Claim: The majority of Jews living in the current nation state of Israel adhere to the Talmud which states Christ is currently in excrement.
Response: The claim that the majority of Jews adhere to and promote the Talmud is false. Evidence will be presented below to demonstrate why the claim is fallacious.
1. According to the Pew Research Center (2016 study of Israeli Jews) the data shows the following regarding religious affiliation and conversion:
- Hiloni (Secular) – ~40%
- Masorti (Traditional) – ~ 23%
- Dati (Religious) – ~ 10%
- Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) – ~8%
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2016/03/08/religious-affiliation-and-conversion/
These figures add up to 81%, because 81% of Israel’s population is Jewish in that dataset. The rest are: Muslim, Christian, Druze, or Other.
If we focus only on Israeli Jews, and then normalize the categories, among Jewish Israelis we get:
- Hiloni (Secular) → ~49% of Jews
- Masorti (Traditional) → ~28% of Jews
- Dati (Religious) → ~12% of Jews
- Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) → ~10% of Jews
Of the data we analyzed above here is what we know:
- Secular (49%) → generally do NOT follow the Talmud
- Traditional (29%) → loosely religious, not strict Talmud adherence
- Religious + Ultra-Orthodox (22%) → more likely to study Talmud seriously
22% seems like a more accurate depiction of reality. The religious and ultra-Orthodox sects are more likely to study the Talmud and take its writings seriously.
A more recent study showed that the Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) camp has grown since 2015. The figure now (2025) looks more like: 14%, rather than the 10% seen in the Pew Research Center’s data in 2016. Still, the majority are Non-Haredi Jews (65%).
https://en.idi.org.il/haredi/2024/?chapter=58376
It should also be noted that even among the Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) Jews, this still doesn’t mean that:
a.) They believe every passage is interpreted literally
b.) They focus on hostile passages about Jesus
c.) They even think about Christianity much at all
This overall landscape puts those who actually take the Talmud seriously in the minority—under 30% if taken with the Dati (Religious) data.
We can at least conclude that most Israelis do NOT follow the Talmud strictly and many Israelis are not religious at all. Even among religious Jews there are distinctions, so these broad brush claims won’t do.
2. Regarding the claim that “Jesus of Nazareth” is in fact in the Talmud.
There is a passage often cited from the Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 57a. It describes someone being punished with “boiling excrement” in the afterlife.
https://halakhah.com/gittin/gittin_57.html
However, we shouldn’t be so quick to assume this is Jesus of Nazareth:
1. The passage refers to “sinners of Israel” and in some traditions we have “Yeshu”
2. Scholars disagree whether this refers to Jesus of Nazareth
3. Some Jewish scholars argue it refers to another figure, or is later polemical material
4. There are discrepancies. Some texts have “Yeshu” 100+ years before Jesus of Nazareth and have a completely different historical setting.
On point (3) see the following:
- Johann Maier, Jesus von Nazareth in der talmudischen Überlieferung (1978). Johann argues that many Talmudic references to “Yeshu” do not refer to Jesus of Nazareth, but reflect later polemical traditions.
- Joseph Klausner, Jesus of Nazareth: His Life, Times, and Teaching (1925). Joseph argued that Talmudic references are historically confused and cannot be reliably tied to the historical Jesus.
- Jacob Neusner repeatedly emphasized that the Talmud is late and polemical, making direct historical identification difficult.
In the affirmative that Jesus is in the Talmud:
- Peter Schäfer, Jesus in the Talmud (2007) is one author that does see some passages likely referring to Jesus.
Broadly, scholars agree that the Talmud contains hostile references to someone called “Yeshu.” Some passages may refer to Jesus of Nazareth, others likely refer to different figures. The material is polemical and late, and the identification is disputed.
3. The Talmud is NOT a doctrinal book like the Bible. It is often merely assumed that the two are similar. The Talmud is a massive collection of debates, written over hundreds of years (AD 200-500), that contains arguments, opinions, stories, and disagreements. It is NOT a unified theology, a single doctrinal authority, or something that all Jews must believe in. Even many Jewish scholars emphasize that not everything in the Talmud is authoritative. So, saying “The Talmud says X, therefore Jews believe X” is like saying “One church father said something, therefore all Christians believe it.”
4. Most Israelis aren’t even religiously literate in Talmudic literature. For instance, secular Israelis often do not study religious texts at all and even many Masorti Jews do not study the Talmud. Even among religious Jews, Talmudic study varies significantly, and many Jews living in Israel have little to no engagement with Talmudic literature.
Conclusion: The claim “the majority of Jews living in the current nation state of Israel adhere to the Talmud which states Christ is currently in excrement” has been proven false. The majority of Jews don’t adhere to the Talmud.
