Missionaries known as the natzratim or netzarim (Christians disguised as Jews) claim that the prayer recited in the Amidah curses them every day. They state the following:
"The Notzrim (Guardians/Watchers), according to some historians' view, were a sect already in existence long before the birth of Yehoshua of Natzrat; however, owing to the resemblance between the Greek Nazoraios (commonly rendered as 'Nazarene') and Notzri, we can see that the Hebrew word for 'Christian' is translated as Notzri, which literally means 'Guardian' or 'Watchman'. But when did this conception arise? Epiphanius in the fourth century and Jerome in the fifth mention the Birkat ha-Minim (the benediction of the Amidah referring to heretics) and state that through it the Jews cursed the Christians. The Birkat ha-Minim is a benediction instituted at Yavneh after 70 CE, which, according to the Mishnah in Berakhot 28b, was added to the Eighteen Benedictions (Shemoneh Esreh or Amidah)."
—Frías Ariel ("Avdiel ben Oved"), El Término Natzratím [The Term Natzratim], Bet Midrash Maor Ba'Olam, 2013, p. 9.
"We, the disciples of Yehoshua of Natzrat, the Mashiach, do not regard the Bet Din of Yavneh as possessing the authority of the Bet Din ha-Gadol; consequently, not being bound by that Bet Din's rulings, we are under no obligation to observe its decrees, including the institution of the Amidah as a daily tefillah."
—Frías Ariel ("Avdiel ben Oved"), La Postura de los Natzratim respecto a la Amidá [The Natzratim's Position on the Amidah], natzratim, 2016, p. 12.
The missionaries assume that the Jewish communities of old were referring to Christians when reciting the Birkat HaMinim (the Prayer against Heretics).
Where do they derive such a strange notion?
They take as their reference a note from one of the Church Fathers, Epiphanius of Salamis, in his work the Panarion, Book I, 29:9:2–3, translated by Frank Williams, Brill, 2009, where one reads:
 |
| Vat.gr.503, folios 55v y 57r |
(9:1) Ἀρκέσει γοῦν καὶ ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ αἱρέσει ἡ διὰ τῆς συντομίας παρ᾽ ἡμῶν διάλεξις. εὐθυέλεγκτοι γὰρ οἱ τοιοῦτοι καὶ εὐάλωτοι, καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι μᾶλλον καὶ οὐδὲν ἕτερον. (9:2) Πάνυ δὲ οὗτοι ἐχθροὶ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ὑπάρχουσιν. οὐ μόνον γὰρ οἱ τῶν Ἰουδαίων παῖδες πρὸς τούτους κέκτηνται μῖσος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀνιστάμενοι ἕωθεν καὶ μέσης ἡμέρας καὶ περὶ τὴν ἑσπέραν, τρὶς τῆς ἡμέρας ὅτε εὐχὰς ἐπιτελοῦσιν ἑαυτοῖς ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς ἐπαρῶνται αὐτοῖς καὶ ἀναθεματίζουσι, τρὶς τῆς ἡμέρας φάσκοντες ὅτι «ἐπικαταράσαι ὁ θεὸς τοὺς Ναζωραίους». (9:3) δῆθεν γὰρ τούτοις περισσότερον ἐνέχουσι, διὰ τὸ ἀπὸ Ἰουδαίων αὐτοὺς ὄντας Ἰησοῦν κηρύσσειν εἶναι <τὸν> Χριστόν, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἐναντίον πρὸς τοὺς ἔτι Ἰουδαίους, τοὺς τὸν Ἰησοῦν μὴ δεξαμένους. (9:4) ἔχουσι δὲ τὸ κατὰ Ματθαῖον εὐαγγέλιον πληρέστατον Ἑβραϊστί. παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς γὰρ σαφῶς τοῦτο, καθὼς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐγράφη, Ἑβραϊκοῖς γράμμασιν ἔτι σῴζεται. οὐκ οἶδα δὲ εἰ καὶ τὰς γενεαλογίας τὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ἄχρι Χριστοῦ περιεῖλον.
(Translation: (9:1) It will suffice, then, in the case of this heresy¹ too, that our discussion proceed briefly; for such persons are easily refuted and easily caught out, being nothing other than Jews. (9:2) These men are, indeed, thoroughgoing enemies of the Jews. For not only have the children of the Jews conceived hatred toward them, but also, rising at dawn, at midday, and towards evening — three times a day, when they perform their own prayers — they curse them and anathematise them in the synagogues, saying three times a day, "God curse the Nazoraeans."² (ἐπικαταράσαι ὁ θεὸς τοὺς Ναζωραίους)³ (9:3) For, it seems, they bear them a greater grudge on this account: that although of Jewish origin, they proclaim Jesus to be the Christ⁴ — which stands in direct opposition to those Jews who have not accepted Jesus. (9:4) They also possess the Gospel according to Matthew in a most complete form⁵, in Hebrew; for among them it is clearly still preserved in Hebrew letters⁶, just as it was written from the beginning. I do not know, however, whether they also removed the genealogies from Abraham to Christ.⁷)
Notes:
¹ On αἵρεσις ("heresy"): in Epiphanius's technical usage the word retains its original Hellenistic sense of "school" or "sect" (from αἱρέω, "to choose"), without the necessarily pejorative charge it would later acquire; the very title of the work, the Panarion (Adversus haereses), catalogues eighty heterodox "schools", among them that of the Nazoraeans.
² On "Nazoraeans": this renders Ναζωραῖοι (Nazoraeans), the technical term with which Epiphanius designates specifically this Jewish-Christian sect, distinct from Ναζαρηνοί (Nazarenes, the gentilic for the inhabitants of Nazareth) and from Ναζιραῖος (Nazirite, one consecrated by vow according to Numbers 6).
³ On ἐπικαταράσαι ὁ θεὸς τοὺς Ναζωραίους ("may God curse the Nazoraeans"): in Mishnaic Hebrew this imprecatory formula might be rendered שֶׁיְיָ יְקַלֵּל אֶת הַנּוֹצְרִים (she-Adonay yeqallel et ha-notzrim, "may the Eternal curse the notzrim/Nazoraeans"), employing the verb קלל in the Piel — the curse-verb proper to Tannaitic Hebrew (cf. Exodus 22:27; Leviticus 19:14; M. Sanhedrin 7:8) — with the particle שֶׁ־ in an optative/jussive value and יְיָ as the conventional substitute spelling for the Tetragrammaton, and נוֹצְרִים (notzrim) as the current rabbinic equivalent of Ναζωραῖοι. Epiphanius's testimony here converges with the tradition — documented by Jerome (In Esaiam 5:18f.; 49:7; 52:4ff.) and by Justin (Dial. 16 and 47) — of a daily curse pronounced in the synagogue against the notzrim/minim, which much modern scholarship links to the Birkat ha-Minim, the twelfth benediction of the Amidah, whose text as preserved in the Cairo Genizah expressly mentions "הנוצרים והמינים" (the notzrim and the minim). It should be stressed, however, that this is a thematic convergence and not a textual citation: Epiphanius's passage is in Greek and does not reproduce the Hebrew wording of the benediction.
⁴ On <τὸν> Χριστόν: the article τόν appears within angle brackets in Holl's edition, indicating a conjectural restitution by the editor, absent from the direct manuscript witness.
⁵ On "most complete" (πληρέστατον): Holl clarifies, against Zahn, that this superlative signifies only "entire, without lacunae" with respect to the customary text of Matthew, and should not be read as evidence that the Nazoraean gospel contained material additional to canonical Matthew.
⁶ On "Hebrew letters" (Ἑβραϊκοῖς γράμμασιν): Epiphanius's claim regarding the Hebrew language of the gospel (Ἑβραϊστί, πληρέστατον Ἑβραϊστί) must be qualified by Jerome's testimony (Contra Pelagianos III.2; Migne, PL 23, 570B), who specifies that the gospel used by the Nazoraeans was written chaldaico... syroque sermone, sed hebraeis literis scriptum ("in the Chaldean or Syriac tongue, but written in Hebrew characters"), that is, in Aramaic with the Hebrew alphabet, and not in Hebrew proper.
⁷ On "genealogies": here Epiphanius refers, as Holl observes, both backward (haer. 7.6 and 28.5.1) and forward (haer. 30.13.2ff.) to his description — distinct from the present one — of the gospel used by the Cerinthians and Ebionites, which did expressly omit the genealogies.
—Epiphanius of Salamis, Panarion, Heresy 29, Chapter 9, Section 2 (29.9.2), p. 332, trans. Frank Williams, Brill, 2009; cf. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 16:4; 47:4; 93:4; 95:4; 96:2; 108:31; 117:3; 137:2; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah, 2:18; 49:7; 52:4; Epiphanius, Panarion 30.16.6–9, in Epiphanius I: Ancoratus und Panarion, Haer. 1–33, ed. Karl Holl, Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten Jahrhunderte 25 (Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1915), pp. 331-332.
It is popularly believed that this new formulation was meant to force the "Jewish-Christians" out of the Jewish community. If that were so, some sidur (prayer book) would have to read:
שֶׁיְיָ יְקַלֵּל אֶת הַנּוֹצְרִים
(May G-d curse the Nazarenes)
A hypothetical reconstruction of how the prayer or benediction might have read in one of the early Jewish nusachim (liturgical rites), incorporating the phrase mentioned by Epiphanius of Salamis in his Panarion, would run as follows:
לַמְּשֻׁמָּדִים וְלַנּוֹצְרִים אַל תְּהִי תִקְוָה, וְכָל הַמִּינִים וְכָל הַמַּלְשִׁינִים כְּרֶגַע יֹאבֵדוּ, שֶׁיְיָ יְקַלֵּל אֶת הַנּוֹצְרִים (ἐπικαταράσαι ὁ θεὸς τοὺς Ναζωραίους), וְכָל אוֹיְבֵינוּ מְהֵרָה יִכָּרֵתוּ, וּמַלְכוּת זָדוֹן מְהֵרָה תְעַקֵּר וּתְשַׁבֵּר וּתְכַלֵּה וְתַכְנִיעֵם בִּמְהֵרָה בְיָמֵינוּ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', שׁוֹבֵר אוֹיְבִים וּמַכְנִיעַ זֵדִים.
(Translation: "For the apostates [meshumadim] and the notzrim, let there be no hope, and let all the minim and all the informers [malshinim] perish in an instant; may the Eternal curse the notzrim [ἐπικαταράσαι ὁ θεὸς τοὺς Ναζωραίους], and may all our enemies be swiftly cut off, and may the kingdom of arrogance be swiftly uprooted, broken, destroyed, and subdued speedily in our days. Blessed art Thou, O Etern-al, who breaks enemies and subdues the insolent.")
This reconstruction is based on adapting the Nusach HaSefaradim, one of the oldest rites, and incorporating the phrase referred to by Epiphanius, transliterated from the original Greek ἐπικατάρα σαι ὁ θ̅ς̅ · τοὺς Ναζωραίους = שֶׁיְיָ יְקַלֵּל אֶת הַנּוֹצְרִים, alongside its Hebrew translation.
The core of the original prayer has been retained, with only the elements pertinent to the academic investigation in question added. It should be stressed that this is a hypothetical reconstruction, given the impossibility of determining with complete certainty the exact wording of so early a nusach.
Nevertheless, this does not appear in any sidur, however much Christians may wish to deceive the ignorant by claiming that our prayers curse them, or, worse still, that Messianics or Nazarenes are cursed in order to continue expelling them from the synagogues.
But what do today's sidurim, or prayer books, actually say?
Nusach Ashkenaz:
וְלַמַּלְשִׁינִים אַל תְּהִי תִקְוָה. וְכָל הָרִשְׁעָה כְּרֶגַע תּאבֵד. וְכָל אויְבֵי עַמְּךָ מְהֵרָה יִכָּרֵתוּ. וְהַזֵדִים מְהֵרָה תְעַקֵּר וּתְשַׁבֵּר וּתְמַגֵּר וְתַכְנִיעַ בִּמְהֵרָה בְיָמֵינוּ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', שׁובֵר אויְבִים וּמַכְנִיעַ זֵדִים:
(Translation: "And for the informers [malshinim], let there be no hope. And let all wickedness perish in an instant. And let all the enemies of Your people be swiftly cut off. And the insolent [zedim], swiftly uproot, break, cast down, and subdue speedily in our days. Blessed art Thou, O Etern-al, who breaks enemies and subdues the insolent.")
As we can see, at no point is the word notzrim, natzratim, netzarim, or the like, mentioned.
Nusach Edot HaMizrach, used by Jews of the Middle East:
לַמִּינִים וְלַמַּלְשִׁינִים אַל תְּהִי תִקְוָה, וְכָל הַזֵּדִים כְּרֶגַע יֹאבֵדוּ, וְכָל אוֹיְבֶיךָ וְכָל שׂוֹנְאֶיךָ מְהֵרָה יִכָּרֵתוּ, וּמַלְכוּת הָרִשְׁעָה מְהֵרָה תְעַקֵּר וּתְשַׁבֵּר וּתְכַלֵּם וְתַכְנִיעֵם בִּמְהֵרָה בְיָמֵינוּ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יָהָוָהָ, שׁוֹבֵר אוֹיְבִים וּמַכְנִיעַ זֵדִים:
(Translation: "For the minim and the informers [malshinim], let there be no hope, and let all the insolent [zedim] perish in an instant, and let all Your enemies and all who hate You be swiftly cut off, and may the kingdom of wickedness be swiftly uprooted, broken, destroyed, and subdued speedily in our days. Blessed art Thou, O Etern-al, who breaks enemies and subdues the insolent.")
Alas, the word notzrim is not mentioned here either.
Nusach Sefaradi:
וְלַמַּלְשִׁינִים אַל תְּהִי תִקְוָה, וְכָל הַמִינִים כְּרֶגַע יֹאבֵדוּ, וְכָל אוֹיְבֵי עַמְּךָ מְהֵרָה יִכָּרֵתוּ, וְהַזֵּדִים מְהֵרָה תְעַקֵּר וּתְשַׁבֵּר וּתְמַגֵּר וּתְכַלֵּם וְתַשְׁפִּילֵם וְתַכְנִיעֵם בִּמְהֵרָה בְיָמֵינוּ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה, שׁוֹבֵר אוֹיְבִים וּמַכְנִיעַ זֵדִים
(Translation: "And for the informers [malshinim], let there be no hope, and let all the minim perish in an instant, and let all the enemies of Your people be swiftly cut off, and the insolent [zedim], swiftly uproot, break, cast down, destroy, humble, and subdue speedily in our days. Blessed art Thou, O Etern-al, who breaks enemies and subdues the insolent.")
As Rabbi Avraham Davis explains in the Metsudah Weekday Siddur, Nusach Sefarad, this petition was added to the original Eighteen Benedictions. It was ordained by Rabban Gamliel and his Beit Din at Yavneh, drafted by Shmuel HaKatan, its author (Tractate Berakhot 28b). It is directed against the early Christians who denounced Jews to the Roman authorities after the destruction of the Second Temple, bringing upon them a terribly painful death. This information, however, is mistaken, since no mention of the notzrim appears in the Birkat HaMinim either. This can likewise be seen in other sidurim, such as the Sefaradi, Teimani, and Italian rites, or that of the Ari z"l, in which the word notzrim does not appear:
| Nusach Ha'Ari | Nusach Italia | Nusach Teimani HaBaladi | Nusach HaSefaradim |
|---|---|---|---|
| לְמְּשֻׁמָּדִים אַל תְּהִי תִקְוָה, וְכָל הַמִּינִים וְכָל הַמַּלְשִׁינִים כְּרֶגַע יֹאבֵדוּ, וְכָל אוֹיְבֵינוּ מְהֵרָה יִכָּרֵתוּ, וּמַלְכוּת זָדוֹן מְהֵרָה תְעַקֵּר וּתְשַׁבֵּר וּתְכַלֵּה וְתַכְנִיעֵם בִּמְהֵרָה בְיָמֵינוּ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', שׁוֹבֵר אוֹיְבִים וּמַכְנִיעַ זֵדִים. | וְלַמַּלְשִׁינִים (וְלַמִּינִים) בַּל תְּהִי תִקְוָה, וְכֻלָּם כְּרֶגַע יֹאבֵדוּ, וְכָל אוֹיְבֶיךָ מְהֵרָה יִכַּרֵתוּ, וְתַכְנִיע אוֹתָם בִּמְהֵרָה בְיָמֵינוּ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', שׁוֹבֵר אוֹיְבִים וּמַכְנִיעַ זֵדִים | לַמְּשֻׁמָּדִים אַל תְּהִי תִקְוָה, כָּל הַמִּינִים וְהַמּוֹסְרִים כְּרֶגַע יֹאבֵדוּ. וּמַלְכוּת זָדוֹן, תַּעֲקוֹר וְתִשְׁבּוֹר מְהֵרָה בְיָמֵינוּ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', שׁוֹבֵר אוֹיְבִים וּמַכְנִיעַ זֵדִים | לַמִּינִים וְלַמַּלְשִׁינִים (נ"א: לַמַּלְשִׁינִים וְלַמִּינִים, נ"א: לַמַּלְשִׁינִים) אַל תְּהִי תִקְוָה, (יש מוסיפים: וְכָל הַמִּינִים) וְכָל הַזֵּדִים כְּרֶגַע יֹאבֵדוּ, וְכָל אוֹיְבֶיךָ וְכָל שׂוֹנְאֶיךָ מְהֵרָה יִכַּרֵתוּ, וּמַלְכוּת הָרִשְׁעָה (נ"א: וְכָל עוֹשֵׂי רִשְׁעָה), מְהֵרָה תְעַקֵּר וּתְשַׁבֵּר, וּתְכַלֵּם וְתַכְנִיעֵם, בִּמְהֵרָה בְיָמֵינוּ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', שׁוֹבֵר אוֹיְבִים וּמַכְנִיעַ זֵדִים (נ"א: מִינִים). |
| For the apostates (meshumadim), let there be no hope, and let all the minim and all the informers (malshinim) perish in an instant, and let all our enemies be swiftly cut off, and may the kingdom of arrogance be swiftly uprooted, broken, destroyed, and subdued speedily in our days. Blessed art Thou, O Etern-al, who breaks enemies and subdues the insolent. | And for the informers (and the minim), let there be no hope, and let them all perish in an instant, and let all Your enemies be swiftly cut off, and subdue them speedily in our days. Blessed art Thou, O Etern-al, who breaks enemies and subdues the insolent. | For the apostates (meshumadim), let there be no hope; let all the minim and the informers (mosrim) perish in an instant. And the kingdom of arrogance — uproot and break it speedily in our days. Blessed art Thou, O Etern-al, who breaks enemies and subdues the insolent. | For the minim and the informers (var.: the informers and the minim; var.: the informers), let there be no hope (some add: and all the minim), and let all the insolent perish in an instant, and let all your enemies and all who hate you be swiftly cut off, and may the kingdom of wickedness (var.: and all who do wickedness) be swiftly uprooted, broken, destroyed, and subdued speedily in our days. Blessed art Thou, O Etern-al, who breaks enemies and subdues the insolent (var.: the minim). |
The only ancient nusachim (rites) held in Eretz Israel and Eretz Bavel, among the 112 fragments used in the Ben Ezra Synagogue in the Middle Ages (tenth–eleventh centuries)*, in which the word "notzrim" (נֹצְרִים) appears, constantly reminded the congregation of the dangers posed by Christians and other heretical sectarians. Such a version is found in the Cairo Genizah (גניזה הקהירית), which, naturally, did not pass censorship:
לַמְּשֻׁמָּדִים אַל תְּהִי תִּקְוָה, וּמַלְכוּת זָדוֹן מְהֵרָה תְּעָקֵר בְּיָמֵינוּ, וְהַנֹּצְרִים וְהַמִּינִים כְּרֶגַע יֹאבֵדוּ, יִמָּחוּ מִסֵּפֶר חַיִּים וְעִם צַדִּיקִים אַל יִכָּתֵבוּ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ מַכְנִיעַ זֵדִים
(Translation: "For the apostates [meshumadim], let there be no hope, and may You swiftly uproot the kingdom of arrogance in our days, and let the notzrim and the minim perish in an instant. Let them be blotted out of the Book of Life, and let them not be inscribed with the righteous [tzadikim]. Blessed art Thou, Etern-al, who subdues the insolent.")
—Cairo Genizah, Hebrew, parchment, Palestine or Egypt, tenth/eleventh century, T-S K27.33b; cf. Ehrlich, U., & Langer, R. (2005). "The Earliest Texts of the Birkat Haminim." Hebrew Union College Annual, 76, 63–112. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23508929
Later, medieval Christian censorship, in the Byzantine era, viewed this paragraph as a curse directed against all Christians, on the grounds — so they held — of a connection between Nazareth and the notzrim.
As regards the controversy among the Mizrahi textual witnesses over the closing formula of the benediction — "who breaks the enemies and subdues the insolent [zedim]" (שובר אויבים ומכניע זדים) versus "and subdues the heretics" (ומכניע מינים) — it should be noted that the Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Berakhot 5:3, has the zedim version, which is likewise the principal one today among the rabbinic communities of Israel:
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| Leiden Manuscript, Part I 20r. |
רבי אחא ורבי יודה בן פזי יתבין בחד כנישתא אתי עבר חד קומי תיבותא ואשגר חד ברכה. אתון ושיילון לרבי סימון. אמר לון רבי סימון בשם רבי יהושע בן לוי שליח ציבור שהשגיר שתים שלש ברכות אין מחזירין אותו. אשכח תניי ופליג. לכל אין מחזירין אותו חוץ ממי שלא אמר מחיה המתים ומכניע זדים ובונה ירושלים. אני אומר מין הוא. שמואל הקטן עבר קומי תיבותא ואשגר מכניע זדים בסופה שרי משקיף עליהון. אמרין ליה לא שיערו חכמים בך.
(Translation: "Rabbi Aḥa and Rabbi Yudah ben Pazi were sitting in a synagogue. Someone came, passed before the ark, and omitted a benediction. They went and asked Rabbi Simon. Rabbi Simon said to them in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: a communal emissary who omits two or three benedictions is not made to go back. He found a baraita that disagrees: for none is he made to go back, except for one who did not say 'who revives the dead', 'who subdues the insolent', and 'who builds Jerusalem' — of him I say he is a min. [If he does not believe in bodily resurrection, he is a Sadducee. If he refrains from pronouncing disapproval of the Christians, or from expressing the hope that Jerusalem will be rebuilt before a Second Coming, he is a Christian.] Shmuel HaKatan passed before the ark and omitted 'who subdues the insolent'; in the end, he stood gazing up at them. They said to him: the Sages did not take you as their measure.")
—The Jerusalem Talmud, trans. H. W. Guggenheimer (De Gruyter, 1999).
This teaching likewise appears in Midrash Tanchuma, Vayikra 2:1:
ויקרא אל משה. ילמדנו רבנו, העובר לפני התבה וטעה ולא הזכיר ברכת המינים, מנין שמחזירין אותו. כך שנו רבותינו, העובר לפני התבה וטעה, בכל ברכות כלן, אין מחזירין אותו. טעה בברכת המינים, מחזירין אותו ואומרה בעל כרחו. ומפני מה מחזירין אותו. חיישינן שמא מין הוא, שאם יהא בו צד מינות, קלל עצמו ועונין הקהל אמן. וכן מי שלא אמר בונה ירושלים, מחזירין אותו, חיישינן שמא כותי הוא. אמר רב אסי, גר שקבל עליו כל התורה כלה חוץ מדבר אחד, אין מקבלין אותו. ולא עוד, אלא אפלו דקדוק אחד מן התורה או מדברי סופרים. אמר רבי יהודה בר שלום, אתה מוצא ארבעים ושמונה פעמים הזהיר הקדוש ברוך הוא בתורה על הגרים, וכנגדן הזהיר על עבודה זרה. אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא, דיו שהניח עבודה זרה ובא אצלכם, אני מזהירך שתאהבהו, שאני אוהבו, שנאמר: ואהב גר לתת לו לחם ושמלה וגו' (דברים י, יח)
(Translation: "'And He called unto Moses' [Lev. 1:1]. Let our master teach us: when one who leads the prayers before the ark errs and fails to mention the benediction of the minim, whence do we know that he must be made to repeat it? Thus our Rabbis have taught: one who leads the prayers before the ark and errs in any of the other benedictions is not made to repeat them; but if he errs in the benediction concerning the minim, he is made to repeat it, and to say it whether he wishes to or not. And why is he made to repeat it? We suspect that he may himself be a min, for if there is a heretical strain in him, he will thereby curse himself while the congregation answers 'Amen'. Likewise, one who does not say 'who builds Jerusalem' is made to repeat it, for we suspect he may be a Cuthean [Samaritan]. Rav Asi said: a proselyte who accepts upon himself the whole of the Torah save for one matter is not accepted [cf. Tosefta Demai 2:6; Bekhorot 30b] — nor merely that, but even a single fine point of the Torah or of the words of the Scribes. Rabbi Yehudah bar Shalom said: you find forty-eight times in the Torah where the Holy One, blessed be He, warns concerning proselytes, and a corresponding number of warnings concerning idolatry [Bava Metzia 59b; see Horayot 13a]. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: it is enough that he has abandoned idolatry and come to you; I charge you to love him, for I love him, as it is said, 'and He loves the proselyte, giving him bread and clothing...' [Deuteronomy 10:18].")
But then, were the notzrim really the intended referent? What do the Sages of the Talmud say concerning this Birkat HaMinim?
In essence, not much, since they refer to the tzadukim (Sadducees, צדוקים), and at no point is mention made of the notzrim. Let us see what the Talmud says (using the oldest manuscripts available):
Romm Vilna printing (1880–86 CE), Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 28b: ברכת הצדוקים (benediction directed against the Sadducees).
Munich Manuscript, folio 95 (1342 CE), Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 28b: ברכת הצדוקין (benediction directed against the Sadducees).
ת"ר שמעון הפקולי הסדיר י"ח ברכות לפני רבן גמליאל על הסדר ביבנה אמר להם ר"ג לחכמים כלום יש אדם שיודע לתקן ברכת הצדוקים עמד שמואל הקטן ותקנה לשנה אחרת שכחה
(Translation: "The Rabbis taught: Shimon HaPakuli arranged the Eighteen Benedictions in order before Rabban Gamliel at Yavneh. Rabban Gamliel said to the Sages: is there anyone who knows how to compose the benediction of the Sadducees? Shmuel HaKatan stood up and composed it. The following year he forgot it.")
תנו רבנן [שנו חכמים]: שמעון הפקולי הסדיר את שמונה עשרה הברכות שהיו עוד בזמן הכנסת הגדולה וקבען לפני רבן גמליאל נשיא הסנהדרין של יבנה על הסדר ביבנה. ואולם היה צורך גם לפי מצב הזמנים בהתקנת ברכה חדשה כנגד המינים ועל כן אמר להם רבן גמליאל לחכמים: כלום יש אדם שיודע לתקן ברכת הצדוקין? עמד שמואל הקטן שהיה מגדולי חסידי הדור ותקנה.
Steinsaltz's elucidation on Berakhot 28b:23
(Translation: "The Sages taught: Shimon HaPakuli arranged the eighteen benedictions that already existed at the time of the Great Assembly, and fixed them in order before Rabban Gamliel, Nasi of the Sanhedrin of Yavneh. However, the circumstances of the time also required the institution of a new benediction against the minim, and so Rabban Gamliel said to the Sages: is there anyone who knows how to compose the benediction of the Sadducees? Shmuel HaKatan, one of the greatest pietists of the generation, stood up and composed it.")
In light of the aforementioned mention of the benediction of the heretics, the Gemara explains how this benediction was instituted: the Sages taught that Shimon HaPakuli arranged the eighteen benedictions, which already existed in the days of the Great Assembly, before Rabban Gamliel, the Nasi of the Sanhedrin, in order at Yavneh. But owing to the prevailing circumstances, it was necessary to institute a new benediction directed against the heretics, and so Rabban Gamliel said to the Sages: is there anyone who knows how to institute the benediction of the heretics, a benediction directed against the Sadducees? Shmuel HaKatan, who was one of the most pious men of that generation, stood up and instituted it.
—Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berakhot 28b.
Moreover, the Tosefta, Tractate Berakhot 3:25, clearly indicates that Shmuel HaKatan did not add a wholly new benediction at that time, but rather added a new point to, or expanded the meaning of, a previously known benediction, such as Shel Poroshin ("concerning the dissenters") or Shel Resha'im ("for the wicked"). He did this by applying it specifically to Jewish heretics, not to other religions such as Christianity or Islam.
According to scholarly opinion, based on Kohelet/Ecclesiastes, it is held that this prayer originated amid the oppression [experienced] down to the oppression of the Second Temple period, and that it was directed against those Jews who collaborated with the enemy. At that time, the prayer was known as the "Benediction to G-d who humbles the arrogant."
A century later the curse came to be directed against the tzadukim (Sadducees), and was designated the "Benediction against the Tzadukim" (Birkat HaTzadukim, ברכת הצדוקים).
Rabban Gamliel II ordered this benediction, this prayer, to be formulated against Jewish sects such as the tzadukim (Sadducees), the betoshim (Boethusians), the apikorosim (Epicureans or Hellenisers), and the Bene Tzadok (Essenes), designating them collectively as minim (מינים); with the aim of forestalling any suspicion of heresy, the chazanim (synagogue cantors) were required to recite this prayer correctly in public worship. If a chazan omitted it in error, he had to go back and recite it (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Vayikra 2a).
In the time of the Geonim, this prayer was invoked against the poshe'im ("the criminals"), or, as Maimonides read it, against the apikorosim ("the heretics"), while the Salonika Machzor and the Roman Machzor refer to the meshumadim ("the apostates"), alluding to Jews who voluntarily converted to Catholicism. This term was further altered, with ve-al-poshe'im added, which later became ve-al-malshinim ("the informers"). In some versions other expressions were substituted for the word min (מין): for example, "all the workers of iniquity," without regard to origin or nationality.
The Sefaradi rite retained the word minim, whereas the Ashkenazi version modified it, and the Roman rites read "and all of them" in place of the phrase malkhut zadon ("the kingdom of arrogance"), because the ecclesiastical authorities believed it referred to the Roman Empire; for this reason Gaon Amram ben Sheshna (Rav Amram Gaon) replaced it with the expression "the arrogant one," as in most of the rites.
The historical evidence is clear: this prayer was never directed against non-Jews, but against Jewish heretics (Sadducees, Essenes, Boethusians) and against the gentile persecutors of the Jews. In modern times the text has been further adjusted, and in many cases the benediction now contains substitute words for "wicked," "informers," and "workers of evil." In some Reform Jewish rites, the prayer has been modified entirely or omitted altogether, in their view so as not to offend their Christian friends.
The reference in the Nusach Eretz Israel from the Cairo Synagogue Genizah, which does include the word notzrim (נוצרים), may be derived from the expression notzrei berito, נֹצְרֵ֥י בְ֝רִית֗וֹ ("the keepers of His covenant"), from Tehillim/Psalm 25:10:
Leningrad Codex (1008 CE), Folio 370r.
כׇּל־אׇרְחוֹת יְהֹוָה חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת לְנֹצְרֵי בְרִיתוֹ וְעֵדֹתָיו
(Translation: "All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto them that keep His covenant and His testimonies.")
Or, more precisely, from the Dead Sea Scrolls manuscripts, as in manuscript 11QPsa, column VI, corresponding to Psalm 119:12, where the expression נוצרי עדותו ("the keepers of His testimonies") appears.
Or the expression שומרי מצות אל ("keepers of the commandments of G-d") from 4Q254 (4QCommGen C), an expression used by the Essenes (Bene Tzadok, בני צדוק), who identified themselves as the Shomrei HaBerit, שומרי הברית ("keepers of the Covenant"), in 1QS (Serekh HaYachad) 5:1–3:
וזה הסרכ לאנשי היחד המתנדבים, לשוב מכול רע ולהחזיק בכול אשר צוה לרצונו. להבדל מעדת אנשי העול. להיות ליחד בתורה ובהון ומשיבים על פי בני צדוק הכוהנים שומרי הברית ועל פי רוב אנשי היחד המחזקים בברית
(Translation: "And this is the rule for the men of the Community who volunteer to turn away from all evil and to hold fast to all that He has commanded according to His will: to separate themselves from the congregation of the men of injustice, to become a community with respect to Torah and property, submitting to the authority of the sons of Zadok, the priests who keep the covenant, and to the authority of the multitude of the men of the Community who hold fast to the covenant.")
An exclusive definition for the Sons of Tzadok is demonstrated in the סרך היחד, the Serekh HaYachad, 1QS 5:2:
אנשי העול להיות ליחד בתורה ובהון ומשובים על פי בני צדוק הכוהנים שומרי הברית ועל פי רוב אנשי
(Translation: "...the men of injustice — to become a community with respect to Torah and property, submitting to the authority of the sons of Zadok, the priests who keep the covenant, and to the authority of the multitude of the men...")
Or the expression וּבְרִֽיתְךָ֖ יִנְצֹֽרוּ, u-veritkha yintzoru, in Devarim/Deuteronomy 33:9 and in 4QTestimonia: "For he observed Thy word, and kept Thy covenant. They have caused Thy judgments to shine forth for Ya'akov, Thy Torah for Israel..."
The allusion to notzrim in the Amidah fragment from the Cairo Genizah in Egypt refers directly to the Essenes, not to the goyim-Christians, nor to the "Jewish-Christians" of antiquity.
This is why Abu al-Hasan ibn Samuel HaLevi, or Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi, explains in the Sefer HaKuzari, 3:65:
ובין הצדוקים והביתוסים האנשים שכפרו בעולם הבא והם המינים שאנו מתפללים על אבדנם בתפלה אשר לישו וחבריו אם המשעמדים שהצטרפו לכת הטובלים בירדן ואלו הקראים הודו בשרשי התורה
(Translation: "And among the Sadducees and the Boethusians were the men who denied the World to Come, and they are the minim for whose destruction we pray in [our] prayer; whereas the followers of Yeshu and his companions are the meshumadim who joined the sect of those who immersed in the Jordan; and the Karaites acknowledged the roots of the Torah.")
Moreover, the only ones who make reference to the sect of the Nazarenes are the Church Fathers, who considered these Christians to be a group of Gnostic heretics.
The Church Fathers thought that the name "Nazarenes" derived exclusively from the name of Yesh"u's town, as shown in the Gospels; yet how is one to explain that Yesh"u was called "the Nazarene" at a time when no town called Natzrat or Nazareth existed?
The town of Nazareth or Natzrat is never mentioned in the TaNa"kh (Hebrew Bible), the Sha"s, or the Talmud, nor in the writings of Flavius Josephus. An important point about Flavius Josephus is that, as commander-in-chief of the Jews during the war against the Romans in Galilee, he never failed to record what he observed. If Natzrat had been a significant settlement in Galilee, how is it possible that Josephus, who fought in that province and describes it, moreover, in detail, does not even mention it?
Natzrat did not exist in the period prior to the Second Temple era, during which Yafia to the south-west and Cana to the north-east were the important localities of the region. It is not until the third century, in the Byzantine era, that such a settlement appears, according to the find made by the archaeologist Michael Avi-Yonah in excavations at Caesarea in 1962: a grey stone fragment mentioning the name "Nazareth" (נצרת) (see Jesus of Nazareth or of Lod? Did Nazareth Exist in the Days of Jesus?).
The absence of the name Natzrat before the third century is due to the fact that it did not correspond to a settlement at all, but rather to a Gnostic sect, as argued by Professors Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy in The Jesus Mysteries.
According to another Church Father, Epiphanius, the Nazarenes considered themselves the direct successors of Yesh"u himself. They held a hostile view of Paul of Tarsus, as Epiphanius writes:
Πράξεις δὲ ἄλλας καλοῦσιν ἀποστόλων, ἐν αἷς πολλὰ τῆς ἀσεβείας ἔμπλεα, ἔνθεν οὐ παρέργως κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἑαυτοὺς ὥπλισαν. Ἀναβαθμοὺς δέ τινας καὶ ὑφηγήσεις δῆθεν ἐν τοῖς Ἀναβαθμοῖς Ἰακώβου ὑποτίθενται, ὡς ἐξηγουμένου κατά τε τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τῶν θυσιῶν, κατά τε τοῦ πυρὸς τοῦ ἐν τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ κενοφωνίας ἔμπλεα· ὡς καὶ τοῦ Παύλου ἐνταῦθα κατηγοροῦντες οὐκ αἰσχύνονται ἐπιπλάστοις τισὶ τῆς τῶν ψευδαποστόλων αὐτῶν κακουργίας καὶ πλάνης λόγοις πεποιημένοις, Ταρσέα μὲν αὐτόν, ὡς αὐτὸς ὁμολογεῖ καὶ οὐκ ἀρνεῖται, λέγοντες, ἐξ Ἑλλήνων δὲ αὐτὸν ὑποτίθενται, λαβόντες τὴν πρόφασιν ἐκ τοῦ τόπου διὰ τὸ φιλαλήθως ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ῥηθὲν ὅτι "Ταρσεύς εἰμι, οὐκ ἀσήμου πόλεως πολίτης". εἶτα φάσκουσιν αὐτὸν Ἕλληνα καὶ Ἑλληνίδος μητρὸς καὶ Ἕλληνος πατρὸς παῖδα, ἀναβεβηκέναι δὲ εἰς τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα καὶ χρόνον ἐκεῖ μεμενηκέναι, ἐπιτεθυμηκέναι δὲ θυγατέρα τοῦ ἱερέως πρὸς γάμον ἀγαγέσθαι καὶ τούτου ἕνεκα προσήλυτον γενέσθαι καὶ περιτμηθῆναι. καὶ μηκέτι λαβόντα τὴν τοιαύτην κόρην ὠργίσθαι καὶ κατὰ περιτομῆς γεγραφέναι καὶ κατὰ σαββάτου καὶ νομοθεσίας.
וְעוֹבָדִין אָחֳרָנִין דִּשְׁלִיחַיָּא קָרַן, דְּסַגִּיאָן בְּהוֹן מִלִּין דְּמַלְיָן רִשְׁעָא, מִתַּמָּן לָא בְרַפְיוּתָא עַל קְשׁוֹט נַפְשְׁהוֹן זַיִּינוּ. וְסָלִיקִין וּפִשְׁרִין, כְּמָא דְאָמְרִין, שַׁוִּיאוּ בְּסָלִיקֵי יַעֲקֹב, כְּאִלּוּ הוּא מְפָרֵשׁ עַל הֵיכְלָא וְעַל קֻרְבָּנַיָּא, וְעַל אֶשָּׁתָא דִּי עַל מַדְבְּחָא, וּמִלִּין אָחֳרָנִין סַגִּיאָן דְּמַלְיָן הֶבְלָא; וְאַף הָכָא כַּד מְקַטְרְגִין לְפוֹלוֹס, לָא בָהֲתִין בְּמִלִּין מְזַיְּפָן, עֲבִידָן מִן בִּישׁוּתָא וְטָעוּתָא דִּשְׁלִיחֵי שִׁקְרָא דִּילְהוֹן, טַרְסָאָה קָרַן לֵיהּ, כְּמָא דְהוּא מוֹדֵי וְלָא כָחֵשׁ, בְּרַם מִן יְוָנָאֵי סָבְרִין לֵיהּ, לָקְחִין טַעֲנָתָא מִן אַתְרָא, אֲרוּם בִּרְחִימוּת קְשׁוֹט אִתְאֲמַר מִנֵּיהּ דְּ"טַרְסָאָה אֲנָא, בַּר מְדִינְתָּא יְדִיעְתָּא". לְבָתַר אָמְרִין דְּהוּא יְוָנָאָה, וּבַר אִמָּא יְוָנָאִיתָא וְאַבָּא יְוָנָאָה, וּסְלֵיק לִירוּשְׁלֵם וּזְמַן תַּמָּן דָּר, וַחֲמַד בְּרַת כָּהֲנָא לְמִסַּב לֵיהּ לְאִנְתּוּ, וּבְגִין דָּא גִּיּוֹרָא הֲוָה וְאִתְגְּזַר. וְלָא נְסַב יָת הַהִיא רִיבְתָא, וּרְגֵיז, וּכְתַב לָקֳבֵיל גְּזִירְתָא וּלְקֳבֵיל שַׁבְּתָא וּלְקֳבֵיל אוֹרַיְתָא.
(תרגום: מַעֲשֵׂי שְׁלוּחִים אֲחֵרִים קוֹרְאִים לָהֶם, שֶׁיֵּשׁ בָּהֶן דְּבָרִים הַרְבֵּה מְלֵאִים רֶשַׁע, וּמִכָּאן לֹא לְאַחַר יָד כְּנֶגֶד הָאֱמֶת זִיְּנוּ אֶת עַצְמָם. וְעוֹד מַעֲלוֹת יֵשׁ שֶׁמְּיַחֲסִים לָהֶם, וְהוֹרָאוֹת כִּבְיָכוֹל בְּמַעֲלוֹת יַעֲקֹב, כְּאִלּוּ הוּא מְפָרֵשׁ כְּנֶגֶד בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ וּכְנֶגֶד הַקָּרְבָּנוֹת, וּכְנֶגֶד הָאֵשׁ שֶׁעַל גַּבֵּי הַמִּזְבֵּחַ, וּדְבָרִים אֲחֵרִים הַרְבֵּה מְלֵאִים הֶבֶל. עַד שֶׁאַף בָּזֶה, כְּשֶׁמְּקַטְרְגִים אֶת פּוֹלוֹס, אֵינָם מִתְבַּיְּשִׁים בִּדְבָרִים בְּדוּיִים, שֶׁנַּעֲשׂוּ מֵרִשְׁעָתָם וּמִטָּעוּתָם שֶׁל שְׁלוּחֵי הַשֶּׁקֶר שֶׁלָּהֶם, קוֹרְאִים אוֹתוֹ טַרְסִי, כְּמוֹ שֶׁהוּא בְּעַצְמוֹ מוֹדֶה וְאֵינוֹ כּוֹפֵר, אֲבָל מִן הַיְּוָנִים הֵם מַנִּיחִים אוֹתוֹ, נוֹטְלִים אֶת הָעִלָּה מִן הַמָּקוֹם, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁבֶּאֱמֶת נֶאֱמַר מִמֶּנּוּ, "טַרְסִי אֲנִי, בֶּן עִיר שֶׁאֵינָהּ קְטַנָּה". וְעוֹד אוֹמְרִים שֶׁהוּא יְוָנִי, בֶּן אֵם יְוָנִית וְאָב יְוָנִי, וְשֶׁעָלָה לִירוּשָׁלַיִם וְשָׁהָה שָׁם זְמַן, וְשֶׁחָמַד לִשָּׂא אֶת בַּת הַכֹּהֵן לְאִשָּׁה, וּמִפְּנֵי כֵן נַעֲשָׂה גֵּר וְנִמּוֹל. וּלְפִי שֶׁלֹּא נָשָׂא אֶת הַנַּעֲרָה הַהִיא, כָּעַס, וְכָתַב כְּנֶגֶד הַמִּילָה וּכְנֶגֶד הַשַּׁבָּת וּכְנֶגֶד הַתּוֹרָה.) [Oraj HaEmet, "Mishnaic Hebrew translation of Epiphanius, Panarion 30.16.6–9" (unpublished translation, 2026)]
(Translation: "They also call certain other writings 'Acts of the Apostles', in which are many things full of impiety, wherewith they have armed themselves against the truth in no half-hearted fashion. They further set forth certain 'Ascents' and expositions, supposedly contained in the Ascents of James, as though he were expounding against the Temple and the sacrifices, against the fire upon the altar, and many other things full of empty talk; so that here too, in accusing Paul, they are not ashamed to make use of certain fabricated tales, composed out of the wickedness and error of their own false apostles — calling him a Tarsian, as he himself confesses and does not deny, but supposing him to be of Greek stock, taking their pretext from the place, because of his own truthful statement, 'I am of Tarsus, a citizen of no mean city.' Then they claim that he was a Greek, the child of a Greek mother and a Greek father, and that he went up to Jerusalem and remained there for a time, and that he desired to take the daughter of the priest in marriage, and for this reason became a proselyte and was circumcised; and that, failing to obtain that girl, he grew angry and wrote against circumcision, against the Sabbath, and against the Law.")
—Epifanius, Haéresis 30 Capítulo 16 Sección 9 (30.16.9) [2]
According to Christian historians, the Nazarenes continued to exist until the fourth century of the Common Era within the Roman Empire (being entirely absent from the Parthian Empire); according to the Church Fathers, the pillars of the Nazarene faith were as follows:
They declared that Yesh"u of Natzrat was the Messiah. Yesh"u would soon return amid the clouds of heaven. Yesh"u was the son of the Christian god. The Torah had never been abolished. Paul of Tarsus was a charlatan who had perverted Yesh"u's message.[3] The modern Nazarenes revere Paul and his letters as those of a great rabbi. They used only the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew. The modern Nazarenes use the canon of the Catholic Church, with the exception of translating such texts into Hebrew.
Modern criticism.
The twentieth-century Anglo-Jewish scholar Hyam Maccoby explains that, with reference to Nazarene beliefs, they held that Yesh"u possessed a human status, contrary to the view of Paul of Tarsus, who believed him to be a kind of incarnate spirit resembling a human being (docetism). This can be found in the writings of the Church Fathers, such as Justin Martyr, Epiphanius, Jerome, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Origen.[4]
Nevertheless, were it not for the sources of the Catholic Church Fathers, nothing whatsoever would be known of them within Judaism. Even the modern natzratim and Messianics themselves, without the sources of the Catholic Church, would have been unable to construct their own self-narrative. For medieval Judaism, in popular circles across Sefarad, Ashkenaz, and the lands of the East alike, on reading the word minim or meshumadim in the Amidah, [worshippers] would have understood these to be Jews who had accepted baptism (Byzantine or Arian) and had thereby become apostates (mumarim) with respect to Judaism. Or else those who followed the Nusach Eretz Israel, on reading the word notzrim in the Amidah, would simply have identified the mumarim (converts to another religion) among the Byzantine Christians, or would have identified the third-century Byzantine town of Nazareth.
It is important to note that the Sages of the Talmud identified Yeshu and his talmidim (disciples) as being not minim (Jewish heretics) but mumarim (converts to another religion), as can be read in the Babylonian Talmud, Avodah Zara 16b-17a, where Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus does not accept Yeshu as a chakham (sage), but rather as a mumar (convert to another religion); likewise, in Avodah Zarah 27b, another account in which Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha, around the year 3880 (120 CE), holds that the practice of "healing in the name of Yeshu HaNotzri" is on a par with idolatry — that is, for our chakham Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha, to heal in the name of Yeshu is equivalent to transgression, tantamount to committing idolatry and to chillul HaShem (profaning the Name of G-d). In no way were Yeshu or his followers considered Jews, nor as minim, but as mumarim (converts to another religion) who bear no relation whatsoever to the People of Israel. The Birkat HaMinim, in its early context, was formulated against internal heresies within Judaism, such as the Sadducees, the Essenes (Bene Tzadok), the apikorosim, among others, but was not conceived with the first Jewish followers of Yeshu in mind; these were regarded as mumarim (converts to another religion).
[1] Through the Sadducee movement, whose operation governed the functioning of the Beit HaMikdash.
[2] Cf. The Mythmaker, by Hyam Maccoby, p. 182.
[3] Hyam Maccoby, Revolution in Judaea, p. 818.
[4] Ibid., p. 218.
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