The Talmud Unmasked
"Let our
writings be open to all people. Let them see what our moral code
is like! We need not be afraid of this test, for we have a pure
heart and a clean spirit. Let the nations investigate the
habitations of the children of Israel, and of their own accord
convince themselves of what they are really like! They will then
exclaim for certain with Balaam, when he went out to curse
Israel: 'How beautiful are thy tents O Israel: how beautiful
thy homes!'"1
"In its attitude towards non-Jews, the Jewish religion
is the most tolerant of the the religions in the world... The
precepts of the ancient Rabbis, though inimical to Gentiles,
cannot be applied in any way to Christians."2
"A whole series of opinions can be quoted from the
writings of the highest Rabbinical authorities to prove that
these teachers inculcated in their own people a great love and
respect for Christians, in order that they might look upon
Christians, who believe in the true God, as brothers, and pray
for them."3
"We hereby declare the the Talmud does not contain
anything inimical to Christians."4
Many people who are interested in the Jewish question are
wont to ask whether or not there is anything in the Talmud
which is not beautiful and sublime, and entirely removed from
anything like hatred of Christians. The confusion of opinion
about the matter is so great, that to listen to those who argue
so wisely about it, you would think that they were discussing a
very ancient and remote race of people, and not the people of
Israel who live in our midst according to an unchanging moral
code by which the religious and social life of the Jews has been
regulated to this day.
This being so, I have undertaken to show what the Talmud
really teaches about Christians, and thus satisfy the wishes of
those who desire to find out about this doctrine from genuine
original sources.
To this end I have translated the best known Talmudic books
which refer to the Christians, and have arranged these sources
in such order as to bring out clearly the picture of a Christian
as represented to the Jews by the Talmud.
Lest I be accused of using a corrupted text of the Talmud or
of not having interpreted it correctly, as is generally the
case with those who have attempted to disclose secret Jewish
teachings, I have placed the Hebrew text opposite the Latin.5
I have divided the whole into two sections, the first of
which treats of the teachings of the Talmud about Christians,
and the other, the rules which Jews are obliged to follow when
living among the Christians.
I preface these with a brief discussion about the Talmud
itself in the following chapter.
The Talmud gets its name from the word Lamud - taught,
and means The Teaching. By metonymy it is taken to mean
the book which contains the Teaching, which is called Talmud,
that is, the doctrinal book which alone fully expounds and
explains all the knowledge and teaching of the Jewish people.
As to the origin of the Talmud, the Rabbis6 regard Moses as
its first author. They hold that, besides the written law which
Moses received from God on Mount Sinai on tables of stone,
which is called Torah Schebiktab, he also received
interpretations of it, or the oral law, which is called Torah
Shebeal Peh. They say that this is the reason why Moses
remained so long on the mountain, as God could have given him
the written law in one day.7
Moses is said to have transmitted this oral law to Joshua;
Joshua in turn to the seventy Elders; the Elders to the
Prophets, and the Prophets to the Great Synagogue. It is held
that it was later transmitted successively to certain Rabbis
until it was no longer possible to retain it orally.
Whatever may be said about this story of the Rabbis, it is
sufficiently known to us that before the birth of Christ,
schools existed in Palestine in which sacred literature was
taught. The commentaries of the Doctors of the law were noted
down on charts and lists as an aid to memory, and these, when
collected together, formed the beginnings of the Jewish Talmud.
In the second century after Christ, Rabbi Jehuda who,
because of the sanctity of his life, was called The Saint, and
The Prince, realizing that the learning of the Jews was
diminishing, that their oral law was being lost, and that the
Jewish people were being dispersed, was the first to consider
ways and means of restoring and preserving their oral law. He
collected all the lists and charts and from them he made a book
which was called the Sepher Mischnaioth, or Mischnah - a
Deuterosis, or secondary law. He divided it into six
parts, each of which was divided into many chapters. We shall
consider these later.
The Mischnah is the foundation and the principal
part of the whole Talmud. This book was accepted by the Jews
everywhere and was recognized as their authentic code of law.
It was expounded in their Academies in Babylon - at Sura,
Iumbaditha and Nehardea - and in their Academies in Palestine
- at Tiberias, Iamnia and Lydda.
As their interpretations increased with the passing of time,
the disputations and decisions of the doctors of the law
concerning the Mischnah were written down, and these
writings constituted another part of the Talmud called the
Gemarah.
These two parts are so disposed throughout the whole Talmud
that the Mischnah serves first as a kind of text of the
law, and is followed by the Gemarah as an analysis of
its various opinions leading to definite decisions.
All the precepts of the Mischnah, however, were not
discussed in the Jewish schools. Those whose use was nullified
by the destruction of the Temple, and those whose observation
was possible only in the Holy Land were not commented upon.
Their explanation was left until the coming of Elias and the
Messiah. For this reason some parts of the Mischnah
are lacking in the Gemarah.
In interpreting the Mischnah of Rabbi Jehuda, the
schools of Palestine and Babylon followed each their own
method, and by thus following their own way gave rise to a
twofold Gemarah - the Jerusalem and the Babylonian
versions. The author of the Jerusalem version was Rabbi
Jochanan, who was head of the synagogue in Jerusalem for
eighty years. He wrote thirty-nine chapters of commentaries
on the Mischnah which he completed in the year 230 A.D.
The Babylonian Gemarah, however, was not compiled by
any one person, nor at any one time. Rabbi Aschi began it in
327 A.D. and labored over it for sixty years. He was followed
by Rabbi Maremar about the year 427 A.D., and it was completed
by Rabbi Abina about the year 500 A.D. The Babylonian Gemarah
has thirty-six chapters of interpretations.
This twofold Gemarah, added to the Mischnah,
makes also a twofold Talmud: The Jerusalem version, which, on
account of its brevity and obscurity, is not much used; and the
Babylonian version, which has been held in the highest esteem by
Jews of all times.
The Gemarah is followed by additions called
Tosephoth.8 It was thus that Rabbi Chaia first styled his
opinions on the Mischnah which were made by the doctors
outside the schools were called Baraietoth,9 or extraneous
opinions.
These Commentaries were further supplemented by other
decisions called Piske Tosephoth, short theses and simple
principles.
For nearly five hundred years after the Babylonian Talmud was
completed, the study of literature was greatly hampered partly
due to public calamities and partly owing to dissensions among
the scholars. But in the eleventh century others wrote further
additions to the Talmud. Chief among these were the
Tosephoth of Rabbi Ascher.
Besides these there appeared the Perusch of Rabbi
Moische ben Maimon, called by the Jews Rambam for short, by the
Christians Maimonides, and by Rabbi Schelomo, Iarchi or Raschi.
Thus, the Mischna, Gemarah, Tosephoth, the marginal
notes of Rabbi Ascher, the Piske Tosephoth and the
Perusch Hamischnaioth of Maimonides, all collected into
one, constitute a vast work which is called the Talmud.
* * * * *
The main parts of the Talmud, which we mentioned above, are six:
- ZERAIM: concerning seeds. It treats of seeds, fruits,
herbs, trees; of the public and domestic use of fruits,
of different seeds, etc.
- MOED: concerning festivals. It treats of the time when
the Sabbath and other festivals are to begin, ended and
celebrated.
- NASCHIM: concerning women. It treats of marrying and
repudiating wives, their duties, relations, sicknesses,
etc.
- NEZIKIN: concerning damages. It treats of damages
suffered by men and animals, penalties and compensations.
- KODASCHIM: concerning holiness. It treats of sacrifices
and various sacred rites.
- TOHOROTH: concerning purifications. It treats of the
soiling and purifying of vessels, bedclothes and other
things.
Each of these six parts, which the Jews call Schishah
Sedarim - six orders or ordinances - is divided into books or
tracts, called Massiktoth, and the books into chapters, or
Perakim.10
- ZERAIM. Contains eleven books or Masechtoth.
1. BERAKTOTH - Benedictions and prayers. Treats of
liturgical rules.
2. PEAH - Corner of a field. Treats of the corners and
gleanings of the field...The olives and grapes to be left
to the poor.
3. DEMAI - Doubtful things. Whether or not tithes must be
paid on such.
4. KILAIM - Mixtures. Treats of various mixings of seeds.
5. SCHEBIITH - the Sevents. Treats of the Sabbatical
Year.
6. TERUMOTH - Offerings and Oblations. The Heave
offerings for the priests.
7. MAASEROTH - the Tithes, to be given to the Levites.
8. MAASER SCHENI - the Second Tithe.
9. CHALLAH - the Dough, the portion to be given thereof
to the Priests.
10. ORLAH - the Uncircumcised. Treats about the fruits of
a tree during the first three years after its plantings.
11. BIKKURIM - the First Fruits to be brought to the
Temple.
- MOED. Contains twelve Books or Masechtoth.
1. SCHABBATH - the Sabbath. Treats of kinds of work
prohibited on that day.
2. ERUBHIN - Combinations. Contains precepts about food
for the Sabbath eve.
3. SCHEKALIM - Passover. Treats of the laws relating to
the Feast of Passover and the Paschal Lamb.
4. SCHEKALIM - Shekel. Treats of the size and weight of
the shekel.
5. IOMA - the Day of Atonement. Treats of prescriptions
for that Day.
6. SUKKAH - the Tabernacle. Treats of the laws concerning
the feast of Tabernacles.
7. BETSAH - the Egg of the Day of Feast. Treats of the
kind of work prohibited and permitted on the festivals.
8. ROSCH HASCHANAH - New Year. Treats of the Feast of New
Year.
9. TAANITH - Fasts. Treats of public fasts.
10. MEGILLAH - the Scroll. Treats of the reading of the
Book of Esther. Contains the description of the Feast of
Purim.
11. MOED KATON - Minor Feast. treats of laws relating to
the days intervening between the first and last days of
Pesach and Succoth.
12. CHAGIGAH - Comparison of rites on on the three feats
of Pesach, Sukkoth and Tabernacles.
- NASCHIM. Contains seven Books or Masechtoth.
1. JEBBAMOTH - Sisters in Law. Treats of Levirate
marriage.
2. KETHUBOTH - Marriage Deeds. Treats of dower and
marriage settlements.
3. KIDDUSCHIN - Betrothals.
4. GITTIN - booklet on Divorces.
5. NEDARIM - Vows. Treats of vows and their annulment.
6. NAZIR - the Nazarite. Treats of the laws concerning
the Nazarites and those who separate themselves from the
world and consecrate themselves to God.
7. SOTAH - the Woman suspected of adultery.
- NEZIKIN. Contains ten Books or Masechtoth.
1. BABA KAMA - First Gate. Treats of Damages and Injuries
and their remedies.
2. BABA METSIA - Middle Gate. Treats of laws concerning
found property, concerning trust, concerning buying and
selling, lending, hiring and renting.
3. BABA BATHRA - Last Gate. Treats of laws concerning
real estate and commerce, mostly based on the traditional
law. Also concerning hereditary succession.
4. SANHEDRIN - Courts. Treats of the courts and their
proceedings, and the punishment of capital crimes.
5. MAKKOTH - Stripes. The 40 stripes (minus one)
inflicted on criminals.
6. SCHEBUOTH - Oaths. Treats different kinds of oaths.
7. EDAIOTH - Testimonies. Contains a collection of
traditional laws and decisions gathers from the
testimonies of the distinguished teachers.
8. HORAIOTH- Decisions. Treats of the sentences of Judges
and the punishment of transgressors.
9. ABHODAH ZARAH - Idolatry.
10. ABHOTH - Fathers. Treats of laws of the fathers. It
is called also PIRKE ABHOTH.
- KODASCHIM. Contains eleven Books or Masechtoth.
1. ZEBBACHIM - Sacrifices. Treats of animal sacrifices
and the mode of their offering.
2. CHULIN - Profane things. Treats of the traditional
manner of slaughtering animals for ordinary use.
3. MENACHOTH - Meat-offerings. Treats of meat-and-drink
offerings.
4. BEKHOROTH - the First Born. Treats of the laws
concerning the first born of man and animals.
5. ERAKHIN - Estimations. Treats of the mode in which
persons dedicated to the Lord by a vow are legally
appraised in order to be redeemed.
6. TEMURAH - Exchange. Treats of the laws concerning
sanctified things having been exchanged.
7. MEILAH - Trespass, Sacrilege. Treats of the sins
subject to the punishment of excision, and their
expiation by sacrifices.
8. KERITHUTH - Excisions - Treats of the sins subject to
the punishment of excision, and their expiation by
sacrifices.
9. TAMID - the Daily Sacrifice- Describes the Temple
services connected with the daily morning and evening
offerings.
10. MIDDOTH - Measurements. Describes the measurements
and description of the Temple.
11. KINNIM - the Birds' Nests. Treats of the sacrifices
consisting of fowls, the offerings of the poor, etc.
- TOHOROTH. Contains twelve Books
or Masechtoth.
1. KELLIM - Vessels. Treats of the conditions under which
domestic utensils, garments, etc. receive ritual
cleanness.
2. OHOLOTH - Tents. Treats of tents and houses, and how
polluted and purified.
3. NEGAIM - Plagues. Treats of the laws relating to
Leprosy.
4. PARAH - the Heifer. Treats of the laws concerning the
red heifer and the use of its ashes for the purification
of the unclean.
5. TOHOROTH - Purifications. Treats of some lesser
degrees of uncleanness lasting only until sunset.
6. MIKVAOTH - Wells. Treats of the conditions under which
wells and reservoirs are fit to be used for ritual
purifications.
7. NIDDAH - Menstruation. Treats of the legal uncleanness
arising from certain conditions in women.
8. MAKSCHIRIN - Preparations. Treats of liquids that
prepare and dispose seeds and fruits to receive ritual
uncleanness.
9. ZABHIM - Concerning nightly pollution and gonorrhea.
Treats on the uncleanness arising from such secretions.
10 TEBHUL IOM - Daily washing.
11. IADAIM - Hands. Treats of the ritual uncleanness of
hands, according to the traditional law, and of their
purification.
12. OKETSIN - Stalks of fruit. Treats of stalks and
shells of fruit as conveying ritual uncleanness.
The complete Talmud contains 63 books in 524 chapters.
Added to these are four other shorts tracts, which have not
been included in the regular Talmud. They have been added by
later writers and exponents.
These four are:
MASSEKHETH SOPHERIM - the Tract of Scribes. Treats of the mode of
writing the books of the law. Has 21 chapters.
EBHEL RABBETI - a large treatise on Mourning. Has 14 chapters.
KALLAH - the Bride. On the acquisition of the bride. Has one
chapter.
MASSEKHETH DEREKH ERETS - the Conduct of Lide. Divided into
RABBAH - major parts, and ZUTA - the minor parts. Has 16
chapters. At the end is added a special chapter - PEREK SCHALOM -
on Peace.
Since the Talmud was such a voluminous and disordered work,
there was a need of a compendium which would facilitate its
study. To supply this need, therefore, Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob
Alphassi, in 1032, published a Shorter Talmud, which he
called Halakhoth - Constitutions. He omitted all lengthy
discussions and preserved only those parts which had to do with
the practical things of life. Since this work, however, had no
order to it, it was not considered of great worth.
The first to issue a well ordered work on Jewish Law was
Maimonides, styled the "Eagle of the Synagogue." In
1180 he produced his celebrated work Mischnah Torah -
Repetition of the Law, also called Iad Chazakah - the
Strong Hand. It contains four parts or volumes and 14 books and
includes the whole Talmud. Maimonides also included much
philosophical discussion in this work and attempted to
establish many laws of his own. Because of this he was
excommunicated by his people and condemned to death. He fled to
Egypt where he died in the year 1205.
In spite of this, the value of his work increased in time,
and for a while an expurgated version was held in the highest
esteem by the Jews. A drawback to this work is that it contains
many laws which were of no value after the destruction of the
Temple.
An edition of the work of Maimonides, expurgated of all his
philosophical innovations and of all the old, useless laws, was
edited in 1340, in strict accord with the ideas of the Rabbis,
by Jacob ben Ascher, to which he gave the name Arbaa Turim
- The Four Orders, which are:
- ORACH CHAIIM: The seeds of Life, and treats of the
daily life in the home and in the Synagogue.
- IORE DEAH: which teaches knowledge about foods,
purifications and other religious laws.
- CHOSCHEN HAMMISCHPAT: private judgments about civil
and criminal laws.
- EBHEN HAEZER: The Rock of Help, which treats of the
laws of marriage.
Since Alphasi, Maimonides and Jacob ben Ascher disagreed on
many points, which gave rise to different interpretations of
the same law, there was great need of a book which would
contain short, concise solutions to controversies, and which
would supply to the Jewish people a law book worthy of; the
name.
Joseph Karo, a Rabbi of Palestine (born 1488, died 1577),
supplied this need by his celebrated; commentary on the
Arbaa Turim, which he called Schulchan Arukh
- the Prepared Table. Since, however, the customs of
oriental Jews differed greatly from those of western Jews,
even the Schulchan Arukh of Joseph Karo did not suffice
for Jews everywhere. And for this reason Rabbi Mosche Isserles
wrote a commentary on the Schulchan Arukh, entitled
Darkhe Mosche, the Way of Moses, which received the
same acceptance in the West as the work of Joseph Karo in the
East.
At the present time, the Schulchan Arukh is regarded
as the obligatory Law Code of the Jews, and they use it
principally in their studies.11 Many commentaries have been
written on each part of this book.
An important point to note is that this work has always been
regarded by the Jews as holy. They have always held it, and
still hold it, as more important than the Sacred Scriptures.
The Talmud itself shows this very clearly:
In the tract Babha Metsia, fol. 33a, we read:
"Those who devote themselves to reading the Bible exercise
a certain virtue, but not very much; those who study the
Mischnah exercise virtue for which they will receive a
reward; those, however, who take upon themselves to study the
Gemarah exercise the highest virtue."
Likewise in the tract Sopherim XV, 7, fol. 13b:
"The Sacred Scriptures is like water, the Mischnah
wine, and the Gemarah aromatic wine.
The following is a well-known and highly praised opinion in
the writings of the Rabbis:
"My son, give heed to the words of the scribes rather than
to the words of the law."12
The reason for this is found in the tract Sanhedrin
X, 3, f.88b:
"He who transgresses the words of the scribes sins more
gravely than the transgressors of the words of the law."
Also when there are differences of opinion between the Law
and the doctors, both must be taken as the words of the Lord God.
In the tract Erubhin, f.13b, where it is related that
there was a difference of opinion between the two schools of
Hillel and Schamai, it is concluded that:
"The words of both are the words of the living God."
In the book Mizbeach,13 cap. V, we find the following
opinion:
"There is nothing superior to the Holy Talmud."
Contemporary defenders of the Talmud speak of it almost in the
same way.14
What Christians have thought of the Talmud is amply proved
by the many edicts and decrees issued about it, by which the
supreme rulers in Church and State proscribed it many times and
condemned this sacred Secondary Law Code of the Jews to the
flames.
In 553 the Emperor Justinian forbade the spread of the
Talmudic books throughout the Roman Empire. In the 13th century
"Popes Gregory IX and Innocent IV condemned the books of
the Talmud as containing every kind of vileness and blasphemy
against Christian truth, and ordered them to be burned because
they spread many horrible heresies."16
Later, they were condemned by many other Roman Pontiffs -
Julius III, Paul IV, Pius IV, Pius V, Gregory XIII, Clement VIII,
Alexander VII, Benedict XIV, and by others who issued new
editions of the Index of Forbidden Books according to the
orders of the Fathers of the Council of Trent, and even in our
own time.17
[As to the attitude of the Catholic
Church towards the Jews, see Appendix at the end of this book: "How the
Popes Treated the Jews."]
At the beginning of the 16th century, when the peace of the
Church was disturbed by new religions, the Jews began to
distribute the Talmud openly, aided by the art of printing then
recently invented. The first printed edition of the whole
Talmud, containing all its blasphemies against the Christian
religion,18 was published in Venice in the year 1520.19 And almost
all Jewish books published in that century, which was favorable
to them, are complete and genuine.
Towards the end of the 16th century and at the beginning of
the 17th, when many famous men undertook diligently to study
the Talmud, the Jews, fearing for themselves, began to expunge
parts of the Talmud which was published at Basle in 1578 has
been mutilated in many places.
And at Synod in Poland, in the year 1631, the Rabbis of
Germany and many other countries declared that nothing which
would annoy the Christians and cause persecution of Israel,
should be printed. For this reason there are signs of many
things missing in the Jewish books which were published in
the following century and thereafter. The Rabbis explain from
memory what these things mean, for they possess the genuine
books which Christians rarely see.
However, Jewish books were published later with very few
mutilations in Holland - where the Jews who were expelled from
Spain were kindly received. The Talmud published there in 1644
- 1648 is almost similar to the Venetian edition.20
The latest device invented to deceive the censors was to
insert the word haiah (was) with the genuine text, as
if to indicate that the matter in question once had its place
there.21 But by so doing they only cleanse the outside of the
cup. For in many places they do show what they mean, ex.gr.
by the words gam attah, "even now," viz.
"this law obliges"; and aphilu bazzeman
hazzeh, "even to this day" viz. "this
law holds," and such like.22
We must add a few remarks about that other very well known
book of the Jews, called the ZOHAR.
According to some Rabbis, Moses, after he had been
instructed in the interpretation of the law on Mount Sinai, did
not pass this information to Joshua nor he to the Elders, but
to Aaron, Aaron to Eleazer, and so on until the oral teachings
had been put into book form called the ZOHAR, so called from
the name ZEHAR, meaning to shine forth. For it is an
illustration of the books of Moses, a commentary on the
Pentateuch.
The author is said to have been R. Schimeon ben Jochai, a
disciple of R. Akibha who, fifty years after the destruction of
the Temple, ended his life as a martyr about the year 120 A.D.
in Hadrian's war against the Jews. Since, however, names of men
appear in this book who lived many centuries after the year
indicated, and since neither Rambam (R. Mosche ben Nachman),
nor R. Ascher, who died about the year 1248 A.D., make no
mention of it, it is more likely that those are nearer the
truth who say that the book of Zohar first saw the light about
the 13th century. Especially is this considered likely since
about this time a book was produced which is similar in
argument and style to the Chaldaic type of writing.
It consists of three volumes in large octavo.
Many other works have been published by the Jewish teachers
which are used in the study of Jewish law, and which are held
in high esteem since they explain many obscure passages in the
Talmud. Some of them are cited in this book, and are as follows:
BIAR - Declaration, elucidation, Commentary on another
Commentary. These declarations differ from one another.
HALAKOTH - usually written HILKHOTH - Decisions or
Dissertations. Separate books of Holy Scriptures and of the
Talmud by different Rabbis: Maimonides, Beshai, Edels, Moses of
Kotzen, Kimchi and others. In most cases citations are given
from HILKOTH AKUM by Maimonides. These contain dissertations
on stars and planets and the status of nations. There is
another - HILKOTH MAAKHALOTH ASAVOROTH - dissertation about
forbidden foods.
IUCHASIN or SEPHER IUCHASIN - dissertations on lineage.
Treats of Sacred and Jewish history from the beginning of the
world until 1500. Printed at Cracow, 1580.
JALKUT - a collected commentary from various ancient books.
Supposed to have not a literal but allegorical meaning. Author:
Rabbi Shimeon of Frankfurt.
KED HAKKEMACH - Barrel of flour. Contains places of
theological communities in alphabetical order. Author: Rabbi
Bechai of Lublin.
MAGEN ABRAHAM - Shield of Abraham. Author: Perizola.
MIZBEACH HAZZAHABH - the Golden Altar. A Cabalistic book.
Author: R. Schelomon ben Rabbi Mordechai. Printed at Basle,
in 1602.
MACHZOR - a Cycle. Book of Prayers used on great festivals.
MENORATH HAMMAOR - Candlestick of light. A Talmudic book.
Contains Aggadoth and Medraschim. i.e., allegorical and
historical comments on the entire Talmud. Author: Rabbi Isaac
Abhuhabh. Printed in 1544.
MAIENE HAIESCHUAH - Fountains of the Savior. An exquisite
Commentary on Daniel by Rabbi Isaac Abarbanel. There are
numerous disputations against Christians. Printed in 1551.
MIKRA GEDOLAH - the Great Convocation. A Hebrew Bible with
commentaries by R. Salomon Iarchi and R. Ezra.
MASCHMIA IESCHUAH - The Preacher of Salvation. Explanations
on all the Prophets. On future redemption. Author: R. Abarbanel.
NIZZACHON - Victory. Attacks on Christians and on the Four
Gospels. Author: Rabbi Lipman. Printed in 1559.
SEPHER IKKARIM - Book on fundamentals or articles of faith.
It contains one very bitter attack against the Christian faith.
EN ISRAEL - the Eye of Israel. A celebrated book. Has a
second part - BETH JAKOBH - the House of Jacob. Embraces the
most delightful Talmudic histories. Printed in Venice, in 1547.
SCHAARE ORAH - the Gates of Light. A most celebrated
Cabalistic book. Author: Ben Joseph Gekatilia.
SCHEPHAA TAL - Abundance of Dew. A Cabalistic book. A key
to the book of Zohar and other similar books. Author: Rabbi
Schephtel Horwitz of Prague.
TOLDOTH IESCHU - the Generations of Jesus. A little pamphlet
full of blasphemies and maledictions. Contains the history of
Christ. Full of false and deceiving manifestations.
In preparing this booklet I have used the following source
material:
The TALMUD. Edition of Amsterdam, 1644-48, in 14 volumes.
SCHULKHAN ARUKH, by Rabbi Joseph Karo. Edition of Venice,
1594. Without commentaries.
IORE DEAH. Numerous quotations. Edition of Krakow.
ZOHAR. Edition of Amsterdam, 1805. 3 volumes.
MIKRA GEDOLAH. Edition of Amsterdam, 1792, 12 volumes,
edition of Basle, 1620, 2 volumes, edition of Venice.
HILKHOTH AKUM, of R. Maimonides, edition by Vossius,
1675
As auxiliary works I have used:
JOANNES BUXDORFIUS. a. Lexicon Chaldaicum, Talmudicum et
Rabbinicum, Base, 1640. b. De Abreviaturis Hebraicis; Operis
Talmudis Recensio; Biblicothea Rabbinica. Basle, 1712. c.
Synagoga Judaica. Basle, 1712.
JOH. CHRISTOPHORI WAGENSEILII, Sota. Aldtorfi Noricum, 1674.
GEORGII ELIEZ EDZARDI: Tractatus talmudici "AVODA
SARA." Hamburg, 1705.
JACOBI ECKER: "Der Judenspiegel im Lichte der
Wahrheit," (The Jewish Mirror in the Light of Truth).
Paderborn, 1884.
AUGUST ROHLING: Die Polemik und das Manschenopfer des
Rabbinismus. (The Polemics and Human Sacrifice of Rabbinism).
Paderborn, 1883.
I have only used the works of those who are held in the
highest esteem by the Jews themselves, and to whom the Jews
appeal when disputing with Christians, by quoting impartially
the opinions of these learned men.23 Their great diligence in
quoting from the texts of books which I was able to examine,
has been a proof to me that I used the same diligence even in
quoting from less known sources to which they have much greater
access than I.
1 J. Singer: Should the Jews become Christians? p. 6. Vienna,
1884.
2 Daniel Chwolson: Do Jews use Christian Blood? pp. 11, 12, St.
Petersburg, 1879.
3 Polish Magazine Izraelita (Warsaw) No. 48, p. 459c, 1891.
4 Dr. A. Jellenek: Gegen die Antisemiten (Against the
Anti-Semites) p. 9, Vienna, 1882.
5 In this book the Hebrew text has been omitted -- Translator.
[Restored in certain places via facsimile. -- JR]
6 cf. Rabbi Levi in
Berakhoth, fol. 5a; Rabbi Iochanan in Megillah, f. 19b.
7 To prove this
they appeal to Exodus Ch. XXIV, 12: "And the Lord God said to
Moses, come up to me into the mountain, and be there: and I will give
thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written;
that thou mayest teach them." They assert that in this passage the words
"tables of stone" mean the ten commandments, that "a law" means the
Pentateuch, "commandments" mean the Mischnah; "which I have written" the
Prophets and. the Hagiographers; and "that thou mayest teach them" the
Gemarah. cf. Berakhoth, fol. 5a.
8 From Tosepheth,
or Tosiphta, meaning addition.
9 From Baria, extraneous, or Baraietha, extraneous
teaching.
10 From Seder, order; Massekheth, tract; Perek,
head.
11 To Jews of today the Talmud has the same value as the works of the
Church Fathers have for Christians. The Schulchan Arukh
corresponds to our Compendium of Theology.
12 cf. Erubhin, f. 21b.
13 cf. Joan, Buxdorf, Recensio operis Talmud, p. 225.
14 cf. Talmud Babli, Tract. Berachoth, Berlin edit., 1842.
Pref. p. 8.
15 cf.
Authenticae Constitutiones, Novella 146.
16 cf. Corp.
iuris can.
VII Decretal,
lib. V, Tit. IV, cap.
1.
17 In the latest
edition of this Index Expurgatorius "by order of Our Holy Lord Pope Leo
XIII now happily governing the Church of Christ," issued in 1887, "The
Talmud and other Jewish books" are proscribed as follows: "Although in
the Index issued by Pope Pius IV, the Jewish Talmud with all its
glossaries, annotations, interpretations and expositions were
prohibited; but if published without the name Talmud and without its
vile calumnies against the Christian religion they could be tolerated;
however Our Holy Lord Pope Clement VIII in his Constitution against
impious writings and Jewish books, published in Rome in the year of Our
Lord 1592 . . . proscribed and condemned them: it was not his intention
thereby to permit or tolerate them even under the above conditions; for
he expressly and specially stated and willed, that the impious Talmudic,
Cabalistic and other nefarious books of the Jews be entirely condemned
and that they must remain always condemned and prohibited, and that his
Constitution about these books must be perpetually and inviolably
observed."
The latest attempt to
extirpate the Talmudic books was undertaken in 1510 by Emperor
Maximilian who, having been urged thereto by the converted Jew Johannus
Pfefferkorn, ordered that Jewish books be confiscated and handed over to
the Universities to be examined. This gave rise to the famous "Reuchlinian"
controversy, from the name of Reuchlin, who was adviser to the Duke of
Wirtenberg, and who defended parts of the Talmud. He was upheld by the
celebrated humanists, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Ulrich Hutten, Aegidius of
Viterbo, and others. This controversy raged all over Europe. After much
deliberation the universities of Erfurt, Moguntina, Louvain and Paris,
accused Reuchlin of being a Jewish propagandist; the chief Inquisitor,
Dominus Hoogstraten, however, accused him of depraved heresy and
summoned him before the law. Finally the case was brought to
Rome
and the judges there, in 1516, favored the cause of Reuchlin. The case
was closed by Pope Leo X who ordered both sides to remain silent, and
without giving any definite decision on the matter. Thus, neither was
Reuchlin declared to be innocent, nor the Talmud condemned to the
flames.
18 A sample
edition, consisting of 12 volumes folio, may be seen in the Imperial
Hall of the Vienna Library, from which many copies have been made.
19 The Jews are
wont to point triumphantly to the fact that it was in the same year that
Martin Luther burned the Bull of Pope Leo X. cf. article by Em. Deitsch
in the Quarterly Review Oct. 1867, entitled "What is the Talmud"?
20 Printed in small
characters, in large quarto. It is to be noted that almost all editions
of the Talmud have the same number of folios and the same disposition of
the text. The large or small form depends upon the type.
21 Following is a
sample of this: Schulchan Arukh, a part of the ancient Venetian
edition of 1594 says: "As to those who worship the stars and planets,
when there is no war between them and us . . . they are not to be set
free," etc. In the same place in an edition published at Vilna in 1873
we read: "As to idolaters of the seven people, during the time when
there WAS no war between them and us . . . they are not to be set free,"
etc.
22 cf. Choschen
ham. 338, 10; Iore deah, 159, 1, etc.
23 ". . . The holy Christian religion has no need of false testimony,
nor is it helped in any way by such." I. C. Wagens, in Sota, p.
298.