The Other Side of the Talmud Debate

Michael Hoffman Refutes a Defense of the Talmud

Unless (or until) it is removed by Chabad.org, as of March 18, the following link will take you to a  20-minute video of a lecture given at Oxford University by Dr. Asaf Yedidya: “NAZI ATTACKS ON THE TALMUD: ANTI-SEMITIC READINGS OF JEWISH TEXTS.” 


Dr. Yedidya is "lecturer in Jewish History at the Center for Jewish Studies at Bar-Ilan University." 


You should watch Dr. Yedidya's lecture first, and then the following 19-minute response to the lecture by Michael Hoffman.



Christian scholar Michael Hoffman’s response to Dr. Asaf Yedidya’s lecture

In his reply, Hoffman points out the use of misdirection and censored texts in the Oxford lecture and the inaccuracies and omissions employed in order to demonize Talmud critics and uphold the alleged benevolence of the Talmud Bavli. Hoffman documents Talmudic racism and homicide by quoting from the Gemara itself, as well as rabbinic authorities having the status of Posek Ha-dor and Gadol Ha-dor.

 Michael Hoffman is the author of the Amazon Kindle book, Judaism Discovered and a condensed paperback version for the general reader, Judaism’s Strange Gods. For more information visit www.revisionisthistory.org

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"Sweet Revenge"

by Michael Hoffman

The Babylonian Talmud was burned in France in the thirteenth century by the Roman Catholic authorities after a series of debates between Nicholas Donin, a Judaic convert to Catholicism, and Rabbi Yechiel, the head of the Paris yeshiva (Talmud school), Rabbi Moshe of Coucy, Rabbi Yehuda of Melon and Rabbi Shmuel of Chateu-Thierry.

Donin asserted the following points in the debate:

1. Rabbinic emphasis on the sanctity of their own Oral nullifies the Law of God found in the Bible.

2. The Talmud fosters anti-goy and anti-Christian bigotry.

3. The Talmud blasphemes Jesus Christ.

The rabbis offered the following counter-points:

1. Maintained the need for a book of commentary that would clarify Scripture.

2. Pointed to willful distortion of the Talmud's alleged anti-goy and anti-Christian passages.

3. Asserted that the Jesus mentioned in the Talmud was another Jesus, one who had lived prior to the time of Jesus of Nazareth.

The rabbis lost the debate. Pope Gregory IX approved the order of King St. Louis IX (1214-1270) for the burning of 24 cartloads of Talmud volumes.

Gregory's successor, Pope Innocent IV, continued to approve the practice. He stated to King Louis IX: "The rabbis in their Talmud throw away and despise the Law of Moses and the prophets and follow some tradition of their elders....The regents of Paris read the above-named book of abuse and these which have been examined and condemned by them should, at your order, be burned in the fire wherever they an be found, throughout your kingdom."

On p. 75 of the July 1, 2011 issue of "5Towns Jewish Times," a New York newspaper for Orthodox Judaics, Harav Nosson Dovid Rabinowich revels, as usual, in his religion's penchant for revenge. He gloats as follows:

"However, the Jewish people have their sweet revenge...I was recently delivering shiurim (Talmud lessons) in Basel, Switzerland and was invited to visit a successful yeshiva ketanah and gedolah and thriving Jewish community right over the border, in France, between Mulhouse and Basel. That town is called Saint Louis and its patron is King Louis IX! The beautiful sounds of Gemara (Talmud) reverberate daily throughout this little town. Once again, Hashem has kept His promise: 'He will bring retribution upon his foes!”

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