Counter Narratives against Christendom in Medieval Jewish Folktales

On Narrating the Conversion

Abstract

Jewish literature in the medieval Christian world formed discourses against the Christian cultures. This paper focuses on medieval folktales narrated by Jews living in Western Europe. One of their most popular tales is the Toledot Yeshu (“The Life Story of Jesus”). This Jewish version of the story of Jesus presents a counter image against Jesus as seen in Christian literature. There are episodes which stemmed from the Talmudic traditions on Jesus as well as popular elements such as Jesus as the master of the Divine Name. As a whole, Toledot Yeshu is a counter narrative against the Christian Jesus story through its subversive readings of the Gospels to reverse the values of Jesus for the Christians. Then, I move to analyze strange tales on Jesus’ disciples and hagiographic tales on Nahmanides in medieval Jewish folklore. These are closely connected with a serious problem in medieval Jewish society: Jewish conversion to Christianity. The Jewish people often strived with the question: What did forced conversion mean for the future of Judaism? In my view, the Jews in the Christian world attempted to narrate a counter “history,” a history for themselves which was completely different from its Christian counterpart.