According to David Klinghoffer (Why the Jews Rejected Jesus), there are nasty references to Jesus as a false prophet in the Talmud and they were censored by medieval Jews because Christians were persecuting Jews on the basis of those texts. Whether all Dilling’s references are accurate I don’t know–quite probably they aren’t. But passages speaking of Jesus’ condemnation do exist, according to Klinghoffer. (I’m not sure if he’s Conservative or Orthodox–I suspect the latter–but he’s a Jewish writer who writes for First Things and whom I generally trust to be fair and accurate.)
You will excuse me for not wanting to wade through Dilling’s diatribe. However, some of the other accusations often brought against the Talmud are taken out of context. The Talmud contains multiple viewpoints, so you can prove almost anything by an out-of-context quote. For instance, anti-semites often quote passages from the Talmud expressing hostility to Gentiles. But there are other passages of a very different tenor. That the rabbis considered Jesus to be a false prophet is upsetting to us but should hardly be surprising. Most of the other stuff people say about the Talmud should be dismissed, unless you’re willing to study it carefully for yourself.
One other note–I believe that many alleged references to Jesus are under the name “Balaam.” So it’s not always clear when they are talking about Jesus (using “Balaam” as a code word) and when they are talking about the OT Balaam or about false prophets in general.
Edwin
