Some Talmudic sources include passages which identify a "son of Pandera" (ben Pandera in Hebrew), and some scholars conclude that these are references to the messiah of Christianity. The total prohibition would stay in place until 1775. Notwithstanding (((Wikipedia’s))) spotlighting of “modern scholars,” the testimonium flavianus was disputed by nobody, neither Jew nor Gentile, until the 16th century. His five disciples, named Matai, Nekai, Netzer, Buni, and Todah are then tried. 16. 344-345, 347. For the Lord said: Whoever mocks the words of the Sages is punished with boiling excrement”. They replied: Seek their welfare, seek not their harm. All three cases add that on Christmas Eve, Jews were accustomed to publically relate the story of Jesus, that is to say, they read the popular Jewish narrative Toledot Yeshu (“Life of Jesus”), also familiar as Ma‘aseh Toleh (“The Tale of the Hanged One”). Yaacov Deutsch, “Toledot Yeshu in Christian Eyes: Reception and Response to Toledot Yeshu in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period” (Hebrew; master’s thesis, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1997), pp. The “Satanic Verses” of the Talmud can be classified into 3 categories: 1) Jewish Supremacy. The infamous Toledoth Yeschu, Maimonides’ Hilkoth Akun V, 3 and Letter to Yemen), and the 1905 Jewish Encyclopedia (page 170), all boast of Jewish responsibility for Christ’s death. 49:16). At the same time, during festival seasons, Christians displayed constant concern that Jews would enact chapters from Jesus’ life, as they themselves did. As if Jesus Christ who whipped the money-changers is a legitimate symbol of capitalism. 23-24]. In the Talmud, Jewish sages teach that sorcery is undone when brought into contact with water. [96] After several returns for forgiveness he mistook Perachiah's signal to wait a moment as a signal of final rejection, and so he turned to idolatry. Iohann Adrian, Send und Warnungs-Brieff, An Alle Hartneckige unnd Halßstarrige Jüden (Wittenberg, 1609), p. 29. Two talmudic-era texts that explicitly associate Jesus as the son of Pantera/Pandera are: Both of the above passages describe situations where Jesus' name is invoked to perform magical healing. Since at least the 12th century the standard Hebrew name for Jesus has been Yeshu. [95] His teacher said "Here is a nice inn", to which he replied "Her eyes are crooked", to which his teacher responded "Evil one! What about joining them? As Ora Limor noted, It is easy to interpret Toledot Yeshu as a crude and vulgar composition whose purpose is to provide sharp satire of the prevailing religion’s absurd beliefs, with the intention of keeping up the spirits of the depressed minority. [117] Scholars have remarked on the parallels (adultery, father's name "Panthera", return from Egypt, magical powers) between Celsus' account and the Talmudic narratives. Lasker, p xxiv: "What does emerge from the material presented by Herford is that even if Christianity was not a fundamental worry of emerging Rabbinic Judaism, basic Jewish objections to this religion, which hundreds of years later would blossom into a full-scale Jewish polemical attack on Christianity [Lasker is referring to the Toledot Yeshu "The History of Jesus"], are already present in embryonic form in Rabbinic literature. And the Talmud is the most racist, hate-mongering , blasphemous book the world has ever known, according to the Real Jew News (www.realjewnews.com). 31. No one comes forth and in the end he is stoned and hanged on the Eve of Passover. Anyone Seeking historical evidence of Jesus Christ will eventually come upon the rabbinical writings that allegedly refer to him. There are also a number of references in the Talmud telling of discussions between Jewish Christians and leading rabbis, such as recorded in Shabbath 116a, Aboda Zora 16b, 17a and 27b. “Like the kid would ask Santa, ‘Do you and Mrs. Santa ever think of having kids?’ And in the original script it was just, ‘No, thank God.’ And the Coens made that into, ‘No, thank the fuck Christ.’ That’s their gift. Juden Geissel (Straßburg, 1601), Cap. “Nicely! Few copies would survive. Some Talmudic sources include passages which identify a "son of Stada" or "son of Stara" (ben Stada or ben Stara in Hebrew), and some scholars conclude that these are references to the messiah of Christianity.[107]. [22] In 1922 Joseph Klausner wrote Yeshu ha-Notzri (Jesus of Nazareth) which concluded that "the evidence [for a historical Jesus] in the Talmud is scanty and does not contribute much to our knowledge of the historical Jesus; much of it is legendary and reflects the Jewish attempt to counter Christian claims and reproaches" but he did conclude some material was historically reliable. He turns their religion into schlock. Nittel’s possible link to Toledot Yeshu already appeared in Marc Shapiro’s fundamental study on Nittel. Although Rabbi Eliezer was referring to God, the Governor interpreted him to be referring to the Governor himself, and freed the rabbi. The Platonistic philosopher Celsus, writing circa 150 to 200 CE, wrote a narrative describing a Jew who discounts the story of the Virgin Birth of Jesus. So nicely the goyim don’t even know what hit ’em. 37. [112] And then "The day of the Notzri according to Rabbi Ishmael is forbidden for ever" in some texts of B.Avodah Zarah 6a. It has been taught: Note from this incident how serious a thing it is to put a man to shame, for God espoused the cause of Bar Kamza and destroyed His House and burnt His Temple. One can add to these arguments the Jewish accusations against Christianity and Jesus in the New Testament itself, for instance that if Jesus could not save himself, how could he save others (Matt 27:42). [7] In contrast to the canonical story of the New Testament, versions of Toledot Yeshu hold that Jesus was born of incest, stole the Ineffable Name of God from the Temple, and made improper use of it until he was caught and sentenced to death as a blasphemer (megadef). Peter Schäfer, p 9: "I agree that much of our Jesus material is relatively late; in fact, I will argue that the most explicit Jesus passages (those passages that deal with him as a person) appear only in the Babylonian Talmud and can be dated, at the earliest, to the late third-early fourth century C.E. This false witness to the person of Jesus in the Talmud is also confirmed by Rev. http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Christmas (accessed December 2, 2016). He de-Christs them both! Jonathan Eibeschütz’s participation in Nittel festivities is mentioned in: Jacob Emden, Sefer hit’abkut (Lemberg, 1877), p. 59a. “woe-night”) was a common Yiddish term for Christmas. Scholars[who?] But since they did not find anything in his defense they hanged him on (Sabbath eve and) the eve of Passover. The most important Jewish mechanisms of secularization are comedy and parody, for laughter undermines religious awe. This quote is seen by some as an explanation in general for the designation Yeshu. Thus, Jesus was the product of adultery between his engaged mother and a man not her hsuband, not a result of miraculous birth. Those shocking revelations—the non-human status of Gentiles, genocidal and other imprecations against Christians, blasphemies, perversions, and megalomaniacal presumptions—warranted confirmation. Liturgical drama and theatrical violence played an important role in Christmas festivities. [29] Instead they ate garlic (presumably to keep Jesus away), played cards, and mocked the Christian messiah. For a millennium following Christ, Christians mistakenly believed that Jews were just people of the Old Testament who had rejected and murdered their Messiah. In the annual cycle, the Christmas season was especially rich in carnival events, both ecclesiastical and civil. [6][7][8] These events would place the lifetime of any Yeshu decades before or after the birth and death of Jesus.[9][10]. [111], Typically both Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds use the generic minim for heretics. Word play is made on each of their names, and they are executed. According to Rubenstein, the structure of this teaching, in which a biblical prooftext is used to answer a question about biblical law, is common to both the rabbis and early Christians. 11. The evidence is very unclear. Is It “anti-Semitic” to Say There Is War on Christmas? Many Jews and Christians have traditionally assumed that the term Yeshu in the Talmud and Tosefta refers to Jesus. The text of the passage simply states that Onkelos went and raised up a spirit through necromancy, and then asked it his question[99] — it is only in a footnote, bracketed to indicate it is a later insertion, that the individual is named Yeshu. Insults Against Blessed Mary, Sanhedrin 106a . See Jeffrey A. Shandler. Existing manuscripts were sometimes altered (for example, by erasure) and new manuscripts often omitted the passages entirely. 2. [14] "Minimalists" include Jacob Z. Lauterbach (1951) ("who recognize[d] only relatively few passages that actually have Jesus in mind"),[13] while "maximalists" include Herford (1903), (who concluded that most of the references related to Jesus, but were non-historical oral traditions which circulated among Jews),[15][16] and Schäfer (2007) (who concluded that the passages were parodies of parallel stories about Jesus in the New Testament incorporated into the Talmud in the 3rd and 4th centuries that illustrate the inter-sect rivalry between Judaism and nascent Christianity[17][page needed]). See Krauss, Das Leben Jesu, vol. Mss. He then asked: What is your punishment? The rejection of Jesus as Messiah has never been a theological … For he was close to the government. [40] As a result of these disputations many manuscript editions had references to Jesus removed or changed, and subsequent manuscripts sometimes omitted the passages entirely. 21-28. TALMUD:Ereget Raschi Erod, 22 30. IV, [p. 75]. It is mentioned that leniency could not be applied because of Jesus' influence with the royal government (malkhut). The Names Of Christians. [111] In Celsus' account, the Jew says: "... [Jesus] came from a Jewish village and from a poor country woman who earned her living by spinning. ", No, his mother was Miriam, who let her hair grow long and was called Stada. Yeshu is a Hebrew acronym for: “May his name and memory be blotted out.”. This man was the Christ. Ernestum Ferdinandum Hessen, Flagellum Iudeorum. Due to the revelations of sincere converts such as Nicholas Donin, St. Vincent Ferrer, Jerónimo de Santa Fe, Johannes (Josef) Pfefferkorn, et al., further investigations were ordered, including the Disputations of Paris (1240 A.D.) and Tortosa (1413-1414 A.D.). They replied: With boiling hot excrement, since a Master has said: Whoever mocks at the words of the Sages is punished with boiling hot excrement. In 1564 under the Tridentine Index an expunged version of the Talmud was allowed. "[70][71][72][73], On (Sabbath eve and) the eve of Passover, Jesus the Nazarene was hanged and a herald went forth before him forty days heralding, "Jesus the Nazarene is going forth to be stoned because he practiced sorcery and instigated and seduced Israel to idolatry. Scholars have identified passages in the Talmud and associated Talmudic texts that involve invoking Jesus' name, as the messiah of Christianity, in order to perform magical healing:[92], Scholars have identified passages that mention Jesus, as the messiah of Christianity, in the context of a Torah teacher:[92], Sanhedrin 103a and Berachot 17b talk about a Yeshu ha-Nosri (Jesus of Nazareth) who "burns his food in public", possibly a reference to pagan sacrifices or a metaphor for apostasy. Introduction Written by Gil Student There are many talmudic passages that are alleged to be referring to Jesus. 3.“Das selbig büchlin [Tholdos Jescho] wirr gemeinliche an der weyhenacht aber gelesen und geprediget.” Johannis Pfefferkorn, Handt Spiegel (Mainz, 1511), [p. 12]. In 1280 following the Disputation of Barcelona the Talmud was censored. Rabbi Menachen, Comments for the Fifth Book Jehovah himself in heaven studies the Talmud, standing: he has such respect for that book. [citation needed], During the Middle Ages a series of debates on Judaism were staged by the Christian church – including the Disputation of Paris, the Disputation of Barcelona, and Disputation of Tortosa – and during those disputations, Jewish converts to Christianity, such as Pablo Christiani and Nicholas Donin claimed the Talmud contained insulting references to Jesus. a Jewish convert who converted thousands more Jews • Fresco by Fra Bartolomeo, c. 1500. Based on Turner’s model, Nittel should be seen as a carnival event, ritually inverting Christmas. I, [p. 21]. Some scholars view the depictions of Jesus in the Talmud as a manifestation of those inter-sect rivalries – thus the depictions can be read as polemics by the rabbinic authors of the Talmud which indirectly criticized the rival sect (Christianity), which was growing and becoming more dominant. He asked him: Who is in repute in the other world? Every day my ashes are collected and sentence is passed on me and I am burnt and my ashes are scattered over the seven seas. The first Christian censorship of the Talmud happened in the year 521. The few references in the Talmud concerning Jesus portray him as the bastard child of Mary and a Roman soldier, a poor student who practiced idolatry and dark magic, married to a prostitute, and that he in fact was stoned to death (in accordance with … Aron J. Gurevich, Categories of Medieval Culture (London, Boston, Melbourne and Henley, 1985), p. 149. This book deserves a full review, but Ethan Schwartz’s summary and comment (“Twas the night after Christmas“) deserve scrutiny. Therefore he will be served by animals in human form." [32] He asserts that the references in the Babylonian Talmud were "polemical counter-narratives that parody the New Testament stories, most notably the story of Jesus' birth and death"[33] and that the rabbinical authors were familiar with the Gospels (particularly the Gospel of John) in their form as the Diatessaron and the Peshitta, the New Testament of the Syrian Church. In his view the tosefta account reveals that at least some Jews believed Christians were true healers, but that the rabbis saw this belief as a major threat. Tractate Mechilla/Me'ilah Jehovah himself asks the opinions of earthly rabbis when there are difficult affairs in heaven. Nittel Nacht: An Inverted Christmas with Toledot Yeshu. Since the Giving of the Torah, Jewish people studied Scripture along with a corpus of Divine traditions (the Oral Torah), which elucidated … Jesus in the Talmud by peter schäfer princeton university press, 232 pages, $24.95. Most remarkably, they counter the New Testament Passion story with its message of the Jews' guilt and shame as Christ killers. 335, 339-340. [60][61][62], Our rabbis taught Jesus the Nazarene had five disciples, and these are they: Matthai, Naqqai, Netzer, Buni, and Todah. 27. ", "But was not the husband Pappos son of Yehuda and the mother Stada? Bart Ehrman, and separately Mark Allan Powell, state that the Talmud references are quite late (hundreds of years) and give no historically reliable information about the teachings or actions of Jesus during his life. [40], During the Middle Ages a series of debates on Judaism were held by Catholic authorities – including the Disputation of Paris (1240), the Disputation of Barcelona (1263), and Disputation of Tortosa (1413–14) – and during those disputations, Jewish converts to Christianity, such as Nicholas Donin (in Paris) and Pablo Christiani (in Barcelona) claimed the Talmud contained insulting references to Jesus. Tractate Gitin of the Babylonian Talmud tells of Onkelos bar Kalonikos, who conjured up one of the sinners of Israel: “He [Onkelos] said: What is your punishment? That bubble of innocence burst when sincere converts from Judaism revealed the foundational teachings of Judaism. And even today the tribe of those who from him are called Christians has grown no less.” Flavius Josephus the Jew, Antiquities of the Jews, XVIII, 63-64. in Giuseppi Ricciotti, The Life of Christ, Milwaukee WI: Bruce Publishing, 1947. pp. The rabbis insist that Jesus Himself was an idolater (Sanhedrin 43a, 107b) who worshipped a brick (Sanhedrin 67a, 107b), so Jesus was justly executed. In the passage about Jesus’ trial, the two occurrences of the name ‘Yeshu ha-Notzri’ have been partially [84], In addition, at the 1240 Disputation of Paris, Donin presented the allegation that the Talmud was blasphemous towards Mary, the mother of Jesus (Miriam in Hebrew), and this criticism has been repeated by many Christian sources. Mekor Ḥayyim, the commentary of the Ashkenazi Rabbi R. Yair Ḥayyim Bakhrakh (1639-1702) on Shulḥan Arukh, Orah Ḥayyim, is the earliest and the only Jewish source in the seventeenth-century to mention the custom of abstaining from Torah study on Christmas Eve, practiced to this day in Hasidic circles. We can not say that every instance of that name belongs to Jesus. 36. Some passages that have been identified by scholars as mentioning Jesus, as the messiah of Christianity, in this context include:[97]. The “Satanic Verses” of the Talmud can be classified into 3 categories: 1) Jewish Supremacy. There are still noticeable challenges to the identification of Yeshu as Jesus, as elsewhere in the Talmud his stepfather, Pappos ben Yehuda, is mentioned as being martyred with Rabbi Akiva[6] and is himself mentioned as being among the Pharisees returning to Israel following their persecution by John Hyrcanus,[5] which would place Yeshu's lifetime anywhere between 130 and 70 years before the birth of Jesus. And what was merely hinted at in the Strasbourg Ms. is clearly stated in the Slavic versions of Toledot Yeshu,[25] reinforcing the claims of the converts: “And Judah saw that he prevailed not against him[26] [Jesus] and said, I will praise God “Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau” (Gen. 32:12), and he [i.e. "[35] and "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? On Nittel customs, see Shapiro, “Torah Study on Christmas Eve”; Scharbach, “The Ghost in the Privy: On the Origins of Nittel Nacht and Modes of Cultural Exchange,” JSQ 20.4 (2013): pp. ", Rav Hisda said, "The husband was Stada and the lover was Pandera. Christians Are Idolaters. And the passages re now included in most of the new printings of the Talmud,said Yisrael Shaw of Daf Yomi Discussions, an on-line Talmud service. [105] Some of the texts indicate that Mary's husband's name was Stada. The other is that Jews are seen as high-mindedly making Christmas  “into a holiday season belonging to all Americans.”, https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Talmud-Peter-Sch%C3%A4fer/dp/0691143188, http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Christmas. On a liturgical event, “at the supreme moment of consummation, past and future coalesced in the present to become the non-ephemeral”. 17. ”ויהי לעת ערב ויקח יהודה את גוף יש”ו מעל העץ וישמהו בגן שלו במרתף של גרף לקיים דברי חכמים כל המלעיג על דברי חכמים נדון בצואה רותחת.” Johannes Jacobus Huldricus, Historia Jeshuae Nazareni a Judaeis blaspheme carupta (Leiden, 1705), pp. And it is over this incident that they weep on their night (bokhim ba-lail shelahem). Says Jesus' mother was a whore: "She who was the descendant of princes and governors played the harlot with carpenters." Jesus In The Quran: 39 Quran Verses About Jesus Jesus In The Quran: 39 Quran Verses About Jesus. I, [pp. … I propose that the (mainly) Babylonian stories about Jesus and his family are deliberate and highly sophisticated counternarratives to the stories about Jesus' life and death in the Gospels – narratives that presuppose a detailed knowledge of the New Testament in particular the Gospel of John, presumably through the Diatessaron and/or the Peshitta, the New Testament of the Syrian Church. 87-92. If one wants to indulge such supposition, note that Flavius Josephus was a zealot revolutionary who surrendered and served both Vespasian and Titus, both of whom are even today reviled by the Jews almost as much as Jesus Himself is reviled. Selah” (Ps. The passages identified by scholars in this context are:[92], Passages in Sanhedrin 107b and Sotah 47a refer to an individual (Yeshu) that some scholars conclude is a reference to Jesus, regarded as the messiah of Christianity. https://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2019/12/26/is-it-anti-semitic-to-say-there-is-war-on-christmas/, by Edmund Connelly, Unz Review, December 23, 2020, https://www.unz.com/article/the-war-on-christmas-updated/, by Burt Prelutsky, Town Hall,|December 11, 2006, https://townhall.com/columnists/burtprelutsky/2006/12/11/the-jewish-grinch-who-stole-christmas-n997077, All-Star Team of Jews Defiles Christmas in Billy Bob Thornton’s ‘Bad Santa’, How the Coen brothers and Terry Zwigoff helped create a holiday classic that angers gentiles, https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/156296/bad-santa, In an interview last year, director Terry Zwigoff explained how the Coen Brothers turned Bad Santa from holiday pastiche into scorched earth. Without even noticing, the Sages admitted that Jesus couldn’t have possibly been a sorcerer. One is the message of subversion utilizing ridicule among other methods. 22. The manifestation of Toledot Yeshu in the night of Nittel, whether the narrative was actually read during the night or not, turned the liturgical custom into an inverted version of Christmas Eve. 1 (London, 1903), pp. [52] Following the invention of the printing press, the Talmud was banned by the Pope. 343-344. https://www.thetorah.com/article/nittel-nacht-an-inverted-christmas-with-toledot-yeshu, The Wandering Jew, Samuel Hirszenberg, 1899, “You shall not consider debasing idolatry and urinating on it or excreting on it, because that is what was done to Pe’or.”, (Sefer Ḥasidim Ms. Parma H 3280, Cap.1348). What then, he said, about joining them? When confronted with the evidence, the Jews have tried many tricks to explain away and conceal their supremacist, genocidal, perverse, and blasphemous creed. Jews loathe Jesus.”   —Philip Roth, Operation Shylock : A Confession, https://rutube.ru/video/14f7449e7e4902dfa2e8259792d3894f/. Princeton Firestone Lib. What then, he said, about joining them? 1. “Custom of abstaining from study on the calamity night of that man (peloni, i.e. [82][83], Some scholars claim that the Hebrew name Yeshu is not a short form of the name Yeshua, but rather an acrostic for the Hebrew phrase "may his name and memory be blotted out" created by taking the first letter of the Hebrew words. Also in footnote #2 to Shabbath 104b it is stated that in the "uncensored" text of the Talmud it is written that Jesus mother, "Miriam the hairdresser," had sex with many men. 18. SATANIC VERSES OF THE JEWISH TALMUD: ZIONISTS, ZIONISM AND JUDAISM. 1, p. 43. And the world was amazed as they flew like eagles, until Iscariot embraced him as he flew in the sky and neither could force the other… because both had the Ineffable Name equally. 1 (Berlin, 1902), pp. [88] However, the references to Mary are not specific, and some assert that they do not refer to Jesus' mother, or perhaps refer to Mary Magdalen. P. Schäfer, M. Meerson and Y. Deutsch (Tübingen, 2011), p. 176. 2, p. 269. Jesus calls this Judaism that rejects its own Messiah “a synagogue of Satan”. The following are among those considered the most controversial, contested, and possibly the most notable. His mother's name was Miriam, 'the hairdresser'; … her lover's name was Pandira. In the modern era there has been a variance of views among scholars of the possible references to Jesus in the Talmud, depending partly on presuppositions as to the extent to which the ancient rabbis were preoccupied with Jesus and Christianity. [115] Stephen Gero suggests that an early version of the Toledot Yeshu narrative preceded the Talmud, and that the Talmud drew upon the Toledot Yeshu, but Rubenstein and Schäfer discount that possibility, because they date the origin of the Toledot Yeshu in the early Middle Ages or Late Antiquity.[116]. Every day he would come before him (intent on being readmitted,) and he did not accept him. Compared to other anti-Christian polemical works of a more intellectual nature, Toledot Yeshu did not demand sophisticated knowledge of its readers. The story ends by invoking a Mishnaic era teaching that Yeshu practised black magic, deceived and led Israel astray. The Hebrew use of “Yeshu” (ישו) in Chagall’s blasphemy is a Jewish mockery of Jesus’ actual Hebrew name “Yeschua” (ישוע). As Ricciotti notes: “It was then [16th century] the first doubts were cast upon it, but they were based entirely on internal [a.v., subjective] evidence, that is it did not seem possible that a Jew and a Pharisee like Josephus should do Jesus so much honor in speaking of him.” Giuseppi Ricciotti, The Life of Christ, Milwaukee WI: Bruce Publishing, 1947. p. 82. Matthew, the writer of the first Gospel, relates that the fame of Jesus spread throughout the land, and that many people listened to him eagerly. "A pregnant non-Jew is no better than a pregnant ANIMAL." One would think that if it was Paul who created the fuss, then paul would be reviled, and Jesus, if mentioned at all, would be … With Jesus the Nazarene it was different. Take, for example, Hanukkah Harry from “Saturday Night Live”, who heroically steps in for a bedridden Santa by delivering presents from a cart pulled by donkeys named Moishe, Hershel, and Shlomo. But since they did not find anything in his defense they hanged him on (Sabbath eve and) the eve of Passover. 2) Hatred Towards The Goys (Gentiles). [8], Although sources written by Jewish converts to Christianity should be treated with caution,[9] the claim put forth by them that Toledot Yeshu was read in Jewish homes on Christian Festivals, including and especially Christmas Eve is worth taking seriously. Whoever knows anything in defense may come and state it.' 25. The Jews especially. The Munich Talmud is therefore the only uncensored copy of the whole Talmud, though even this is censored in some respects. Theissen cites Klausner, For a discussion of this passage, see Theissen, pp 74–76, (This happened during their period of refuge in, the reciting of Shema being a spiritually intense moment. Victor Turner, From Ritual to Theatre: The Human Seriousness of Play (New York, 1982), 28; Also see Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Carnival in Romans (New York, 1979), p. 316. “The radio was playing ‘Easter Parade’ and I thought, But this is Jewish genius on a par with the Ten Commandments.