The Talmud of the Jews Parts 1 & 2

From the Differentiator magazine:
Vol. 24 New Series February, April, October, 1962 No.s 1, 2, 5

Part 1

The word Talmud means instruction, while the word talmid means a disciple. These words are derived from the Hebrew verb lamad, meaning to learn, to teach. The body of the Hebrew civil and canonical laws, traditions, and explanations, or the book that contains them, and the authority of the Talmud was long esteemed second only to that of the Bible, and according to its precepts almost all the Jewish people have continued to order their religious life down almost to the present time.

I have already stated that there are two Talmuds, one the Jerusalem Talmud, and the other the Babylonian Talmud. The latter is always preferred by the Jews, but by Christians is much less highly esteemed.

Some Jews have claimed that the Talmud was not compiled until long after the Christian Scriptures, and some parts of it not until perhaps five hundred years after. But we cannot trust the Jews on this matter.

One popular idea is "that the Talmud is to all intents and purposes an oral Law originally given to Moses, taught by him to the elders, and handed down through successive generations until it was finally committed to writing, with various commentaries and observations added by the Fathers or Rabbis of the Jews. This was the opinion of Maimonides (born 1135 at Cordova, died in 1204). An English Jew, about a hundred years ago, said that "all the commandments that were given to Moses on Mount Sinai were given to him with their proper explanations; for it is said, 'And I will give unto thee the tables of stone, and the Law, and the commandments'" (Exodus 24:12). The said oral Law was what Moses continually taught in his Sanhedrim (meaning, supreme council of the Jewish nation) to the Elders, and the rest of the people. Seventy of the Elders constituted the Sanhedrim, and repeated to the people both the written Laws and the oral Laws. The text was put in writing, but the interpretation thereof was to be delivered down only by word of mouth to the succeeding generations.

After the death of Moses, Joshua his successor taught the oral Law in his Sanhedrim, and delivered it to the Elders who succeeded him.

When Ezekiel was reached, the Great Synagogue of 120 persons was constituted the depositary of the precious treasure, which remained intact through all changes until Rabbi Judah Hakkadosh, the Saint, compiled the Mishna about 200 years after Christ.

But the oral Law, instead of securing the observance of the written Law, superseded it. Very significantly is it said in the Book Sohar, "The grave of Moses is the Mishna, and therefore no man knows of his sepulchre unto this day."

THE CONTENTS OF THE TALMUD

The character of the Talmud has been very differently estimated by various persons, so that many are in doubt as to what they ought to think about it. There are many very good points, but also far more bad points. One very learned Jew said, "Happily if blameable opinions can be cited from the Talmud, they are redeemed by a mass of truths which justify it entirely in regard to morals." But just how can a huge mass of vile and filthy statements become redeemed by a mass of truths? The Talmud contains masses of vulgarities and indecencies, profanities and immoralities, monstrous fables and lies, perversions of Biblical teaching, evasions of plain obligation, puerilities and banalities. It has been called a most inconsistent, heterogeneous, and incongruous work. It has also been described as an uncritical agglomeration of maxims, sentiments, facts, fictions, waking dreams, and wise utterances; for this is what it is. "It is the sweepings of the intellectual threshing-floor of Judaism accumulated during some centuries, and consigned to the Talmudic garner without any effectual winnowing. It is the salvage of the great wreck of Judaism, first gathered into a great heap and then roughly sorted into lots. The heterogeneous mingling of the precious and tile worthless, the beautiful and the grotesque, the alluring and the repulsive, is indescribable. The Mishna and the Gemara contain a certain amount of valuable material for the Christian student, but it costs a good deal to get it, owing to the gigantic pile of rubbish through which it is scattered. The Talmud cannot be compared with either the New or the Old Testament, nor be set up as a substitute for either, nor be proclaimed as the expositor and commentator of either. It does give explanations of O.T. passages, but it excels in the delightful art of explaining away; it gives proper glosses upon sundry texts, but is very fond of making what is called "a guy" of them; it supplies us with parallels more or less real and formal to a number of things in the N.T., but distant resemblances often turn out to be a mirage. The Talmud is very valuable as supplying illustrations of matters which the N.T. withers with sarcasm, or crushes with invective. Should one wish to see the force of truth and the literal accuracy of the hard sayings of Christ and Paul about the Jews, priests, and people, scribes, lawyers, Pharisees, etc., read the Talmud. But if you cannot read the forbidding original Hebrew, take the Latin, or consult the notes of Lightfoot on the Gospels and other books of the New Testament. You will soon discover that there was a meaning in the words of Christ, and a reason for them: because we have no doubt that the Jews of His day were like those who compiled the Talmud. A few examples are worth a long array of fine words, so we will give a specimen. Christ says, "Blessed are the pure in heart"; the Talmud says, Come and see how far the purity of Israel extends; for not only is the clean prohibited to eat with the unclean, but the "Pharisaeus seminifluus cum seminifluo plebeio" (I do not have the translation of this). The absence of delicacy in these few Latin words is comparatively a trifle, for the indecencies of the Talmud are wonderful. It has been said in vindication of them that the book is legal in its character, and that laws and lawyers must speak plainly on all subjects.

Christ said: "Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." The Talmud says: "He who smites a man on the cheek shall give him two hundred denarii, but if he smites him with the other hand, let him give him four hundred. The punishments recommended for other offences are often severe in the extreme, and, not at all in the spirit of Christ.
The Lord condemned the wretched trifling and punctiliousness of the Jews, and not without reason. The Talmudists excelled in the art of hair-splitting.

It has been said that the style of the Talmud can be compared with no other book. And it has been allowed that no other book of so heterogeneous a character has come down to us from antiquity.

Those who cannot read the Talmud may take some comfort from the fact that Christian scholars in the seventeenth century devoted immense labour to its exploration, and turned into Latin or German thousands of passages from the Talmud.

I have a copy of the Talmud shewing the Pentateuch, published by Bagsters, London, 1874. It is all in Hebrew characters, some of which is very minute, and thus most difficult to read.

One of the statements is as follows: "When Adam was created, he at first reached from one end of the world to the other, but after he fell into sin, God reduced his magnitude. During the 130 years in which Adam was separated from Eve, he was the father of unclean spirits."

In Kitto's Biblical Cyclopaedia Dr. S. Davidson gives the following, which relates to two persons mentioned in the Old Testament: "Abba Saul said: When I was an interrer of the dead, I had once to pursue after a gazelle; I entered into the hollow of a hip bone of a dead man, and ran after it three miles, and yet I reached neither the gazelle nor the end of the hip bone; when I returned back they told me this bone belonged to Og, the King of Bashan. Abba Saul said: Once upon a time when I had been interring the dead, a cave opened under me, and I found myself standing up to my nostrils in the socket of a dead man's eye; when I returned they told me it was the eye of Absalom. Perhaps thou wouldst say, Abba Saul was a short man; Abba Saul was the tallest in his generation."

Such ridiculous nonsense is often found in the Talmud. Compare it with the Jews' Holy Bible, Truth versus sheer rubbish.

Even some of the Mahommedans have appropriated some of the enormous stories of the Talmud, and have tried to improve upon their models.

It is recorded that Rabbi Johanan said, "A Gentile who is engaged in studying the Law is worthy of death." But there is much of this in the Talmud, and those who want to know how all the ten commandments can be violated, and how the noblest precepts of Christianity can be contradicted, need not go beyond the Talmud.

The filthiness of some of the doings and sayings of the Rabbis is most abominable. But we cannot wonder at it if the following is not an exceptional case: "It is said that Rabbi Eleazar, son of Dordaia, did not pass a single harlot without sinning with her. Once he heard that there was a harlot in the town, near the sea, and that she took a bag of dinars for her wages; so he took a bag of money, and crossed seven rivers till he came to her. . .." It is horrid to have to mention this, but it is a feature in the Talmud, and there are other such disgusting stories told about the Rabbis.

Another story is as follows: "They say that Rabbi Johanan, son of Norbai, did eat three hundred calves, and drank three hundred measures of wine, and ate forty soos of doves, for a lunch only."
Another tale about Rabbi Johanan is that he said God told Noah to take precious stones and pearls into the ark, to give him light like noonday. This Rabbi was said to be "one of the worst liars in the Talmud."

The Talmud teaches folly as well as sin; but should anyone doubt this, let him read this: "Rabbi Ilea says, when the evil nature of a man prevails over him, let him go to a place where he is not known, and put on black garments, and do as his heart desires, and not profane the name of God openly." Moreover, a man is allowed to commit all the sins forbidden in the Law, if he can preserve his life by such means.

One thing the race of Rabbis delighted in was creating animals otherwise unknown in heaven above or earth below. Such was the wild cock, whose feet rest upon the ground, and whose head touches heaven. Such was the ziz, a bird of such magnitude that when it spread out its wings, the disc of the sun Was obscured; such was the bar-juchne, one of whose eggs once fell down, and submerged sixty villages, and broke down three hundred cedars; such too was the bird which strode through the sea, where the water was so deep, that a voice from heaven declared how an axe, which had fallen there seven years before, had not reached the bottom, and yet the water scarcely came up to the knees of the bird. In the time of Moses there was the tachash, a creature which had one horn on its forehead, and was presented to Moses, who made the tabernacle of it.
That the Talmud is as necessary as the Bible is stated in various ways. "The Bible is like water, the Mishna like wine, and the six sedarim (Gemara) like sweet wine: none of which can the world be without. The Law is like salt, the Mishna like pepper, and the Gemara like sweet wine; none of which can the world be without. If a man opposes the Rabbins, it is as if he contradicted God; and if he murmurs at them, it is as if he murmured against God. He who transgresses the words of the scribes is worthy of death. He who calls his Rabbi by name is an Epicurean, and has no portion in the world to come!"

"Every man who says the sons of Eli sinned is in error; and again, Every man who says Reuben sinned is in error (re Genesis 35:22); and again, Everyone who says the sons of Samuel sinned is in error (re 1. Samuel 8:3); and the same is said of those who say David sinned in regard to Bathsheba or Solomon in practising idolatry. Again, that the 'Queen of Sheba' was not a woman but a Kingdom; that God takes counsel with the angels; that a man's star makes him wise and rich; that usury is allowable, though forbidden by the Law; that at purim a man must drink till he does not know the difference between "cursed be Haman" and "blessed be Mordecai"; that a man may pass all his children through the fire to Molech; that a man who praises God too much will be excluded from the world; and that a man must not take counsel of the devil on a Sabbath day, but may on a week day.

In the Talmud there is a tract called Gittin and a pretty tale it is shewing how very familiar Solomon must have been with devils and devilesses. Eisenmenger quotes this elegant specimen of Rabbinism. The sum of it is this: Solomon asked the Rabbins how he should make the Temple without the use of iron. They referred him to a worm called shamir, which Moses employed. How could he find it? They said he must bring a devil and a deviless, and tie them together for perhaps they know and will tell. So he brought the devil and deviless and tied them together and they said they did not know; but perhaps Asmodeus king of the devils knew. But where was he? They told him he was in a certain mountain, and had dug a hole and filled it with water and covered it with a stone, and sealed it with his ring, and went every day up into the firmament and learned in the school there and came down to earth and learned in the school of earth; and that he came and examined his seal, and opened the pit and drank and covered and resealed it and went away. So Solomon sent Benaiah and gave him a chain that was inscribed with the Name (the Shem Hammphorash), and a ring, upon which was also inscribed the Name, and a little wool and wine. So Benaiah went and dug a pit under that of the devil, and let the water run off, and stopped the hole with the wool. Then he dug a pit above that of Asmodeus, and poured into it the wine and covered it, and climbed up and sat in a tree. Now when the devil came and inspected his seal, and opened it and found the wine, he said, It is written, Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and every one that is deceived thereby is not wise. And it is written, Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart. And he drank not. But when he became very thirsty he could not restrain, and drank and was drunk, and lay down and went to sleep. Hereupon Benaiah came and put the chain on him and fastened it.

This is the kind of stuff the Jews went in for, and when we compare it with the Scriptures, it gives us a great shock. There is nothing in the Holy Bible so ridiculous, so silly, so childish, so Godless. And these people were meant to be God's People, and some day they will really and truly be that, when they also will get a profound shock, and deeply regret their folly. That is the way God teaches people, and it is the best way.

Buxtorf collected some curious passages bearing on the subject in his rabbinical Lexicon (article Stada). From the Babylonian Talmud, tract Sanhedrim, he gives an extract, describing the trial of a false teacher, which thus concludes:—"And thus they did to the son of Stada in Lud, and hung him on the eve of the Passover. The son of Stada was the son of Pandira. Rab Chasda says the husband of Stada was Pandira (Paphus, son of Judah). But, still, I say, Stada was his mother, that is, Mary, a plaiter of women's hair, as they say in Pumbeditha; she turned aside from her husband." To the word Stada they attached the idea of going astray, or conjugal infidelity. This story is cut out of the Basel edition of the Talmud; but it appears as well in the Jerusalem Talmud, where we read—"Thus did they to the Son of Stada at Lud, against whom two disciples of the wise laid ambush, and brought him before the judges and stoned him." That one version says the son of Stada was hanged, and another that he was stoned, will not surprise anyone a little conversant with the Talmud. But, again: The Babylonian Talmud says that Rab Bibi was once with the Angel of Death, and the angel said to his messenger, Go and bring to me Mary, the plaiter of women's hair. And he went and brought him Mary the plaiter of little ones. Still again: "Rabbi Eliezer said to the wise, Did not the son of Stada bring up magic arts out of Egypt in a cutting of his flesh? They said to him, He was a fool, and proof is not sought from fools." With reference to Pandira as the name put instead of Joseph, it reminds us of the apocryphal fiction which makes Joseph himself the son of Panthera.

The following summary of observations upon the utility of the Talmud is gathered from a tract by Dilherr. The Talmud contains trustworthy relics of Jewish antiquity, fitted to condemn the unfaithfulness of later Jews, to illustrate the histories of the Old and New Testaments, and to aid in understanding the rites, laws, and customs of the older Hebrews. It embodies many sound theological principles, though often in the midst of absurd and useless matter. It is valuable for much that is juridical, medical, ethical, political, astronomical, etc. It contains useful proverbs, sentences and apophthegms. But it is frequently absurd, frivolous, and impious. True, all is not absurd that seems so at first sight, for the Jews, like other Orientals, were fond of explaining mysteries by means of figures and enigmas, parables and fables, yet it is surely absurd to say that "God prays every day"; that he wept too late, because he had destroyed Jerusalem.
As for the profane, we find it in the assertions that God is the cause of all sins; that he offers annually a goat for the sins that he commits; that he teaches devils in heaven; that he plays with Leviathan like a girl with a doll; that Jesus was the son of a public harlot; that he worshipped images; that he practised enchantments; that when once recalled from hell by a Rabbi, who used magic, and asked him how he was punished he replied that he was boiling in a brazen vessel of seething dung, etc. Regarding this last, it has been pled in excuse that it refers to some other Jesus, who lived about a hundred years before Christ.

In general, it can be said that the Talmud is of little or no value as a store house of glosses and comments on the Old Testament, because of the incurable habits of its compilers, who perverted and distorted without scruple and without reason their text. They also made God responsible for any contradictions in the Talmud.

Nevertheless, if the casting away of Israel was a world's conciliation, what shall the receiving of them be, if not life from among the dead?

Part 2

Just after I had finished Part 1, I received a copy of "The Talmud Unmasked," published in 1939 by Col. E. N. Sanctuary, of New York. This was on the lines of a Roman Catholic priest by name Rev. I. B. Pranaitis, of St. Petersburg,. who had printed it there in 1892.

Part 1 of this booklet deals with "The Teaching of the Talmud concerning Christians," and also what the Talmud taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Many passages in the Talmudic books treat of the birth, life, death and teachings of the Lord. He is not always referred to by the same name, but is diversely called "That Man," "A Certain One," "The Carpenter's Son," "The One Who Was Hanged," etc. The real name of the Lord in Hebrew is Jeschua Ha-Notsri, meaning, Jesus the Nazarene. Thus in the Talmud Christians are also called Notsrim—Nazarenes. As the word Jeschua means "Saviour," the name Jesus rarely occurs in Jewish books. It is almost always abbreviated to Jeschu, which is maliciously taken as if it were composed of the initial letters of the three words Immach SCHemo Vezikro—"May his name and memory be blotted out."

In the Talmud Christ is called Otho Isch—"That Man," the one known to all. Elsewhere He is simply called "Peloni"— "A Certain One." Mary, His Mother, was only mother "of a certain one."
Out of contempt the Lord is also called Naggar bar naggar—"the carpenter son of a carpenter," also Ben charsch etaim—"the son of a wood worker." He is also called Talui—"the one who was hanged."

THE LIFE OF CHRIST

The Talmud teaches that the Lord was illegitimate and was conceived during menstruation; that He had the soul of Esau; that He was a fool, a conjurer, a seducer; that He was crucified, buried in hell, and set up as an idol ever since by His followers.

The next statement is most disgusting, narrated in a Talmud Tract called Kallah: "Once when the Elders were seated at the gate, two young men passed by, one of whom had his head covered, the other with his head bare. Rabbi Eliezer remarked that the one in his bare head was illegitimate, a mamzer. Rabbi Jehoschua said that he was conceived during menstruation. Rabbi Akibah, however, said that he was both. Whereupon the others asked Rabbi Akibah why he dared to contradict his colleagues. He answered that he could prove what he said. He went therefore to the boy's mother whom he saw sitting in the market place selling vegetables and said to her: "My daughter, if you will answer truthfully what I am going to ask you, I promise that you will be saved in the next life." She demanded that he would "swear to keep his promise, and Rabbi Akibah did so—but with his lips only, for in his heart he invalidated his oath. Then he said: "Tell me, what kind of son is this of yours"? To which she replied: "The day I was married I was having menstruating, and because of this my husband left me. But an evil spirit came and slept with me and from this intercourse my son was born to me." And when his questioners heard this they declared: "Great indeed was Rabbi Akibah when he corrected his Elders!" And they exclaimed: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who revealed his secret to Rabbi Akibah the son of Joseph."

That the Jews understand this story to refer to the Lord Jesus and His Mother, Mary, is clearly demonstrated in their book Toldath Jeschu—'The Generations of Jesus'—where the birth of our Saviour is narrated in almost the same words.

The illustrious scholar Buxtorf long ago confirmed the tale concerning Stada, who was said to be Mary, the mother of Peloni 'that certain one,' Jesus. In this way the Rabbis sought to cover up His name because they were afraid to mention it.

The Lord was also called the Seducer of the People. Matthew 27:63 proves this. The chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered unto Pilate, saying, "Sir, we are reminded that that one, the deceiver said (while) still living, 'After three days I am being roused.'" The Jews still call Him the deceiver.

Then regarding what the Jerusalem Talmud says about the two disciples of the Elders who were sent as witnesses to spy on Him, and who were afterwards brought forward as witnesses against Him, this refers to the two 'false witnesses' of whom Matthew and Mark make mention. See Matthew 26:60, and Mark 14:55-59.

Another point in the secret books, which are not permitted to get easily into the hands of Christians, is that the soul of Esau came into Christ, and that He was therefore evil, and that He was Esau himself.

In the infamous book Toldoth Jeschu, the Lord is blasphemed as follows: "And Jesus said: Did not Isaiah and David, my ancestors, prophesy about me? The Lord said to me, thou art my son, today I have begotten thee, etc. Likewise in another place: The Lord said to my Lord, sit thou at my right hand. Now I ascend to my Father who is in heaven and will sit at his right hand, which you will see with your own eyes. But you, Judas, will never reach that high (it was related that Judas was a competitor of Jesus in the working of miracles). Then Jesus pronounced the great name of God (IHVH—Jehovah) and continued to do so until a wind came and took him up between earth and sky. Judas also pronounced the name of God and he likewise was taken up by the wind. In this way they both floated around in the air to the amazement of the onlookers. Then Judas, again pronouncing the Divine Name, took hold of Jesus and pushed him down to earth. But Jesus tried to do the same to Judas, and thus they fought together. And when Judas saw he could not win out over the works of Jesus he pissed on Jesus, and both thus being unclean they fell to earth; nor could they use the Divine Name again until they had washed themselves."
This was the way in which the mass of the Jews insulted the one pure and flawless Man who ever lived on earth.

In the Tract Sanhedrin (103a) the words of Psalm 91:10: "No plague shall come near thy dwelling," are explained as; follows: "That thou mayest never have a son or a disciple who will salt his food so much that he destroys his taste in public, like Jesus the Nazarene." To salt one's food too much or to destroy one's taste, is proverbially said of one who corrupts his morals or dishonours himself, or who falls into, heresy and idolatry and openly preaches it to others.
In the same book Sanhedrin (107b) we read: "Mar said: Jesus seduced, corrupted and destroyed Israel." The book Zohar III. (282) tells us that Jesus died like a beast and was: buried in that "dirt heap. . . . where they throw the dead bodies of dogs and asses, and where the sons of Esau (the Christians) and of Ismael (the Turks), also Jesus and Mahommad, uncircumcized and unclean like dead dogs are buried."

In another Tract (Abhodah Zarah) it is said that "It is: of importance to inquire the reasons why men nowadays even sell and rent their houses to Gentiles. Some say this is legal because it is said in Tosephta: No one shall rent his house to a gentile either here (in Israel) or elsewhere because it is: known that he will bring an idol into it.

Now this proves beyond a doubt that when the Rabbis speak of the idols of the Gentiles among whom they lived at that time, when no idols were worshipped, they clearly meant the Christian "idol," namely, the image of Christ on the crucifix and the Holy Communion.

THE TEACHINGS OF CHRIST

"The Seducer and Idolater could teach nothing but falsehood and heresy which was irrational and impossible to observe."

1: Falsehood: In Abhodah Zarah it is said: "A Nazarene is one who follows the false teachings of that man who taught them to worship on the first day of the Sabbath."

2: Heresy: In the same book mention is made of the heresy of James. A little further on we learn that this James was none other than the disciple of Jesus, of whom we spoke in chapter 1. But James taught, not his own doctrine, but that of Jesus.

3: Impossible to Observe: The author of Nizzachon argues as follows on this point: "A written law of the Christians is: If a Jew strike you on one cheek, turn the other also to him and do not in any way return the blow. (This is a corruption of Luke 6:29). And ch. 6:27 (Luke) says; Love your enemies; do good to them who hate you; bless them who curse you and pray for those who do you harm; unto him who strikes you on one cheek offer him the other. To him who takes away thy cloak do not forbid him to take they coat also, etc. The same is found in Matthew 5:39. But I have never seen any Christian keep this law, nor did Jesus himself behave as he taught others to do. For we find in John 18:22 that when someone struck him on the face, he did not turn the other cheek, but became angry on account of this one stroke and asked 'Why do you strike me'?" Acts 23:3 is then taken up in the same way, when the High Priest ordered bystanders to strike Paul on the mouth, and Paul did not turn the other cheek, but cursed him saying "God shall smite thee thou whited wall, etc." But the author who had the Gospels and Acts under his hand, could not have failed to understand in what sense Christ commanded his followers to turn the other cheek to him who would strike them, since in another place he commanded his followers to cut off a hand or an arm, and to pluck out an eye if these should scandalize them. No one who has had the least acquaintance with Holy Scripture ever thought that these commands should be taken literally. Only deep malice and ignorance of the times in which Jesus lived can explain why the Jews, even to this day, use these passages to detract from the teachings of Jesus Christ.

THE CHRISTIANS

In the Talmud Christians are not only called Notsrim, but are called by the names in the Talmud used to designate all non-Jews:—Akum, Obhde Elilim, Minim, Nokhrim, Edom, Amme He-arets, Goim, Apikorsim, Kuthrim, and Abhodah Zarah. The last named meaps "strange worship, idolatry." The Talmud says" Let Nimrod come and testify that Abraham was not a server of Abhodah Zarah." But in the days' of Abraham there existed no strange cult either of Turks or Nazarenes, but only the worship of the True God, and idolatry.

The designation Akum is made up of the initial letters of the words Obhde Kokhabkim U Mazzaloth—"worshippers of stars and planets." It was thus that the Jews formerly styled the Gentiles who lacked all knowledge of the True God. But now Akum in Jewish books is applied to Christians. The name Obhde Elilim means "Servers of idols," and has the same meaning as Akum. Non-Jews are frequently given this name.

Minim means "Heretics." In the Talmud those who possess books called the Gospels are heretics. These books are called" iniquitous volumes."

Edom means Edomites. A Rabbi said "They are called Edomites who move their fingers 'here and there'" (who make the sign of the cross). The same Rabbi says "those who eat the flesh of swine are the Edomites." Rabbi Kimchi calls them "Christians," while Rabbi Abarbinel says the Nazarenes "are Romans, the sons of Edom."

Goi simply means race or people. The Jews call a man a Goi—a gentile; a gentile woman is a Goiah. Very rarely are Jews called Goi. It is well known that in the Jewish language the Jews call Christians among whom they live, Goim. Nor do the Jews deny this. Sometimes in their popular magazines they say this word means nothing harmful or evil. But in books written in the Hebrew language the name Goi is used in a depraved sense: "Traitors and Epicureans and Apostates are worse than Goim."

Nokhrim means "strangers, foreigners." This is used for all who are not Jews, and therefore for Christians. Amme Ha-Arets is the Hebrew for "People of the earth, idiots." Some say that people of other races are not meant by this, but only crude and uneducated people. But in Ezra 10:2 we read: "We have sinned against our God, and have taken strange wives (nokhrioth) of the people of the earth." That people of the earth denotes idolaters is clear from Zohar: "The People of the earth—Obhde Abhodah Zarah, idolaters."

Basar Ve-Dam is another expression, meaning in Hebrew, Flesh and Blood, but explained as carnal men who are destined to perdition and who can have no communion with God. That Christians are flesh and blood is proved from the prayer book: "Whoever meets a wise and educated Christian can say: Blessed art Thou O Lord, King of the Universe, who dispenseth of Thy wisdom to Flesh and Blood."

Apikorosim means Epicureans—the words sound similar. All are called by this name who do not observe God's precepts, as well as all those, even Jews themselves, who express private judgments in matters of faith. How much more, therefore, Christians!

Kuthim means Samaritans. But since they are no more, and since there are many references in recent Jewish books to Samaritans, who can doubt that this does not mean the Christians?
It should be particularly noted that Jewish writings apply all these names indiscriminately and promiscuously when they speak of the same thing, and almost in the same words. Maimonides (born 1135 at Cordova, Spain) acquired a great knowledge in Talmudical lore, and was made Rabbi in Cairo in 1177, and finally was spiritual head over the Jewish communities in Egypt, and died in 1204, aged 70. In his book on Idolatry he indiscriminately calls all the following idolaters: Goim, Akum, Obhde Kokhabhim, Obhde Elilim, etc.

WHAT THE TALMUD TEACHES ABOUT CHRISTIANS

Col. Sanctuary has clearly shewn that the unsaved Jews despise the Founder of the Christian. religion. Similarly, they despise His followers. In fact, nothing more abominable can be imagined than what they have to say about Christians. They say they are idolaters, the worst kind of people, much Worse than the Turks, murderers, fornicators, impure animals, like dirt, unworthy to be called men, beasts in human form, worthy of the name of beasts, cows, asses, pigs, dogs, worse than dogs; that they propagate after the manner of beasts, that they have a diabolic origin, that their souls come from the devil and return to the devil in hell after death; and that even the body of a dead Christian is nothing different from that of an animal.

Since Christians follow the teachings of "that man," whom the Jews regard as an Idolater and a Seducer, and since they worship Him as God, it clearly follows that they merit the name of idolaters, in no way different from those among whom the Jews lived before the birth of the Lord, and whom they taught should be exterminated by every possible means. This is best demonstrated by the names they give to Christians, and by the unmistakable words of Maimonides. And anyone who examines Jewish books which speak of the "Worshippers of the Stars and Planets," "Epicureans," "Samaritans," etc., cannot but conclude that these idolaters are none other than Christians. The Turks are always called "Ismaelites," never idolaters.
Maimonides said: "It is not permitted to drink the wine of a stranger who becomes a convert, that is, one who accepts the seven precepts of Noah, but it is permitted to gain some benefit from it. It is allowed to leave wine alone with him, but not to place it before him. The same is permitted in the case of all Gentiles who are not idolaters,such as the Turks. A Jew, however, is not permitted to drink their wine, although he may use it to his own advantage. All the best known. Rabbis agree on this. But since Christians are idolaters, it is not allowed even to use their wine to advantage."

There were strict rules for Jews who might be joined by a Gentile. If they were climbing a hill, or descending a steep incline, the Jew must keep behind the Goi. Nor must the Jew stoop down in front of the Goi, in case the latter might crack his skull.

Another rule was: "Do not sell your overcoat (Talith) with the fringes to an Akum, lest he should join up with a Jew on the road and kill him. It is also forbidden to exchange or lend your overcoat with a Gentile, except for a short time and when there is nothing to be feared from him."

In another tract it is explained why animals must not be allowed in the barns of Gentiles, and why Jews are not permitted to have sexual intercourse with them: "Animals must not be allowed to go near the Goim, because they are suspected of having intercourse with them. Nor must women cohabit with them because they are over-sexed." Then comes a paragraph even worse than the foregoing, concerning fornication.

The Talmud gives two reasons why the Goim are unclean; because they eat unclean things, and because they themselves have not been cleansed (from original sin) on Mount Sinai. "Why are the Goim unclean? Because they eat abominable things and animals that crawl on their belly."
Likewise in another tract: "Why are the Goim unclean? Because they were not present at Mount Sinai. For when the serpent entered into Eve he infused her with uncleanness. But the Jews were cleansed from this when they stood on Mount Sinai; the Goim, however, who were not on Mount Sinai, were not cleansed."

"When ten Jews are praying together in one place and they say Kaddisch, anyone, even though he does not belong there, may respond Amen. There are some however, who say that no dung or Akum must be present."

"When Jewish women come out of a bath they must take care to meet a friend first, and not something unclean or a Christian. For if so, a woman, if she wants to keep holy, should go back and bathe again."

"A woman must wash herself again if she sees any unclean thing, such as a dog, an ass, or People of the Earth; a Christian (Akum), a camel, a pig, a horse, and a leper."

"The teaching of the Rabbis is: He who pours oil over a Goi, and over dead bodies, is freed from punishment. This is true for an animal because it is not a man. But how can it be said that by pouring oil over a Goi one is freed from punishment, since a Goi is also a man? But this is not true, for it is written: Ye are my flock, the flock of my pasture are men (Ezek. 34:31). You are thus called men, but the Goim are not called men." Another tract says, he is said to be guilty of killing "except when, if intending to kill an animal he kills a man by mistake, or intending to kill a Goi, he kills an Israelite."

Alexander Thomson