Toledot Yeshu

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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...

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