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An Ancient List of Christian Festivals in Toledot Yeshu: Polemics as Indication for Interaction*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2009

Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra
Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra*
Affiliation:
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Université Aix-Marseille
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Extract

Calendars, liturgy, and especially festivals offer a convenient vantage point from which to analyze collective identities. They can provide access to group mentalities rather than to the ideas of individual intellectuals, which are often more or less confined to ivory towers.1 Ritual addresses the whole human being—the intellect, emotions, and body—and it does so by establishing and defining relations between the individual, his or her in-group, and the out-group.2 Every collective identity is formed and reformed in a continuous process encompassing exchange with, as well as distinction from, other possible collective identities.3 Sometimes, this construction of a “we” in distinction from “them” is explicit, while at other times it takes place in a more clandestine and encrypted fashion.

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ARTICLES
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Harvard Theological Review , Volume 102 , Issue 4 , October 2009 , pp. 481 - 496
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Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 2009

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References

1 Of the vast literature on this subject, I will mention pars pro toto the particularly good article by Jan Assmann, “Der zweidimensionale Mensch. Das Fest als Medium des kollektiven Gedächtnisses,” in Das Fest und das Heilige. Religiöse Kontrapunkte zur Alltagswelt (ed. idem; Studien zum Verstehen fremder Religionen 1; Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 1991) 13–30; as well as Christoph Auffarth, “Feste als Medium antiker Religionen. Methodische Konzeptionen zur Erforschung komplexer Rituale,” in Zwischen Krise und Alltag. Antike Religionen im Mittelmeerraum / Conflit et normalité. Religions anciennes dans l‘espace méditerranéen (ed. Christophe Batsch, Ulrike Engelhaaf-Gaiser, and Ruth Stepper; Potsdamer altertumswissenschaftliche Beiträge 1; Stuttgart: Steiner, 1999) 31–42; and Alessandro Falassi, “Festival: Definition and Morphology,” in Time out of Time: Essays on the Festival (ed. idem; Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1967) 1–10. Noteworthy books include Jörg Rüpke, Kalender und Öffentlichkeit. Die Geschichte der Repräsentation und religiösen Qualifikation von Zeit in Rom (Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten 40; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1995); and Sacha Stern, Calendar and Community: A History of the Jewish Calendar 2nd Century b.c.e.–10th Century c.e. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).

2 See, for example, Catherine Bell, Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997); and eadem, Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992).

3 Henri Tajfel, “Social Categorization, Social Identity and Social Comparison,” in Differentiation between Social Groups: Studies in the Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations (ed. idem; London: Academic Press, 1978) 61–76; Gerd Baumann, “Ritual Implicates ‘Others': Rereading Durkheim in a Plural Society,” in Understanding Rituals (ed. Daniel de Coppet; London: Routledge, 1992) 97–116.

4 Israel Yuval, Two Nations in Your Womb: Perceptions of Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages ([Hebrew] Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 2000; trans. [English]; Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006).

5 Clemens Leonhard, The Jewish Pesach and the Origins of the Christian Easter: Open Questions in Current Research (Studia Judaica 35; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2006).

6 Elliott Horowitz, Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006).

7 Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra, The Impact of Yom Kippur on Early Christianity: The Day of Atonement from Second Temple Judaism to the Fifth Century (WUNT 163; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2003).

8 Gerard Rouwhorst, “The Origins and Evolution of Early Christian Pentecost,” Studia Patristica 35 (2001) 309–22; cf. Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra, “Parody and Polemics on Pentecost: Talmud Yerushalmi Pesahim on Acts 2?” in Jewish and Christian Liturgy and Worship: New Insights into its History and Interaction (ed. Albert Gerhards and Clemens Leonhard; Jewish and Christian Perspectives 15; Leiden: Brill, 2007) 279–93.

9 Joshua Schwartz, “The Encaenia of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Temple of Solomon and the Jews,” ThZ 43 (1987) 265–81.

10 See also the highly interesting work of Stephane Verhelst, “La liturgie de Jérusalem à l'époque byzantine. Genèse et structures de l'année liturgique” (Ph.D. diss., The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1999); and idem, “Le 15 Août, le 9 Av et le Kathisme,” Questions Liturgiques 82 (1987) 167–69.

11 Yuval, Two Nations in Your Womb. See also Peter Schäfer, Jesus in the Talmud (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007); and Stökl Ben Ezra, “Parody and Polemics on Pentecost.”

12 Johann Maier, Jesus von Nazareth in der talmudischen Überlieferung (Erträge der Forschung 82; Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1978). See also Leonhard, The Jewish Pesach and the Origins of the Christian Easter.

13 For this term see James Scott, Domination and the Arts of Resistance: The Hidden Transcript of Subordinate Groups (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990).

14 For the history of this impact, see Yaakov Deutsch, “Toledot Yeshu in Christian Eyes” (M.A. diss. [Hebrew]; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1997); Riccardo Di Segni, “La tradizione testuale delle Toledoth Jeshu. Manoscritti, edizioni a stampa classificazione,” Rassegna Mensile di Israel 50 (1984) 83–100; idem, Il Vangelo del Ghetto (Rome: Newton Compton, 1985); William Horbury, “A Critical Examination of the Toledoth Jeshu” (Ph.D. diss., Cambridge University, 1970); George Howard, “A Primitive Hebrew Gospel of Matthew and the Tol'doth Yeshu,” New Testament Studies 34 (1988) 60–70; Samuel Krauss, Das Leben Jesu nach jüdischen Quellen (Berlin: S. Cavalry, 1902; repr., Hildesheim: Olms, 1994); idem and William Horbury, The Jewish-Christian Controversy from the Earliest Times to 1789. Volume 1: History (ed. and rev. William Horbury; Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 56; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1996); Hillel Newman, “The Death of Jesus in the Toledot Yeshu Literature,” JTS 50 (1999) 59–79.

15 For a list, see Di Segni, Il vangelo del Ghetto, 225–31.

16 A further indication of the widespread and far-reaching influence of the polemic is the great variety of scripts that come from practically all areas of medieval Judaism: Ashkenazi, Oriental, Yemenite, Persian, and Italian. Some are even attributed to Karaites (Di Segni, Il vangelo del Ghetto, 33).

17 The earliest manuscripts are a number of very fragmentary Aramaic copies from the Geniza, perhaps from the eleventh century. See Daniel Boyarin, “A Corrected Reading of the New ‘History of Jesus' Fragment,” Tarbiz 47 (1978) 249–52 [Hebrew]; and Yaakov Deutsch, “New Evidence of Early Versions of Toledot Yeshu,” Tarbiz 69 (2000) 177–97 [Hebrew]. The full narrative is first attested in a Christian reaction to it by Agobard in ninth century Lyons. See Agobard (d. 840), De iudaicis superstitionibus et erroribus 10: PL 104 :77–100 = MGH Ep. V :185–99; see also the Epistula contra Iudaeos of Agobard's successor Amulo (d. 852): PL 116 :141–84.

18 Newman, “The Death of Jesus”; Horbury, “A Critical Examination of the Toledoth Jeshu.”

19 Classification of the recensions of Toledot Yeshu is a topic worthy of research in itself. See the useful introduction to Newman's fascinating article, “The Death of Jesus.” One of the more recent attempts at classification is the detailed study by Di Segni (“La tradizione testuale delle Toledoth Jeshu,” in Il vangelo del Ghetto, 29–42 and 216–19). Di Segni distinguishes between three primary recensions named according to the protagonist supervising the trial of Jesus: Pilate, Queen Helena, and Herod. Di Segni regards the Pilate group represented by the Aramaic Geniza fragments, Agobard, and Amulo as the earliest recension.

20 S= ms Strasbourg, bibliothèque nationale et universitaire, ms 3974 (Héb. 48) pages 170–75 (Krauss, Das Leben Jesu, Heb. 38–50; Germ. 50–64), V= ms Vienna, now lost, olim Vienna, Israelitische Theologische Lehranstalt, Cod. Heb. 54 (ibid., Heb. 64–88; Germ. 88–117), Y= ms Yemen, now lost, olim private collection of E. Alder, London (ibid., Heb. 118–21; Germ. 122–28); B= ms Bodleiana, Oxford, Bodleian Library, ms Rawl. Or. 37. I use the same sigla as Krauss with the exception of ms Yemen that Krauss abbreviates A. The numbers following the sigla indicate sections. In addition I use, L= London, Sassoon Library 793, pages 359–65; and J= Jerusalem, National Library 8° 864, folia 80v–85r. Di Segni, Il vangelo del Ghetto, 225–31, uses sigla Je12 for Jerusalem, *K2 for Vienna, *K1 for Yemen, LoS2 for Sassoon, Ox5 for Bodleiana and St for Strasbourg. Krauss (ibid., 27–37) classifies S and Y as Wagenseil type (Di Segni: Elena-primo), V as de Rossi (Di Segni: Elena-Italiano). The birth account is absent from the earliest witness to the Helena recension, Raimundo Martini (Di Segni, Il vangelo del Ghetto, 33) and from the “Pilate” recension of the Geniza fragments and Ibn Shaprut (Deutsch, “New Evidence,” 178).

21 On this part, see Di Segni, Il vangelo del Ghetto, 203–15; Simon Légasse, “La légende juive des Apôtres et les rapports judéo-chrétiens dans le haut Moyen Age,” Bulletin de Littérature Ecclésiastique 75 (1974) 99–132; and idem, “La légende juive des Apôtres et les rapports judéo-chrétiens dans le Moyen Age occidental,” Yearbook of the Ecumenical Institute for Advanced Theological Studies, 1974/75: 121–39.

22 Di Segni subdivides it into four branches: primo, italiano, Wagenseil and Slavo (Il vangelo del Ghetto, 31–40).

23 Newman, “The Death of Jesus,” 60.

24 Krauss, Das Leben Jesu, 141–43.

25 In contrast, I. Troki claims that Sunday was introduced (by the pope) only 500 years after Jesus' death (Krauss, Das Leben Jesu, 271).

26 Légasse, “La légende juive … dans le haut Moyen Age,” 101.

27 Di Segni, Il vangelo del Ghetto, 209. A more recent investigation of Peter in Jewish sources is Wout van Bekkum, “‘The Rock on which the Church is Founded': Simon Peter in Jewish Folktale,” in Saints and Role Models in Judaism and Christianity (ed. Marcel Poorthuis and Joshua Schwartz; Jewish and Christian Perspectives 7; Leiden: Brill, 2004) 289–310.

28 Aharon Mirsky, Yosse ben Yosse Poems (Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, 1991 [Hebrew]); Joseph Yahalom, Priestly Palestinian Poetry: A Narrative Liturgy for the Day of Atonement (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1996 [Hebrew]).

29 Samuel Krauss, “Neuere Ansichten über ‘Toledoth Jeschu'” MGWJ 77 (1933) 44–61, esp. 46–47.

30 E.g., for ‘Resurrection' and for ‘Ascension.' See M. Sokoloff, A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic (Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University Press, 1992) and R. Payne Smith's Thesaurus Syriacus (2 vols.; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879–1901) 2:2210 and 2649.

31 Samuel Krauss, “The Mount of Olives in ‘Toldoth Jesu,'” Zion 4 (1939) 170–76 [Hebrew], at 170.

32 Stephen Gerö, “The Nestorius Legend in the Toledoth Yeshu,” OrChr 59 (1975) 108–20.

33 According to a “better” manuscript mentioned by Krauss (“Neuere Ansichten,” 47). ms B reads .

34 B: Shavuot.

35 B: Pfingsten. Accoding to L and J, (every) Sunday, the ascension is celebrated. These manuscripts are important as they give the festival names in Aramaic but compared to S their readings are clearly secondary corrections.

36 S reads (lying down, death, funeral sermon), cf. L () and J () which are clearly misreadings. On Krauss's emendation to (finding), see below. ms B reads “gefunden das Holz” (in Yiddish).

37 B: Yom Kippur.

38 B: gewest. L and J read (judgment), again a secondary improvement using a known expression which does not make sense in a liturgical context. But see below for an explanation for reading “Indiction” here.

39 B: Tomis. L and J: (every year). The full text of S reads:

. (ms Strasbourg according to Krauss, Das Leben Jesu, 48 with the lect. var. according to the article mentioned in the previous footnotes [translation mine]).

40 Krauss, Das Leben Jesu, 271–72: “Der Wortlaut des Toldoth ist zwar Kreuzauffindung, aber solche Ungenauigkeiten müssen wir schon in den Kauf nehmen und die Meinung dahin berichtigen, dass die Kreuzaufrichtung gemeint ist.”

41 Krauss, Das Leben Jesu, 271: “Der jüdische Erzähler mußte eben keinen christlichen Kalender vor sich haben, als er dies schrieb, und erkundigen mochte er sich auch nicht.”

42 Odo Casel, La fête de Pâques dans l'Église des Pères (Paris: CERF, 1963; French translation of “Art und Sinn der ältesten christlichen Osterfeier,” Jahrbuch für Liturgiewissenschaft 14 [1938] 1–78); Thomas Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1991) 62–63; and the references given below. Gerard Rouwhorst (“The Origins and Evolution of Early Christian Pentecost”) argues that even Pentecost was not observed in the first two centuries.

43 See the ambiguous Tertullian De baptismo 19:2 (ed. Gerlo; CChr.SL, 1954) 1:293–94.

44 Chrysostom, In ascensionem domini nostri Iesu Christi (PG 50:441–52); Franz-Rudolf Weinert, Christi Himmelfahrt. Neutestamentliches Fest im Spiegel alttestamentlicher Psalmen. Zur Entstehung des römischen Himmelfahrtsoffizium (Disserationen theologische Reihe 25; Sankt Ottilien: EOS 1987) 6–22.

45 Robert Cabié, La Pentecôte. L'évolution de la cinquantaine pascale au cours des cinq premiers siècles (Tournai: Desclée, 1965) 127–45; Georg Kretschmar, “Himmelfahrt und Pfingsten,” ZKG 66 (1954/55) 209–53.

46 Canon 9: “At the completion of fifty days after His resurrection make ye commemoration of His ascension to His glorious Father” (ANF 8:668). For the Syriac, see Paul de Lagarde, Reliquiae juris ecclesiastici antique syriace (Leipzig: Teubner, 1856) 32–44; and William Cureton, Ancient Syriac Documents Relative to the Earliest Establishment of Christianity in Edessa and the Neighbouring Countries from the Year after Our Lord's Ascension to the Beginning of the Fourth Century (London: Williams & Norgate, 1864) 24–35 [ET], 166–73 (notes), *24–*35 (Syriac), at 27. See also the beginning of the treatise, which dates the event of Jesus' ascension to the fiftieth day after Passover: “In the year three hundred and thirty-nine of the kingdom of the Greeks, in the month Heziran, on the fourth day of the same, which is the first day of the week, and the end of Pentecost—on the selfsame day came the disciples from Nazareth of Galilee, where the conception of our Lord was announced, to the mount which is called that of the Place of Olives, our Lord being with them, but not being visible to them. And at the time of early dawn our Lord lifted up His hands, and laid them upon the heads of the eleven disciples, and gave to them the gift of the priesthood. And suddenly a bright cloud received Him. And they saw Him as He was going up to heaven. And He sat down on the right hand of His Father. And they praised God because they saw His ascension according as He had told them; and they rejoiced because they had received the Right Hand conferring on them the priesthood of the house of Moses and Aaron” (ANF 667). Based on the absence of a separate festival of Ascension, Francis C. Burkitt dates this text to the “fourth or even third century,” but this is not necessary; see his review of Anton Baumstark's Geschichte der Syrischen Literatur in JTS 24 (1923) 200–3. The third century is highly unlikely in view of the mention of Lent.

47 Some think Egeria's Diary might refer to Ascension by the name of “forty days” (42:1). Yet the ceremony described by Egeria takes place in Bethlehem, not the Imbomon. According to the date given by manuscript P of the Armenian lectionary (pace ms J 121), this may in fact be the feast of the Innocents that in 383 fell on the fortieth day after Easter (Paul Devos, “Egérie à Bethléem. Le 40e jour après Pâques à Jérusalem en 383,” AnBoll 86 [1968] 87–108). That she did not yet know of Ascension becomes more probable in view of the next paragraph, according to which the liturgical contents of Ascension are still part of Pentecost (43:5).

48 See Charles (Athanase) Renoux, Le Codex arménien jérusalem 121. Tome 2: Édition, comparée du texte et de deux autres manuscrits (PO 36/2; Turnhout: Brepols, 1971; no. LVII, LVIII, 336–48).

49 For example, the preference of Ascension over Pentecost might also be influenced by awareness of the Christian claim that Jesus ascended to heaven. See y. Ta‘anit 2:1 (65b) and Schäfer (2007, 107–11).

50 And not to the celebration of the Inventio Crucis in May in medieval and later Latin liturgy as briefly discussed by Krauss.

51 Louis van Tongeren, Exaltation of the Cross: Towards the Origins of the Feast of the Cross and the Meaning of the Cross in Early Medieval Liturgy (Liturgia condenda 11; Leuven: Peeters, 2001); idem, “Vom Kreuzritus zur Kreuzestheologie. Die Entstehungsgeschichte des Festes der Kreuzerhöhung und seine erste Ausbreitung im Westen,” Ephemerides Liturgicae 112 (1998) 216–45.

52 Harum ergo ecclesiarum sanctarum encenia cum summo honore celebrantur quoniam crux Domini inventa est ipsa die (Diary 48:1).

53 The regular Syriac form for inventio crucis would be rather without the initial Aleph (Payne Smith 2:4150).

54 is attested in b. Ketub 103b for death. This word play could hardly be translated to Yiddish. Alternatively, the Yiddish form reports the original and the current Aramaic is a later pun.

55 Krauss, Das Leben Jesu, 272.

56 Payne Smith, Thesaurus Syriacus, 1:701.

57 Venance Grumel, “Indiction,” in NCE 7 (1967) 466–68; idem, “Indiction byzantine et ΝΕОΝ ΕТОΣ,” Revue de Études Byzantines 12 (1954) 128–43; and compare the additional notes of François Halkin, “La nouvelle année au septembre,” AnBoll 90 (1972) 36; and Denis Feissel, “Notes d‘épigraphie chrétienne (VII),” Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 108 (1984) 545–79, esp. 566–71. The more widespread Syriac term for indiction seems to be simply the transcription of the Latin/Greek. Carl Brockelmann, Lexicon Syriacum (Halle: Niemeyer, 21928; repr., Hildesheim: Olms, 1982); see reverse index. Thanks to Adam Becker for this information. In the continuation of Payne Smith's entry to g zîrta there is another not unsuitable candidate for a pendant to Yom Kippur: (auma d g zîrta), the Fast of the Ninevites. Some of its readings indicate connections to Yom Kippur (e.g., Isa 58:1–14, Jonah 3–4). This multi-day fast was observed around February by both Syrian churches as a major event. See Anton Baumstark, Nichtevangelische syrische Perikopenordnungen des ersten Jahrtausends (Liturgiewissenschaftliche Quellen und Forschungen 15; Münster: Aschendorff, 1921, 21971) 60–64. The earliest evidence comes from the end of sixth century (ibid.). In an erudite answer to an inquiry on the hugoye-list, Basil Lourie suggested as terminus ad (!) quem the late fourth century (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hugoye-list/message/277). This seems too early to me.

58 Venance Grumel, La chronologie (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1958) 192–206.

59 m. ‘Aboda Zar. 1:3 and the relevant Talmudic discussions y. ‘Aboda Zar. 1:2(3) (39c) and b. ‘Aboda Zar. 8a, as well as t. ‘Aboda Zar. 1:4.

60 Moshe Benovitz, “Herod and Hanukka,” Zion 68 (2003) 5–40 [Hebrew]; Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra, “Interaction et différenciation. Quelques pensées sur les rôles des fêtes juives, chrétiennes (et ‘païennes'),” in Cohabitations et contacts religieux (ed. Nicole Belayche and Jean-Daniel Dubois; Bibliothèque de l'École des Hautes Etudes, Sciences religieuses; Turnhout: Brepols; forthcoming).

61 John Scheid, “Les réjouissances des calendes de janvier d'après le sermon Dolbeau 26. Nouvelles lumières sur une fête mal connue,” in Augustin prédicateur (395–411), Actes du Colloque International de Chantilly, 5–7 septembre 1996 (ed. Goulven Madec; Paris: Institut d'Études Augustiniennes, 1998) 353–65; M. Kahlos, “Pompa diaboli. The Grey Area of Urban Festivals in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries,” in Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History XII (ed. Carl Deroux; Collection Latomus 287; Brussels: Latomus, 2005) 467–83.

62 Fritz Graf, “Kalendae Ianuariae,” in Ansichten griechischer Rituale. Geburtstagssymposium für Walter Burkert (ed. idem; Stuttgart & Leipzig: Teubner, 1998) 199–216; idem, “Roman Festivals in Syria Palaestina,” in The Talmud Yerushalmi and Graeco-Roman Culture III (ed. Peter Schäfer; Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 93; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001) 135–51.

63 E.g. Jerusalem and Armenia (Susan Roll, “Weihnachten,” TRE 35 [2003] 453–68, at 461). On Christmas in general, see Susan Roll, Toward the Origins of Christmas (Liturgia Condenda 5; Kampen: Peeters/Kok-Pharos, 1995); Martin Wallraff, Christus Verus Sol. Sonnenverehrung und Christentum in der Spätantike (JAC Suppl. 32; Münster: Aschendorff, 2001) 174–97; Hans Förster, Die Feier der Geburt Christi in der Alten Kirche (Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 4; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000).

64 Compared to these lists, some festivals and fast-days are absent (e.g. Sukkot, Purim, and Tish‘a beAv), and the post-biblical Chanukkah has been added. Compare also Deuteronomy 16 (Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot) and 2 Chr 8 (Sabbath, New Moon, Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot); these lists commence with Passover or the Sabbath but do not mention Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

65 E.g. m. Meg. 3:5–6, which mentions Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot followed by Chanukkah, Purim, the New Moon, and liturgical events; see also y. Meg. 3:5 (73d), b. Meg. 30b and Sofrim 17:5. For the sequence Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot, see also t. Meg. 3:5, t. B. Metz. 4:18, and t. Bek. 7:9. Sifra Emor 10:13 juxtaposes Passover and Shavuot with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur without Sukkot.

66 The sequence weekly-yearly festivals is also attested in the Codex Theodosianus (15:5:5): Sunday, Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost and the Apostolic Passion (of Peter and Paul).

67

ms V ch. 19 (Krauss, Das Leben Jesu, 85). ms Y replaces almost the entire list and gives Sunday, Christmas, Epiphany, Good Friday/Easter, and Ascension instead: “[Eliyahu] said: ‘Jesus gives you a sign. He said, know what is written in the Torah (Isa 1:14): Your new moons and your festivals my soul hated.' They said: ‘[If] already the Holy One May He Be Blessed hated those days, come, let us abstain from work on the first day of the week on which the Holy One May He Be Blessed enlightened his world and let us decree (make) as festivals the day Jesus was born, the day he was instituted [Epiphany?], the day he died and the day he ascended into heaven.' ” . ms Y, ch. 12 (Krauss, Das Leben Jesu, 121).

68 The notion of a medieval Jewish sage accessing ancient Christian Syriac material is not implausible. See Martha Himmelfarb, “R. Moses the Preacher and the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs,” AJS Review 9 (1984) 55–78, esp. 75–77.

69 B, mentioned above, and Krauss.

70 Légasse, “La légende juive … dans le haut Moyen Age,” 106.

71 John Gager, “Jews, Christians and the Dangerous Ones in Between,” in Interpretation in Religion (ed. Shlomo Biderman and Ben-Ami Scharfstein; Philosophy and Religion 2; Leiden: Brill, 1992) 249–57.

72 Légasse, “La légende juive … dans le haut Moyen Age,” 120–21.

73 Marcel Simon, “La polémique antijuive de saint Jean Chrysostome et le mouvement judaïsant d'Antioche,” in idem, Recherches d'histoire judéo-chrétienne (Paris-La Haye: Mouton, 1962) 140–53; Robert Wilken, John Chrysostom and the Jews: Rhetoric and Reality in the Late Fourth Century (Berkeley: Wipf & Stock, 1983); Rudolf Brändle, “Christen und Juden in Antiochien in den Jahren 386/387. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte altkirchlicher Judenfeindschaft,” Judaica 43 (1987) 142–68.

74 Amnon Linder, The Jews in Roman Imperial Legislation ([ET]Detroit: Wayne State University Press; Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1987 [Hebrew original: Jerusalem, 1983]), nos. 8, 12, 16, 39, 50, 54.

75 Cod. Theod. 16:7:3 = Linder, no. 16.

76 Günter Stemberger, Jews and Christians in the Holy Land: Palestine in the Fourth Century (Edinburgh: Continuum, 2000) 80.

77 Linder, nos. 8, 10, 52. The most interesting law against “Christianizing” by Jews is in fact much later (eighth century, according to Linder, no. 65).

78 Linder nos. 26, 43.

79 Seth Schwartz, Imperialism and Jewish Society: 200 b.c.e.to 640 c.e. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001) 240–74.

80 Schäfer, Jesus in the Talmud, 113–22

81 The Babylonian Talmud sometimes reports such traditions in blocks (e.g., the Book of Dreams), and sometimes separately. The Jesus traditions are widely scattered, much like the exegetical traditions of, e.g., Genesis. On the book of dreams, see the forthcoming book by Haim Weiss, ‘All Dreams Follow the Mouth'? A Literary and Cultural Reading in the Talmudic ‘Dream Tractate' (Be'ersheva: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev [Hebrew]).

82 Michael Sokoloff and Joseph Yahalom, Jewish Palestinian Aramaic Poetry from Late Antiquity: Critical Edition with Introduction and Commentary (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1999 [Hebrew]), especially song 33 on pp. 204–19; Menahem Kister, “Shirat bney ma‘arava. heybetim be‘olama shel shira ‘aluma,” Tarbiz 76 (2007) 105–84; a nice English investigation is Ophir Münz-Manor, “Carnivalesque Ambivalence and the Christian Other in Jewish Poems from Byzantine Palestine,” in Jews in Byzantium: Dialectics of Minority and Majority Cultures (ed. Robert Bonfil and Guy Stroumsa; forthcoming). Seemingly positive elements are explained as parody by Sokoloff and Yahalom (29), as malicious humor and polemic by Kister (161–62) and as signs of envy by Münz-Manor. I would like to thank Menahem Kister and Ophir Münz-Manor for providing me with their articles prior to their publication.