Abbahu - Against The Christians

Against The Christians

"When does your Messiah come?" a Christian (Minaah) once asked Abbahu in a tone of mockery, whereupon he replied: "When you will be wrapped in darkness, for it says, 'Behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the nations; then shall the Lord rise upon thee and His glory shall be seen on thee' ," (Sanhedrin 99a). A Christian came to Abbahu with the quibbling question: "How could your God in His priestly holiness bury Moses without providing for purificatory rites, yet oceans are declared insufficient?" (Isaiah 40:12). "Why," said Abbahu, "does it not say, 'The Lord cometh with fire'?" (Isaiah 64:15). "Fire is the true element of purification, according to Numbers xxi.23," was his answer (Sanhedrin 39a). Another question of the same character: "Why the boastful claim: 'What nation on earth is like Thy people Israel' (II Sam. 7:23), since we read, 'All the nations are as nothing before Him'?" (Isaiah 40:17), to which Abbahu replied: "Do we not read of Israel, he 'shall not be reckoned among the nations'?" (Numbers xxiii. 9, Sanhedrin as above).

Abbahu made a notable exception with reference to the Tosefta's statement that the Gilionim (Evangels) and other books of the Mineans are not to be saved from a conflagration on Sabbath: "the books written by minnims for controversies may or may not be saved" (Shab. 116a). Of special historical interest is the observation of Abbahu in regard to the benediction "Baruk Shem Kebod Malkuto" (Blessed be the Name of His glorious Kingdom) after the "Shema' Yisrael," that in Palestine, where the Christians look for points of controversy, the words should be recited aloud (lest the Jews be accused of tampering with the unity of God proclaimed in the Shema'), whereas in the Babylonian city of Nehardea, where there are no Christians, the words are recited with a low voice (Pesahim 56a). Preaching directly against the Christian dogma, Abbahu says: "A king of flesh and blood may have a father, a brother, or a son to share in or dispute his sovereignty, but the Lord saith, 'I am the Lord thy God! I am the first; that is, I have no father, and I am the last; that is, I have no brother, and besides me there is no God; that is, I have no son'" (Isaiah 44:6; Ex. R. 29). His comment on Numbers 23:19 has a still more polemical tone: “God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent; if a man says: ‘I am a god’ he is a liar; if he says: ‘I am a son of man’ he will have cause to regret it; and if he says, ‘I will go up to heaven’ he has said but will not keep his word” (Yer. Ta'anit, folio 9a, chapter II, halachah 1, end).

Some of his controversies on Christian theological subjects, as on Adam (Yalḳ., Gen. 47), on Enoch (Gen. R. 25), and on the resurrection (Shab. 152b), are less clear and direct (see Bacher, Ag. Pal. Amor. ii.97, 115-118).