Lies About the Talmud

Anti-Talmud accusations have a long history dating back to the 13th century when the associates of the Inquisition attempted to defame Jews and their religion. The early material compiled by hateful preachers like Raymond Martini and Nicholas Donin remain the basis of all subsequent accusations against the Talmud. Most are false and based on quotations taken out of context, and some are total fabrications.

Antisemites such as Van Hyning, Nesta Webster, Benjamin H. Freedman and Wesley Swift have claimed that the Talmud has been systematically hidden from non-Jews, and that it is the supreme authority of Jewish law, philosophy and ethics.

In truth, it is available in most good public libraries and most Jews regard it as simply one branch of Jewish theology, of limited interest outside of rabbinical seminaries.

The Talmud consists of two parts: the Mishnah, and its commentary, the Gemara.

The Mishnah, compiled and edited by Judah Hanasi about 200 C.E., was the first Jewish code of laws since the Torah. There are two Gemaras, known as the Babylonian and Jerusalem. The former, completed about 500 C.E., is the record of the discussions of the Jewish scholars which sat in "Palestine", Jerusalem.

Van Hyningís leaflet was widely reprinted, excerpted, added to and quoted from or referenced throughout the 1950s and 1960s by such publications as The Cross and the Flag, Common Sense, and Thunderbolt.

In the early 1970s the Rev. Gerald L.K. Smith continued to distribute a free tract quoting most of these lies. Rarely quoted today, these fabrications continue to be the foundation of many claims that Judaism is anti-Christian.

On the internet today we can find many of these old accusations being rehashed, these are some of the biggest fabrications:

ACCUSATION
Kelhubath (11a-11b): "When a grown up man has intercourse with a little girl it is nothing, for when the girl is less than three years old it is as if one puts the finger into the eye tears come to the eye again and again, so does virginity come back to the little girl three years old."

FACT
This is probably the biggest LIE in the whole list. The words are correctly quoted but completely out of context.
This passage is a discussion of the penalties and consequences of adult-child sexual relations. The following paragraphs continue to discuss this issue. The discussion is about how the criminal should be punished and about the girl not to lose her virginity cause the crime. She will consider likwe a virgin also if she is no longer virgin.

ACCUSATION
"The Talmud refers to Jesus Christ as the bastard son of a harlot (Kallah, 1b, 18b)"

FACT
Kallah, 1b, 18b. The quotation does not exist in this volume. This is a complete fabrication, and even the reference numbers are fabricated.

ACCUSATION
(Zohar, III, 282):
The Talmud teaches 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 Ssau (the Christians) and of Ismael (the Muslims), also Jesus and Mohammed, uncircumsized and unclean like dead dogs are buried.

FACT
This entire "quotation" is a complete fabrication.
Zohar, III, 282. This is a cabalistic work that came into being during the Middle Ages [13th c.]. It is not a part of the Talmud. It is not a part of the Talmud. The Zohar contains all the spiritual states that people experience as their souls evolve. To those without spiritual attainment, The Zohar reads like a collection of allegories and legends that can be interpreted and perceived differently by each individual.

ACCUSATION
(Kerithuth, 6b, p. 78):
"One of the basic doctrines of the Talmud is that all non-Talmudists rank as non-humans, that they are not like men, but beasts.

FACT
Kerithuth, 6b, p. 78. Even the numbering system is a fabrication. 6b means page 6, side 2. Consequently, page 78 can have no relationship to 6b.

ACCUSATION
"The following quotation from and about the Talmud should be of interest to all Christians. Note: 'GOY' means non-Jews; 'GOYIM' is plural for Goy." "Jehovah Himself studies the Talmud standing, he has such respect for that book (Tract Mechilla)."

FACT
Tract Mechilla. No such book exists in the Talmud! Furthermore, the internal evidence in the alleged quotation suggests crude fabrication. The Talmud is not "that book"; it is a collection of volumes.

ACCUSATION
Libbre David 37:
"To communicate anything to a goy about our religious relations would be equal to the killing of all Jews, for if the goyim knew what we teach about them they would kill us openly."

FACT
Libbre David 37. This is a complete fabrication. No such book exists in the Talmud or in the entire Jewish literature.

ACCUSATION
Baba Mecia 114-6:
"The Jews are human beings, but the nations of the world are not human beings but beasts."

FACT
Baba Mecia 114-6. This quotation is a complete fabrication. Even the numbering is incorrect. There can be no 114-6; it has to be 114a or 114b.

ACCUSATION
Midrash Talpioth, 225-L:
"Jehovah created the non-Jew in human form so that the Jew would not have to be served by beasts. The non-Jew is consequently an animal in human form, and condemned to serve the Jew day and night."

FACT
Midrash Talpioth, 225-L. This is not a volume of the Talmud. It is something composed by a Turkish Jew in the 18th century. His name was Elijah ben Solomom Abraham, ha-Kohen, and this book is not study in any parameter and rejected by the Jewish scholars.

ACCUSATION
Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 348:
"A Jew may rob a goy--that is, he may cheat him in a bill, if unlikely to be perceived by him."

FACT
Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 348. This is not a part of the Talmud. It is actually a part of a collection of Biblical commentaries in the sixteenth century. The actual text in this volume says that it is forbidden to steal even a small item from a Jew or non-Jew, from children or from adults, as the Torah command us "you shall not steal..."