Toledot Yeshu

The Toledot Yeshu (History of Jesus) is a collection of Jewish Gospel parodies about the life of Jesus, called Yeshu in the text. There is no definitive version of the Toledot Yeshu. Instead, many versions exist scattered across its numerous manuscripts throughout medieval Europe and the Middle East. Historians did not seriously study the Toledot Yeshu until the early 21st century, when its value in understanding Late Antique and medieval Jewish perspectives about Jesus and Christianity was realized. The Toledot is interpreted by some to reflect the polemical and defensive context of many historical Jewish communities under Christian rule, as well as a source that fuelled Christian hostility towards Judaism. The story likely originated in Mesopotamian Babylonia, in the same milieu as the Babylonian Talmud, with which it shares several of its polemics against Jesus. In the Toledot Yeshu, Jesus is portrayed as an illegitimate child conceived from an adulterous rape. As a child, he is a troublemaker who stirs tension in the rabbinic study house. In his adulthood, he is depicted as a sorcerer who taught a heretical Judaism, seduced women, was defeated by Judas, and died a shameful death . His tomb was robbed by a gardener, who hid the corpse in a drainage ditch, leading his followers to mistakenly believe that he has risen from the dead. The Toledot accepts many miracles of Jesus (such as creating birds from clay, resurrecting the dead, and healing the blind), but attributes the ability of Jesus to do this as being because of his magical prowess and sorcery instead of his divinity. According to Encyclopaedia Judaica, "The narrative in all versions [of the Toledot] treats Jesus as an exceptional person who, from his youth, demonstrated unusual wit and wisdom, but disrespect toward his elders and the sages of his age."