Yeshu (ישו in Hebrew) designates one or more individuals in the Tosefta, the Babylonian Talmud, and Toledot Yeshu narratives. The Tosefta (c 200) and Babylonian Talmud (c 500) rarely[1] mention a "Yeshu." Adin Steinsaltz argues that Yeshu might refer to someone who lived in the first or second century BC.[2] Many other scholars view these as references to Jesus.[3] According to this view, these accounts perhaps originate in the early second century, and they depict "Yeshu" as one who leads people astray.[1] They represent a rabbinic tradition hostile to Jesus.[1] Even so, these references do not represent a core story and may have originally referred to other people, with the name Yeshu inserted in response to hostility between Jews and Christians.[1] These scholars have held widely varying views on the historical value of these accounts.[1] The Toledot Yeshu provides a fanciful biography of a "Yeshu" and is typically viewed as a derogatory account of the life of Jesus resulting from Jewish reaction to Christian persecution.[4] [5] although its story of "Yeshu" is set in the Hashmonean era and draws on other legends besides material resembling the Gospel accounts.[citation needed] Toledot Yeshu (""תולדות ישו "The Biography of Jesus") is the medieval Jewish version of the story of Jesus from an anti-Christian perspective.[6] It has been called the counter-gospel,[6] anti-gospel, and anti-evangel. While rabbinic tradition, the main position of Judaism, has nothing good to say about Jesus, the Toledoth Jeschu is popular polemic against Jesus "run wild".[6] Its main point is that "Jesus is a seducer and heretic."[7] The Toledot Yeshu narratives explain the name Yeshu as an abbreviation for yimmach shemo vezikhro, meaning "May his name and memory be blotted out."[8] Writings mentioning Yeshu were the subject of criticism and censorship under Christian rule.   «   Summary from Wikipedia