Remembering Peter, the Undercover Jewish Pope

Since this is the season of popes, I thought a popish story from an unfamiliar source would be fun. There is a curious legend that remains a part of the history of the Nishmat, a Jewish prayer, that most Christians would not be familiar with, though for Jews, it appears in the early morning prayers on Sabbath and also in certain holiday remembrances, and more specifically Passover.

The prayer itself, oddly enough, is commemorated in one particular commentary as the work of Peter the Apostle, here remembered as the first pope of the Church. The version from which this comes is Rabbi Simhah of Vitry’s commentary on the Nishmat who writes:

And there are those who say concerning that reprobate Simon Peter the jackass, who is the error of Rome, that he established this prayer first along with other prayers
when he was on the rock.
But God forbid, no such a
thing should occur in Israel.
And any one who says this thing,
when the Temple is built, he
shall bring a fat sin offering.

- Mahzor Vitry

Dr. Barry Freundel points out a couple things that are worth some attention concerning this association with Peter:

The designation of Peter as a jackass, comes from a reading in Exodus 13:13. Here, the name Peter is used by R. Simhah as a play on words. A "firstling" in Hebrew is the triconsonantal word רפֶּ֫טֶ, or peter.  In the context of Exodus 13:13, the verse reads:

And every firstling of an ass you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck.

It’s a typical example of peshar, or as Westerners might say more derogatorily, proof-texting.  More importantly, is that Simhah lived at the time of the crusades and like many of his Jewish brethren was subject to persecution by Christians and Muslims. Simhah is pointing to a legendary account that was popular among Jews and derives from an interesting reading of Mark 8:31-33 along with Matthew 16:13-19. I will not reproduce them here, but the passages have to do with Peter’s rebuke of Jesus and then his recognition of Jesus as God’s chosen vessel. As Freundel points out, the thought was that the change expressed by Peter from doubting Jesus’ message to understanding him as part of a divine plan was not interpreted as a conversion story by some medieval Jews but was seen in the context of a more subversive plot. The legend suggests that Peter was approached by the Rabbis who helped him become the Pope in Rome because “Rabbis were concerned that early Christianity looked too much like Judaism, making it easier for the evangelists of their day to bring Jews into the Christian faith.” (Freundel 2010: 102)  So Peter was told to move the Sabbath to Sunday and get the Christians to adopt different holidays then the Jews. Incidentally, this same kind of intentional deception is recorded in another story in which Paul is told to go into all the Gentile countries and preach a Jesus that is not Jewish (see Toledot Yeshua).  

According to Freundel, Peter therefore maintains a secret Jewish identity despite being a Converso in a high office. “For those suffering persecution during the crusades, the tale of Simon Peter’s courage in the face of adversity would offer much encouragement for [the Jews] to face their own burdens as well. This might be yet another, less public, reason for the significant popularity that Nishmat enjoyed within the Jewish community in this era.”  (Freundel 2010: 105)

Reference:  

Freundel, Barry.  2010. Why We Pray What We Pray: The Remarkable History of Jewish Prayer. Israel: Urim Publications.