The Bible, the Talmud, and the New Testament. Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik
I was able to carry out, thanks be to God; I continued my commitment with the completion of the second.
However, a few words are necessary to begin.
Many highly placed people—whether so placed for their intelligence, good fortune, or social rank—have applauded my attempt: some, because they already shared my ideas or adopted them after reading my book; and others, without any conviction, at least respected the sanctity of my goal and the great importance of the result that I pursue. Both groups urged me to persevere, and their encouragement has, in no small way, contributed to supporting me in my efforts.
But alas! In this situation, as in all others, one can always count on extreme opinions Moreover, in wanting to reconcile the two adversaries, one risks turning them against each other. Aside from some favorable reports that I just mentioned, quite a few others were not so favorable. Jews, as well as Christians, either with fanatical personalities or dominated by false prejudices, have bombarded me with objections that, I believe, would be useful to answer.
My fellow Israelites have said: “Putting the Gospel and the Talmud on the same level—what audacity on the part of the author! Undoubtedly, there could be some good things in the former, but we do not know the source. We do not know who told it to them. Where is, then, their authority? On the contrary, in the Talmud, nothing is anonymous; we find the sources everywhere, even in some of the oral laws that can be traced back to Moses, the direct interpreter of the Almighty. We find them even in remote individual statements, coming from well-known men—respected scholars of whom tradition teaches us their names and genealogies. ‘All their words are as coals of fire’ (Pirkei Avot 2:10),1 and the author is not afraid of burning himself! His book is an attack against the sanctity of the Talmud, and to compare the New Testament to it is a sacrilege.”
The Christians, on their part, agree that it is indeed a sacrilege, but in the opposite sense. “The New Testament is divine, the Talmud is only a human work; not only is it a human work, but it is inconsistent and contradictory. What one rabbi permits, another forbids; or if one says white, the other says black. The New Testament is completely different. It has one teaching, and this teaching is so beautiful, so holy, so beneficial to mankind, that it could come from no other source but from God.”
This is what they say, and here is my response:
Fellow Israelites, I know just as well as you the holiness of the Talmud and its precious value; I was nourished by it since infancy, and I learned to revere it. But believe me, arguments like yours cannot glorify it, and our rabbis would certainly disapprove of them if they were to come back from the dead. Just and impartial toward everything, they do not systematically condemn man or book, and they know how to deliver justice even to those they reprove. Rather, you can see what they say about the book Ben-Sira (BT Sanhedrin 100b): “‘It is not permitted to (habitually) read the books of heretics.’ ‘Neither,’ adds Rav Yosef, ‘the book of Ben-Sira (Ecclesiasticus; because—says Rashi—of the nonfactual and exaggerated things that one finds within it). However,’ says Rav Yosef again, ‘the good things one finds in it can be read and commented upon.’”
So here is a book that the Talmud forbids reading, and yet it does not reject the fact that it contains something good; it even elevates it and recommends it in a number of citations (ibid.) and proves that it accepts the good and the truth wherever it encounters them. Plus, as a side note, the Ben-Sira of the Talmud is not the work of Yeshua ben-Sira or ben-Siraḥ, who appears in our Bibles under the name Ecclesiasticus, but the work of another less known (I have a copy), where one finds, in effect, much stupidity and nonsense.2 But let us move on.
Is not the harmony between men as great and precious a thing as peace? This same Talmud, whose cause you believe you are defending—is not all of it worthy of the most magnificent praise? Here is what we read in BT Sukkot 53b, to cite one single, curious passage: “If, in order to reconcile man and wife, God has permitted that his name, which was written in sanctity, be erased by the priest, how much more beautiful is it to reconcile all of humanity!”3 This is precisely the goal that I aspire to, that every student of Torah must aspire to, every Israelite and every man worthy of that name; and you, my brothers, you would disapprove of my efforts! Let me tell you, such words do not come from wisdom.
And you Christians, my brothers, who claim that I insult the Gospel by putting the Talmud on the same level, do you not know that this Talmud that you so thoroughly despise deserves your gratitude and that, without it, the name of your “Christ” would perhaps have long ago fallen into oblivion? Actually, many a famous writer has denied the existence of Yeshua, called the Messiah, and many even deny it in our present day, by failure of knowing the Talmud, which, as we will see, strictly mentions his existence.4 What is more, one of your greatest writers, Voltaire, spoke of him in terms that still outrage you, trusting alleged Israelite documents that absolutely do not agree with the Talmudic sayings.
Here is an example of a portion from Voltaire’s The Important Examination of the Holy Scriptures by Lord Bolingbroke, chapter 10: “It is said in the book Toledot Yeshu, that Yeshua was the son of a woman named Miriam, married in Bethlehem to a poor man named Yoḥanan.
In the village, there was a soldier whose name was Yosef Pantera, a very handsome man with a strong build; he fell in love with Miriam, and Miriam became pregnant by Pantera; Yoḥanan, confused and despairing, left Bethlehem and hid in Babylon, where there were still many Jews. Miriam’s behavior disgraced her; her child Yeshu was declared a bastard by the judges of the city, etc.”5
This whole story is a lie from beginning to end. That there was a certain Pantera (Pandira or Pandera, according to the Talmud) who courted a certain Miriam and that their relations may have birthed a son in adultery, as the Talmud states—fine. But that this child was Yeshua, the founder of Christianity: there is no trace of this whatsoever in the Talmud. Not only that, as I also demonstrated at length in the first volume (Mattai 1:18): the chronological information establishes that the child of Pandera absolutely could not have been Yeshua the Messiah, but I proved (ibid.) through irrefutable texts that the real Yeshua was held in high esteem by our most revered rabbis, who cite his words with approval, even though they differ with him on certain issues. And you vilify the Talmud, which honors your Messiah and speaks of his doctrine with praise! Frankly, is this not ingratitude or, at the very least, blindness?
So, then, do you know this Talmud of which you speak with such disdain, this Talmud that you believe unworthy of being equaled with the Gospel? Do you not know—touching on only one of its merits—that this is a monument beyond all comparison of jurisprudence, profundity, and judicial ingenuity? Listen.
In the Middle Ages, there was an illustrious Israelite, the crowning glory of the Synagogue and of humanity; medical doctor and astronomer, philosopher and theologian, exegete and Talmudist, wonderful writer and beloved man: Maimonides.6 This man, who was the doctor of the sultan of Egypt, the famous Saladin, surpassed all his contemporaries with his extensive knowledge, as his numerous works testify, the greatest of which we have quoted from in the first volume. One of these works, and one of the most significant, is the Mishneh Torah, otherwise called Yad HaḤazaqah (The strong hand); it contains the complete Mosaic and rabbinical law according to the Talmud, and he has, in a way, made an inventory of all the discussions in order to give us the last word.7 The work of Maimonides comprises fourteen main books divided into eighty-three parts, which are themselves subdivided into 985 chapters, each of which is composed of an often considerable number of paragraphs (halakhot), treating every particular case with reverence.8
Take whichever part you like among the eighty-three sections of the work; I commit to giving you the French translation of them with explanatory notes. Now compare these Talmudic laws with those of any European nation about any matter, and you will see that our Jewish laws bear a striking resemblance, and you will be astounded by what these rabbis, whom you attack, knew how to produce two thousand years ago by their sheer intellect alone.
Thus, and I repeat this with regret, Jews and Christians are equally illogical in their attacks against me. For who am I, after all, that you complain against me? Not against me are your complaints (Exodus 16:8), but