A Judeo-Arabic parody of the life of Jesus : the 'Toledot Yeshu' Helene narrative

"Miriam Goldstein provides the first-ever examination of the Judeo-Arabic versions of Toledot Yeshu (TY), the notorious parody of the life of Jesus originating in Late Antiquity, as well as a full edition and translation of Judeo-Arabic TY texts from their earliest fragmentary witnesses through their early modern copies. The author illuminates the historical and literary development of the Judeo-Arabic TY texts, retelling the story of this long-lived polemical narrative with the critical inclusion of this significant Judeo-Arabic material. Goldstein considers the function of the narrative in the religiously diverse Arabic-speaking milieu and traces the existence of TY in a variety of languages in later Jewish Near Eastern story collections. In this study, the author transforms historical understandings of Toledot Yeshu and of the Near Eastern communities who read and transmitted the narrative." --Provided by publisher Cover 1 Title 4 Acknowledgments 6 Table of Contents 8 Chapter 1: Toledot Yeshu – An Introduction 12 1. An Anti-Passion Story: The Pilate Narrative 14 2. A Jewish “Infancy Gospel”: The Helene Narrative 19 3. The State of the Field 23 Chapter 2: Manuscript Evidence of the TY Helene Narrative in Judeo-Arabic 28 1. A Typology of the TY Helene Narrative in Judeo-Arabic 29 2. Continued Lifespan of TY in the Near East During the Ottoman Period 33 Chapter 3: Judeo-Arabic in the Early and Classical Period – A Very Brief Introduction 36 1. Arabic for All 36 2. Register in Arabic and Judeo-Arabic 38 3. “Arabic in Hebrew Letters” 42 4. Phonetic and Standard Judeo-Arabic Orthography : How Do You Represent Arabic in the Hebrew Alphabet? 44 5. Transition to Late Judeo-Arabic 46 Chapter 4: Linguistic Transformations – From Judeo-Arabic to Hebrew 48 1. Distance from the Surrounding Culture 48 2. Hebrew as the Language “That All Understand” 50 3. The Role of Judeo-Arabic 55 Chapter 5: TY and Popular Literature in Late Judeo-Arabic 58 1. The Linguistics of Late Judeo-Arabic: A Very Short General Introduction 59 2. Late Judeo-Arabic in TY Fragments: Textual Examples 61 3. Anonymous and Malleable 66 4. Story Collections: Developments in TY during the Ottoman Period 70 Chapter 6: Oldest Texts 78 1. Notes on the Edition 78 2. JTS ENA 3317.21 80 3. CUL T-S NS 298.58 83 4. JTS ENA NS 32.5 86 5. RNL Evr.-Arab. II:1033 88 6. CUL T-S NS 298.57 92 7. CUL T-S NS 164.26 94 8. RNL Evr.-Arab. II:1092 96 9. RNL Evr.-Arab. II:2035 99 10. RNL Evr.-Arab. II:1993 101 Chapter 7: Toledot Yeshu in the Late Mediterranean Judeo-Arabic Recension (LMJAR) 106 1. Linguistic Features of LMJAR 107 2. Arabic-Rabbinic Preface 111 3. Midrashic Compilation on Stealing the Name and Zoharic Parallels 114 4. Parodying the Story of the True Cross 121 5. Development within Judeo-Arabic TY Texts 122 6. Relationship of LMJAR to the Italian A (1a/1b) Hebrew Version of TY 124 Chapter 8: Late Mediterranean Judeo-Arabic Recension – Texts 132 1. Notes on the Edition 132 2. RNL Evr.-Arab. II:1345 and RNL Evr.-Arab. I:3005 134 3. RNL Evr.-Arab. II:919 161 4. RNL Evr.-Arab. II:1343 169 5. Sixteenth-Century RNL Manuscript 171 6. BL Or. 10435, f. 18 180 7. JTS ENA 1726, ff. 4–5 182 Appendix 1: Manuscripts Arranged by Plot Element 184 Appendix 2: Sample Synoptic Chart – Truth Revealed 189 1. Description of Judeo-Arabic Manuscripts 189 2. Description of Hebrew Manuscripts 189 3. Guide to Markings and Terminology 190 Appendix 3: Sample Synoptic Chart – First Separation 201 1. Description of Judeo-Arabic Manuscripts 201 2. Description of Hebrew Manuscripts 201 Appendix 4: The Helene Narrative in Collections from the Mid to Late Ottoman Period 217 1. Literary Context of Near Eastern Manuscripts That Are Cited and Transcribed in Meerson-Schäfer Volumes 218 2. Ottoman Period Manuscripts Not Included in Meerson-Schäfer Volumes, All Languages 225 Appendix 5: Bilʿam and Stealing the Name in LMJAR and the Zohar 229 Bibliography 232 Index of Toledot Yeshu manuscripts 242 Subject Index 246 Miriam Goldstein demonstrates that Toledot Yeshu , the notorious parody of the life of Jesus, was popular and long-lived among Arabic-speaking Jews. Retelling the development of this narrative, she transforms historical understandings of Toledot Yeshu and of the communities who read it.