Q&A: That Man
That Man
Question
What is your opinion about the Christian mentioned in the Talmud (in the uncensored text) — whether he was the founder of the Christian religion?
Also, one has to understand why the early scribes did not omit those statements in the Talmud that are against their religion, and other puzzling statements, or ones that seem anthropomorphic, or that appear to permit theft from or cheating non-Jews, etc. Perhaps that would have prevented the burning of the books around the year 1240 in France, and the other terrible persecutions throughout the generations — especially the foundational book of hatred toward Jews that was printed around 1700 in Germany and later partly translated into English, which gathers all the puzzling statements or the anti-gentile statements in the Talmud; and many Nazi writings were built on statements that really were written in the Talmud, but make us look stupid, thieving, or primitive, etc. And even today their hand is still extended in many websites (hundreds of them) that slander us, and in truth many of their claims are accurate. And we are ashamed, with no answer.
Answer
This question too slipped my attention. I don’t know why. My apologies.
As for both questions — I don’t know. It would be worth asking researchers.
And indeed, I agree that sometimes Jewish apologetics is not straightforward, and the criticism has some substance. But sometimes it is hard to explain these things to someone who does not identify with and does not accept the basic assumptions, so people try to fudge things in order to defend against his claims. I agree that, at least nowadays, it is not proper to do that.