Also from Rabbi Eli Cohen on his Facebook page regarding Yizchak Shapira (the Christian minister with a "degree" from a Christian school who calls himself "rabbi").

Here's another example of a careless mistake made by the author of The Return of The Kosher Pig (TROTKP).

Now, I’d like to make it clear that what bothered me most was NOT the mistake itself, but HOW the author came to make such a mistake!

On page 46 of TROTKP the author is quoting from tractate Baba Metzia 33a in the Babylonian Talmud.

Now, I personally don’t like the English rendition of this passage that the author has used. However, Since it would take too long for me to provide (what I would consider to be) a much better rendering of the text, I will work with the text being used in the book TROTKP. (Feel free to look the passage up in the Artscroll edition for a better understanding of this passage).

The mistake the author makes here leads me to believe that the author does not have the ability (or perhaps interest/ integrity) to read or understand the Talmud in the original before bringing it as a source.

Allow me to explain the nature of the mistake and then present it to you.

Those familiar with the style of the discussions in the Talmud would know that it is most often by the way of a series of question and answers.

The compilers of the Talmud often provide us with a question on a particular teaching and then provide us with the answers (and objections to those answers) offered by various rabbis.

So, for example in this case, the Talmud cites a teaching of our rabbis and then begins to analyze it by putting forth a question about the teaching. The Talmud then provides the answer that was offered to resolve the question that was asked.

In the Talmud tractate Baba Metziah 33a, Rabbi Yohanan is the one who ANSWERS the question put forth by the Talmud, however, the author of TROTKP has Rabbi Yohanan as the one ASKING the question!

How did the author make such a mistake (making Rabbi Yohanan as the one asking the question rather than answering the question) ?

Well, I was left scratching my head. Anyone who is able to read and understand the passage of the Talmud would not make such a mistake (let alone publish it). So, I decided to google the translation used by the author to see whether I could get to the bottom of it.

Guess what? I think I was able to discover how he made this mistake.

It is quite clear to me that the author got his quote from the following link (as can be seen by the exact same punctuation marks that appear in both).

http://www.come-and-hear.com/babamezia/babamezia_33.html

The author made one slight change to the translation by changing the name of R. Johanan (as it appears in the above link) to R. Yohanan (perhaps trying to make it sound more authentic ? ).

Well, you may say, what does that prove?

If you bare with me for a moment it will all become clear.

You see, the trouble is that the passage that the author is quoting starts on one side of the page in the Talmud (33a) and continues onto the other side of the page (33b).

The last words on page 33a of the tractate Baba Metzia are “Said Rabbi Yochanan”.

The words “said Rabbi Yochanan” are NOT to be attributed to the QUESTION being asked in the Talmud on page 33a but rather they are to be attributed to the ANSWER that appears on page 33b!

You may still think that I am “jumping the gun”. Perhaps it was not a mistake in the authors understanding of the passage but merely a typing error. Guess what? I thought so too! I mean, how can some one who claims to be well versed in rabbinic writings make such a mistake and then publish it? What convinced me that the author really did make such a mistake is when I looked down at the notes in his book (note 80) I saw that he made THE SAME MISTAKE in the Hebrew!

This is how it is presented in TROTKP:
"Our Rabbis taught: They who occupy themselves with the Bible [alone] are but of indifferent merit; with Mishnah, are indeed meritorious, and are rewarded for it; with Gemara — there can be nothing more meritorious; yet run always to the Mishnah more than to the Gemara. Now, this is self-contradictory. You say, 'with Gemara — there can be nothing more meritorious;' and then you say, 'Yet run always to the Mishnah more than to the Gemara!' — Said R. Yohanan."
The author of TROTKP leaves the quote at that and goes on to make his point based on this quote from the Talmud.

For the sake of the reader I will quote it a second time but this time adding the annotation that would normally be used in a class when teaching this passage of Talmud and a small part of the continuation of page 33b as it appears on the website above.

These are the four things I have added.

1. [THE GEMARAH ASKS]
2. [!]
3. [?]
4. [THE GEMARAH ANSWERS]
“Our Rabbis taught: They who occupy themselves with the Bible [alone] are but of indifferent merit; with Mishnah, are indeed meritorious, and are rewarded for it; with Gemara — there can be nothing more meritorious; yet run always to the Mishnah more than to the Gemara. [THE GEMARAH ASKS] Now, this is self-contradictory. [!] You say, 'with Gemara — there can be nothing more meritorious;' and then you say, 'Yet run always to the Mishnah more than to the Gemara!' [?] [THE GEMARAH ANSWERS] Said R. Yohanan, this teaching was taught in the days of Rabbi; thereupon everyone forsook the Mishnah and went to the Gemara; hence he subsequently taught them, 'Yet run always to the Mishnah more than to the Gemara."
The author of TROTKP should have studied the entire passage in the original or at least bothered to turn the page (or scroll down to 33b) before using it as a source and displaying his ignorance for all to see.

We are left with the question how did Christian/ Messianic scholars put their name behind such a book and offer the book and the author the highest praise in terms of "scholarship" and "careful research" ?? Do they not understand the glaring mistakes the author made or do they simply not care?

סופי

And everything that Sarah tells you, listen to her voice. Bereshit (Genesis) 21:12