Page 74 - The Track Of The Jew Through The Ages - Alfred Rosenberg

The Track of the Jew through the Ages

one reading, by locking her in a chest and did not let her out of it
until she had confessed, according to another byjamming her breasts
between the door-angle.
Since Jesus, as a seducer and magician, was in possession
of a magic spell, he accomplished a number of miraculous deeds,
many renegades of Israel followed him and there arose a division
among the people. When he boasted of being able to rise to heaven,
he was forced into a bet with Judas Iscariot. Jesus uttered the spell
(or the letters) and flew into the air. Then Judas also uttered it and
rose aloft like an eagle. Neither could overcome the other, until
Judas finally urinated on Jesus, dirtied him thereby and made him
fall. Jesus was executed as a fraud and a political criminal, but all
the crucifix wood broke under his weight. But when the fools saw
that no tree could bear him, they said that that occurred because of
his piety. But it was only the spell that had the power over the wood.
Then they brought a cabbage stem and crucified him. After his death
Jesus was buried by Judas in the garden. His followers later said
that he had gone to heaven.
Thus does the core narrative ofthe Toledot Yeshu run which
was current in different variants among the entire Jewry. In Germany
it was written and narrated in German, only later translated into
Hebrew, and was thus a national book. A Jewish manuscript reports
the following: "This volume is a tradition passed from one man to
another, which can only be copied but not printed. It is not read
publicly, or in front of small girls and foolish people, much less in
front of Christians who understand German ... I copied it out of
three volumes, which do not originate from one country but which
are in accordance with one another, only I wrote it down in the
language of the intelligent (Hebrew) for He has chosen us out of all
the nations, and given us the language of the intelligent. I shall add
,23
something, for talk can be extended somewhat with mockery ..."
As in Germany, the Toledot Yeshu was widely distributed
also in Poland and in the Latin countries. Already Bishop Agobert

123
Samuel KrauB, Das Leben Jesu nachjudischen Quellen, [1 902], p. 1 1 [Samuel
.
KrauB (1 866-1948) was a Jewish theologian who carefully researched the origins
of the Toledot Yeshu.]
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