Talmud

190. A Rabbinic view of Jesus' Execution

It is taught:
They hanged Jesus [Yeshu] on the eve of Passover.
Now a crier went forth for forty days before this (saying):
--"He goes forth to be stoned because he practiced magic
and stirred up Israel to apostasy.
Let anyone who knows anything in his favor come forward
and speak up for him!"
But they found nothing in his favor
and they hanged him on the eve of Passover.
Ulla said:
--"Do you suppose a revolutionary had anything in his favor!"
He was an instigator [mesit^h] (to apostasy)
and the Merciful has said:
--'You shall not spare or conceal him!' (Deut 13:8)"
But it was different with (Jesus), for he was near to the kingdom!

--- Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 43a

[Note: this account was probably formulated to contradict Christian claims that Jews engineered Jesus' execution without giving him a fair hearing. It agrees with the Fourth Gospel in dating Jesus' death prior to the Passover meal. Otherwise its details are based on Jewish procedures for stoning rather than on information in the gospels.]

191. Jesus' Age

A heretic [min] said to Rabbi ^cHanina (bar Hama):
--"Have you heard how old Balaam* was (when he died)?"
(Hanina) said to him:
--"The record does not record (it).
But (I would say) he was 33 or 34 years old from the text:
--'Men of blood and frauds shall not live out half their days' (Ps 55:23)."
(The heretic) said to him:
--"What you say is right!
I myself have examine the account of Balaam and it is written:**
--"Balaam the lame was 33 years old,
when he was killed by Phineas the Robber."***

--- Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 106b

* "Balaam" the false prophet; a frequent epithet for Jesus by later rabbis to avoid Christian censorship.

** The calculation of Jesus' age as 33 at the crucifixion is based on Luke 3:23 plus the Fourth Gospel's account of a public career spanning three Passovers.

*** "Phineas the Robber" is probably a code name for Pontius Pilate, who confiscated temple funds.

192. Eliezer's Lament

15 Rabbi Eliezer (ben Hyrcanus) the great says:
--"From the day the Temple was burned
the sages started to be like scribes,
and the scribes like superintendents
and the superintendents like peasants [am de are^tz].
And the peasantry grew weak and died.
And there is none who seeks.
On whom can we rely?
On our Father in heaven!

With the footsteps of the Messiah arrogance will spread
and prices will rise;
the vine will give its fruit, but the wine will cost more.
Those who serve idols will turn to heresy [minut^h]*
and there will be no reproof.
The council house will be for prostitution.
Galilee will be laid waste and Golan ruined.
The men of the frontier will wander from city to city
and there will be no favors.
The wisdom of the scribes will decay.
Those who fear sin will be loathed and truth will be rejected.
The young shall shame the elders
and the elders will stand up before inferiors:
'The sons dishonor the father,
the daughter rise against her mother
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
a man's enemies (will be) men of his own house' (Micah 7:6).
This generation's face is like a dog's face:
the son is not ashamed before his father.
And on whom can we rely?
On our Father in heaven!

---- Mishna, Sota 9.15

* "heresy" [minut^h]: probably a reference to Jewish Christianity with its mission to Gentile pagans [1 Thess 2:14-16].

[NOTE: This lament presents a 1st century rabbi's assessment of the social turmoil among Palestinian Jews after 70 CE, about the same time the gospels were being written. Urgent Messianic expectations are particularly evident in the gospel of Mark (8:38-9:1, 13:21-26), while scorn for scribes & disrespect for elders were prominent in Jesus sayings in the Q source (Matt 23:13-36 //Luke 11:43-54, Matt 10:34-37//Luke 12:49-53, 14:25-26)].

193. A Rabbi Arrested for Heresy

Our rabbis taught:
When Rabbi Eliezer (ben Hyrcanus) was arrested for heresy (minut^h)*
they brought him up to the platform** for judgment.
The (Roman) governor said to him:
--"Is an elder like you interested in such empty matters?"
He said to him:
--"The Judge is faithful concerning me!"
The governor thought he was referring to him,
but he was speaking of none but his Father in heaven.
(The governor ) said to him:
--"Since you trust me, so I will be to you.
Pardoned! Dismissed!"
When (Rabbi Eliezer) came to his house,
his disciples gathered round to comfort him.
But he would not take comfort.
Rabbi Aqiba said to him:
--"Rabbi, let me tell you one word of what you taught me!"
(Rabbi Eliezer) said to him:
--"Speak!"
(Aqiba) said to him:
--"Perhaps some heresy came to you and pleased you;
and you were arrested for that."
(Rabbi Eliezer) said to him:
--"Aqiba, you have reminded me!
Once I was walking in the upper market at Sepphoris
and I encountered one of the disciples of Jesus the Nazarene,***
Jacob of Kephar Sichnin by name.
He said to me:
--'It is written in your Torah:
--'You shall not bring the harlot's pay (to God)...' (Deut 23:19),
but may it be used to build a retreat for the high priest?'
I said nothing at all to him.
He said to me:
--'Thus is is taught by Jesus the Nazarene:***
'For a harlot's pay she gathered them
and to a harlot's way they shall return' (Micah 1:7).
They came from a polluted place,
let them return to a polluted place,'
His saying pleased me.
So for this I was (now) arrested for heresy!"

--- Babylonian Talmud, Aboda Zara 16b-17a

* The suspected "heresy" [minut^h] was probably being a "Nazarene" (i.e., Christian). The Galilean Eliezer was arrested by the Roman civil authority, not by his fellow rabbis.

** "platform": Talmud's "gallows" [garedum] is probably a corrupt reading. An earlier shorter version of this story found in Tosefta ^cHullin 2.24 has "tribunal" [bema].

*** "Jesus the Nazarene" appears only in manuscript M, but was probably deleted by Christian censors from other Talmud mss. Tosefta ^cHullin 2.24 has "Jesus ben Pantiri." The words of Jacob are not given in the Tosefta version of this story.

194. Healing in Jesus' Name Forbidden

22 The case of Rabbi Eleazar ben Dama, whom a serpent bit:
Jacob of Kephar Sama came in to cure him
in the name of Jesus [Yeshua] ben Pandira.*
But Rabbi Ishmael did not allow it.
He said:
--"Ben Dama, you are not permitted!"
(Ben Dama) said:
--"I will bring you a proof (text) that he may heal me!"
But he had not finished furnishing the proof when he died.
Rabbi Ishmael (ben Elisha) said:
--"Happy are you, ben Dama!
For you have departed in peace
and have not violated the commandments of the sages!"

23 For lasting punishment comes on anyone who breaks through a fence of the sages, as it is written:
--"A serpent shall bite him who breaks through a fence" (Eccles 10:8).

--- Tosefta, ^cHullin 2.22-23

* ben Pandira = "son of Pantera": reference to a Talmudic tradition that Jesus was really fathered by a Roman soldier named Pantera or Pandira.

190. A Rabbinic view of Jesus' Execution

It is taught:
They hanged Jesus [Yeshu] on the eve of Passover.
Now a crier went forth for forty days before this (saying):
--"He goes forth to be stoned because he practiced magic
and stirred up Israel to apostasy.
Let anyone who knows anything in his favor come forward
and speak up for him!"
But they found nothing in his favor
and they hanged him on the eve of Passover.
Ulla said:
--"Do you suppose a revolutionary had anything in his favor!"
He was an instigator [mesit^h] (to apostasy)
and the Merciful has said:
--'You shall not spare or conceal him!' (Deut 13:8)"
But it was different with (Jesus), for he was near to the kingdom!

--- Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 43a

[Note: this account was probably formulated to contradict Christian claims that Jews engineered Jesus' execution without giving him a fair hearing. It agrees with the Fourth Gospel in dating Jesus' death prior to the Passover meal. Otherwise its details are based on Jewish procedures for stoning rather than on information in the gospels.]

191. Jesus' Age

A heretic [min] said to Rabbi ^cHanina (bar Hama):
--"Have you heard how old Balaam* was (when he died)?"
(Hanina) said to him:
--"The record does not record (it).
But (I would say) he was 33 or 34 years old from the text:
--'Men of blood and frauds shall not live out half their days' (Ps 55:23)."
(The heretic) said to him:
--"What you say is right!
I myself have examine the account of Balaam and it is written:**
--"Balaam the lame was 33 years old,
when he was killed by Phineas the Robber."***

--- Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 106b

* "Balaam" the false prophet; a frequent epithet for Jesus by later rabbis to avoid Christian censorship.

** The calculation of Jesus' age as 33 at the crucifixion is based on Luke 3:23 plus the Fourth Gospel's account of a public career spanning three Passovers.

*** "Phineas the Robber" is probably a code name for Pontius Pilate, who confiscated temple funds.

192. Eliezer's Lament

15 Rabbi Eliezer (ben Hyrcanus) the great says:
--"From the day the Temple was burned
the sages started to be like scribes,
and the scribes like superintendents
and the superintendents like peasants [am de are^tz].
And the peasantry grew weak and died.
And there is none who seeks.
On whom can we rely?
On our Father in heaven!

With the footsteps of the Messiah arrogance will spread
and prices will rise;
the vine will give its fruit, but the wine will cost more.
Those who serve idols will turn to heresy [minut^h]*
and there will be no reproof.
The council house will be for prostitution.
Galilee will be laid waste and Golan ruined.
The men of the frontier will wander from city to city
and there will be no favors.
The wisdom of the scribes will decay.
Those who fear sin will be loathed and truth will be rejected.
The young shall shame the elders
and the elders will stand up before inferiors:
'The sons dishonor the father,
the daughter rise against her mother
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
a man's enemies (will be) men of his own house' (Micah 7:6).
This generation's face is like a dog's face:
the son is not ashamed before his father.
And on whom can we rely?
On our Father in heaven!

---- Mishna, Sota 9.15

* "heresy" [minut^h]: probably a reference to Jewish Christianity with its mission to Gentile pagans [1 Thess 2:14-16].

[NOTE: This lament presents a 1st century rabbi's assessment of the social turmoil among Palestinian Jews after 70 CE, about the same time the gospels were being written. Urgent Messianic expectations are particularly evident in the gospel of Mark (8:38-9:1, 13:21-26), while scorn for scribes & disrespect for elders were prominent in Jesus sayings in the Q source (Matt 23:13-36 //Luke 11:43-54, Matt 10:34-37//Luke 12:49-53, 14:25-26)].

193. A Rabbi Arrested for Heresy

Our rabbis taught:
When Rabbi Eliezer (ben Hyrcanus) was arrested for heresy (minut^h)*
they brought him up to the platform** for judgment.
The (Roman) governor said to him:
--"Is an elder like you interested in such empty matters?"
He said to him:
--"The Judge is faithful concerning me!"
The governor thought he was referring to him,
but he was speaking of none but his Father in heaven.
(The governor ) said to him:
--"Since you trust me, so I will be to you.
Pardoned! Dismissed!"
When (Rabbi Eliezer) came to his house,
his disciples gathered round to comfort him.
But he would not take comfort.
Rabbi Aqiba said to him:
--"Rabbi, let me tell you one word of what you taught me!"
(Rabbi Eliezer) said to him:
--"Speak!"
(Aqiba) said to him:
--"Perhaps some heresy came to you and pleased you;
and you were arrested for that."
(Rabbi Eliezer) said to him:
--"Aqiba, you have reminded me!
Once I was walking in the upper market at Sepphoris
and I encountered one of the disciples of Jesus the Nazarene,***
Jacob of Kephar Sichnin by name.
He said to me:
--'It is written in your Torah:
--'You shall not bring the harlot's pay (to God)...' (Deut 23:19),
but may it be used to build a retreat for the high priest?'
I said nothing at all to him.
He said to me:
--'Thus is is taught by Jesus the Nazarene:***
'For a harlot's pay she gathered them
and to a harlot's way they shall return' (Micah 1:7).
They came from a polluted place,
let them return to a polluted place,'
His saying pleased me.
So for this I was (now) arrested for heresy!"

--- Babylonian Talmud, Aboda Zara 16b-17a

* The suspected "heresy" [minut^h] was probably being a "Nazarene" (i.e., Christian). The Galilean Eliezer was arrested by the Roman civil authority, not by his fellow rabbis.

** "platform": Talmud's "gallows" [garedum] is probably a corrupt reading. An earlier shorter version of this story found in Tosefta ^cHullin 2.24 has "tribunal" [bema].

*** "Jesus the Nazarene" appears only in manuscript M, but was probably deleted by Christian censors from other Talmud mss. Tosefta ^cHullin 2.24 has "Jesus ben Pantiri." The words of Jacob are not given in the Tosefta version of this story.

194. Healing in Jesus' Name Forbidden

22 The case of Rabbi Eleazar ben Dama, whom a serpent bit:
Jacob of Kephar Sama came in to cure him
in the name of Jesus [Yeshua] ben Pandira.*
But Rabbi Ishmael did not allow it.
He said:
--"Ben Dama, you are not permitted!"
(Ben Dama) said:
--"I will bring you a proof (text) that he may heal me!"
But he had not finished furnishing the proof when he died.
Rabbi Ishmael (ben Elisha) said:
--"Happy are you, ben Dama!
For you have departed in peace
and have not violated the commandments of the sages!"

23 For lasting punishment comes on anyone who breaks through a fence of the sages, as it is written:
--"A serpent shall bite him who breaks through a fence" (Eccles 10:8).

--- Tosefta, ^cHullin 2.22-23

* ben Pandira = "son of Pantera": reference to a Talmudic tradition that Jesus was really fathered by a Roman soldier named Pantera or Pandira.

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190. A Rabbinic view of Jesus' Execution It is taught: They hanged Jesus [Yeshu] on the eve of Passover. Now a crier went forth for forty days before this (saying): --"He goes forth to be stoned because he practiced magic and stirred up Israel to apostasy. Let anyone who knows anything in his favor come forward and speak up for him!" But they found nothing in his favor and they hanged him on the eve of Passover. Ulla said: --"Do you suppose a revolutionary had anything in his favor!" He was an instigator [mesith] (to apostasy) and the Merciful has said: --'You shall not spare or conceal him!' (Deut 13:8)" But it was different with (Jesus), for he was near to the kingdom! ---

Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 43a

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191. Jesus' Age A heretic [min] said to Rabbi cHanina (bar Hama): --"Have you heard how old Balaam* was (when he died)?" (Hanina) said to him: --"The record does not record (it). But (I would say) he was 33 or 34 years old from the text: --'Men of blood and frauds shall not live out half their days' (Ps 55:23)." (The heretic) said to him: --"What you say is right! I myself have examine the account of Balaam and it is written:** --"Balaam the lame was 33 years old, when he was killed by Phineas the Robber."***

--- Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 106b * "Balaam" the false prophet; a frequent epithet for Jesus by later rabbis to avoid Christian censorship. ** The calculation of Jesus' age as 33 at the crucifixion is based on Luke 3:23 plus the Fourth Gospel's account of a public career spanning three Passovers. *** "Phineas the Robber" is probably a code name for Pontius Pilate, who confiscated temple funds.

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192. Eliezer's Lament 15 Rabbi Eliezer (ben Hyrcanus) the great says: --"From the day the Temple was burned the sages started to be like scribes, and the scribes like superintendents and the superintendents like peasants [am de aretz]. And the peasantry grew weak and died. And there is none who seeks. On whom can we rely? On our Father in heaven!

With the footsteps of the Messiah arrogance will spread and prices will rise; the vine will give its fruit, but the wine will cost more. Those who serve idols will turn to heresy [minuth]* and there will be no reproof. The council house will be for prostitution. Galilee will be laid waste and Golan ruined. The men of the frontier will wander from city to city and there will be no favors. The wisdom of the scribes will decay. Those who fear sin will be loathed and truth will be rejected. The young shall shame the elders and the elders will stand up before inferiors: 'The sons dishonor the father, the daughter rise against her mother the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies (will be) men of his own house' (Micah 7:6). This generation's face is like a dog's face: the son is not ashamed before his father. And on whom can we rely? On our Father in heaven! ----

Mishna, Sota 9.15 * "heresy" [minuth]: probably a reference to Jewish Christianity with its mission to Gentile pagans [1 Thess 2:14-16]. [NOTE: This lament presents a 1st century rabbi's assessment of the social turmoil among Palestinian Jews after 70 CE, about the same time the gospels were being written. Urgent Messianic expectations are particularly evident in the gospel of Mark (8:38-9:1, 13:21-26), while scorn for scribes & disrespect for elders were prominent in Jesus sayings in the Q source (Matt 23:13-36 //Luke 11:43-54, Matt 10:34-37//Luke 12:49-53, 14:25-26)].

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193. A Rabbi Arrested for Heresy Our rabbis taught: When Rabbi Eliezer (ben Hyrcanus) was arrested for heresy (minuth)* they brought him up to the platform** for judgment. The (Roman) governor said to him: --"Is an elder like you interested in such empty matters?" He said to him: --"The Judge is faithful concerning me!" The governor thought he was referring to him, but he was speaking of none but his Father in heaven. (The governor ) said to him: --"Since you trust me, so I will be to you. Pardoned! Dismissed!" When (Rabbi Eliezer) came to his house, his disciples gathered round to comfort him. But he would not take comfort. Rabbi Aqiba said to him: --"Rabbi, let me tell you one word of what you taught me!" (Rabbi Eliezer) said to him: --"Speak!" (Aqiba) said to him: --"Perhaps some heresy came to you and pleased you; and you were arrested for that." (Rabbi Eliezer) said to him: --"Aqiba, you have reminded me! Once I was walking in the upper market at Sepphoris and I encountered one of the disciples of Jesus the Nazarene,*** Jacob of Kephar Sichnin by name. He said to me: --'It is written in your Torah: --'You shall not bring the harlot's pay (to God)...' (Deut 23:19), but may it be used to build a retreat for the high priest?' I said nothing at all to him. He said to me: --'Thus is is taught by Jesus the Nazarene:*** 'For a harlot's pay she gathered them and to a harlot's way they shall return' (Micah 1:7). They came from a polluted place, let them return to a polluted place,' His saying pleased me. So for this I was (now) arrested for heresy!" --- Babylonian Talmud, Aboda Zara 16b-17a * The suspected "heresy" [minuth] was probably being a "Nazarene" (i.e., Christian). The Galilean Eliezer was arrested by the Roman civil authority, not by his fellow rabbis. ** "platform": Talmud's "gallows" [garedum] is probably a corrupt reading. An earlier shorter version of this story found in Tosefta cHullin 2.24 has "tribunal" [bema]. *** "Jesus the Nazarene" appears only in manuscript M, but was probably deleted by Christian censors from other Talmud mss. Tosefta cHullin 2.24 has "Jesus ben Pantiri." The words of Jacob are not given in the Tosefta version of this story.

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194. Healing in Jesus' Name Forbidden 22 The case of Rabbi Eleazar ben Dama, whom a serpent bit: Jacob of Kephar Sama came in to cure him in the name of Jesus [Yeshua] ben Pandira.* But Rabbi Ishmael did not allow it. He said: --"Ben Dama, you are not permitted!" (Ben Dama) said: --"I will bring you a proof (text) that he may heal me!" But he had not finished furnishing the proof when he died. Rabbi Ishmael (ben Elisha) said: --"Happy are you, ben Dama! For you have departed in peace and have not violated the commandments of the sages!" 23 For lasting punishment comes on anyone who breaks through a fence of the sages, as it is written: --"A serpent shall bite him who breaks through a fence" (Eccles 10:8). --- Tosefta, cHullin 2.22-23 * ben Pandira = "son of Pantera": reference to a Talmudic tradition that Jesus was really fathered by a Roman soldier named Pantera or Pandira.

190.	A Rabbinic view of Jesus' Execution
	It is taught: They hanged Jesus [Yeshu] on the eve of Passover. Now a crier went forth for forty days before this (saying): --"He goes forth to be stoned because he practiced magic and stirred up Israel to apostasy. Let anyone who knows anything in his favor come forward and speak up for him!" But they found nothing in his favor and they hanged him on the eve of Passover. Ulla said: --"Do you suppose a revolutionary had anything in his favor!" He was an instigator [mesit^h] (to apostasy) and the Merciful has said: --'You shall not spare or conceal him!' (Deut 13:8)" But it was different with (Jesus), for he was near to the kingdom!
	--- Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 43a
	[Note: this account was probably formulated to contradict Christian claims that Jews engineered Jesus' execution without giving him a fair hearing. It agrees with the Fourth Gospel in dating Jesus' death prior to the Passover meal. Otherwise its details are based on Jewish procedures for stoning rather than on information in the gospels.]

191.	Jesus' Age
	A heretic [min] said to Rabbi ^cHanina (bar Hama): --"Have you heard how old Balaam* was (when he died)?" (Hanina) said to him: --"The record does not record (it). But (I would say) he was 33 or 34 years old from the text: --'Men of blood and frauds shall not live out half their days' (Ps 55:23)." (The heretic) said to him: --"What you say is right! I myself have examine the account of Balaam and it is written: --"Balaam the lame was 33 years old, when he was killed by Phineas the Robber."*
	--- Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 106b
*	"Balaam" the false prophet; a frequent epithet for Jesus by later rabbis to avoid Christian censorship.
**	The calculation of Jesus' age as 33 at the crucifixion is based on Luke 3:23 plus the Fourth Gospel's account of a public career spanning three Passovers.
*******	"Phineas the Robber" is probably a code name for Pontius Pilate, who confiscated temple funds.

192.	Eliezer's Lament
15	Rabbi Eliezer (ben Hyrcanus) the great says: --"From the day the Temple was burned the sages started to be like scribes, and the scribes like superintendents and the superintendents like peasants [am de are^tz]. And the peasantry grew weak and died. And there is none who seeks. On whom can we rely? On our Father in heaven! With the footsteps of the Messiah arrogance will spread and prices will rise; the vine will give its fruit, but the wine will cost more. Those who serve idols will turn to heresy [minut^h]* and there will be no reproof. The council house will be for prostitution. Galilee will be laid waste and Golan ruined. The men of the frontier will wander from city to city and there will be no favors. The wisdom of the scribes will decay. Those who fear sin will be loathed and truth will be rejected. The young shall shame the elders and the elders will stand up before inferiors: 'The sons dishonor the father, the daughter rise against her mother the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies (will be) men of his own house' (Micah 7:6). This generation's face is like a dog's face: the son is not ashamed before his father. And on whom can we rely? On our Father in heaven!
	---- Mishna, Sota 9.15
*	"heresy" [minut^h]: probably a reference to Jewish Christianity with its mission to Gentile pagans [1 Thess 2:14-16].
	[NOTE: This lament presents a 1st century rabbi's assessment of the social turmoil among Palestinian Jews after 70 CE, about the same time the gospels were being written. Urgent Messianic expectations are particularly evident in the gospel of Mark (8:38-9:1, 13:21-26), while scorn for scribes & disrespect for elders were prominent in Jesus sayings in the Q source (Matt 23:13-36 //Luke 11:43-54, Matt 10:34-37//Luke 12:49-53, 14:25-26)].

193.	A Rabbi Arrested for Heresy
	Our rabbis taught: When Rabbi Eliezer (ben Hyrcanus) was arrested for heresy (minut^h)* they brought him up to the platform for judgment. The (Roman) governor said to him: --"Is an elder like you interested in such empty matters?" He said to him: --"The Judge is faithful concerning me!" The governor thought he was referring to him, but he was speaking of none but his Father in heaven. (The governor ) said to him: --"Since you trust me, so I will be to you. Pardoned! Dismissed!" When (Rabbi Eliezer) came to his house, his disciples gathered round to comfort him. But he would not take comfort. Rabbi Aqiba said to him: --"Rabbi, let me tell you one word of what you taught me!" (Rabbi Eliezer) said to him: --"Speak!" (Aqiba) said to him: --"Perhaps some heresy came to you and pleased you; and you were arrested for that." (Rabbi Eliezer) said to him: --"Aqiba, you have reminded me! Once I was walking in the upper market at Sepphoris and I encountered one of the disciples of Jesus the Nazarene,* Jacob of Kephar Sichnin by name. He said to me: --'It is written in your Torah: --'You shall not bring the harlot's pay* (to God)...'* (Deut 23:19), but may it be used to build a retreat for the high priest?' I said nothing at all to him. He said to me: --'Thus is is taught by Jesus the Nazarene:*** 'For a harlot's pay she gathered them and to a harlot's way they shall return' (Micah 1:7). They came from a polluted place, let them return to a polluted place,' His saying pleased me. So for this I was (now) arrested for heresy!"
	--- Babylonian Talmud, Aboda Zara 16b-17a
*	The suspected "heresy" [minut^h] was probably being a "Nazarene" (i.e., Christian). The Galilean Eliezer was arrested by the Roman civil authority, not by his fellow rabbis.
**	"platform": Talmud's "gallows" [garedum] is probably a corrupt reading. An earlier shorter version of this story found in Tosefta ^cHullin 2.24 has "tribunal" [bema].
*******	"Jesus the Nazarene" appears only in manuscript M, but was probably deleted by Christian censors from other Talmud mss. Tosefta ^cHullin 2.24 has "Jesus ben Pantiri." The words of Jacob are not given in the Tosefta version of this story.

194.	Healing in Jesus' Name Forbidden
22	The case of Rabbi Eleazar ben Dama, whom a serpent bit: Jacob of Kephar Sama came in to cure him in the name of *Jesus [Yeshua] ben Pandira. But Rabbi Ishmael did not allow it. He said: --"Ben Dama, you are not permitted!" (Ben Dama) said: --"I will bring you a proof (text) that he may heal me!" But he had not finished furnishing the proof when he died. Rabbi Ishmael (ben Elisha) said: --"Happy are you, ben Dama! For you have departed in peace and have not violated the commandments of the sages!"
23	For lasting punishment comes on anyone who breaks through a fence of the sages, as it is written: --"A serpent shall bite him who breaks through a fence" (Eccles 10:8).
	--- Tosefta, ^cHullin 2.22-23
*	ben Pandira = "son of Pantera": reference to a Talmudic tradition that Jesus was really fathered by a Roman soldier named Pantera or Pandira.