response. The early Christians were also aware of the name "ben Pandeira" for Jesus. The pagan philosopher Celsus, who was famous for his arguments against Christianity, claimed in 178 C.E. that he had heard from a Jew that Jesus's mother, Mary, had been divorced by her husband, a carpenter, after it had been proved that she was an adultress. She wandered about in shame and bore Jesus in secret. His real father was a soldier named Pantheras. According to the Christian writer Epiphanius (c. 320 - 403 C.E.), the Christian apologist Origen (c.185 – 254 C.E.) had claimed that "Panther" was the nickname for Jacob the father of Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus. It should be noted that Origen's claim is not based on any historical information. It is purely a conjecture aimed at explaining away the Pantheras story of Celsus. That story is also not historical. The claim that the name of Jesus's mother was Mary and the claim that her husband was a carpenter is taken directly from Christian belief. The claim that Jesus's real father was named Pantheras is based on an incorrect attempt at reconstructing the original form of Pandeira. This incorrect reconstruction was probably influenced by the fact that the name Pantheras was found among Roman soldiers. besides the books of the New Testament, and besides the epistles relating to Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp, there is only one more Christian religious work which Christians claim as historical evidence of Jesus, namely the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles also known as the Didache. All other early Christian religious works are either wholly rejected by modern Christians or are at least recognized as not being primary sources as regards Jesus.