Sanhedrin 59a

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=110 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03df0f21egerdp.jpg"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="03e203c0.jpg" border=0 width="32" height="60" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#66334C" FACE="Arial" ><B>AZOO - Americans against Zionist Oppression and Occupation</B></FONT><B>      |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="AZOO Americans against Zionist Oppressi"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jewish Oral Laws (Talmud)"><U><B>Jewish Oral Laws (Talmud)</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03cf2f02egerdp.jpg"> <div>   Sanhedrin 59a: "A heathen [Gentile] who studies the Torah [Old Testament] deserves death, for it is written, <I>Moses commanded us a law for an inheritance</I>; it <I>our</I> inheritance, not theirs. . . . [part of the footnote follows] R. Johana's dictum . . . is not to be taken literally.  It is also possible that R. Johanan's objection was to the studying of Oral Law [the Talmud] by Jewish Christians, as the possession of the Oral Law was held to be the distinguishing mark of the Jews.  It is significant that it was R. Johanan who also said that God's covenant with Israel was only for the sake of oral law."  (Talmud's emphasis)</div> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03ff0f03.jpg"> <div> <I>Sanhedrin 59a</I></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0dd371e0.gif" border=0 width="311" height="542" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> </tr></table></body>