Sources: Acts 24:5; Matthew 2:23; John 19:19; Talmud Bavli Sanhedrin 43a; Birkat HaMinim (Notzrim).

Notzrim is the Hebrew and Aramaic name for followers of Jesus — derived either from Nazareth (Yeshu HaNotzri — “Jesus of Nazareth”) or possibly from the Hebrew root netzer (branch/shoot, as in Isaiah 11:1 “a shoot from the stump of Jesse”). The term is used in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a refers to “Yeshu” and his disciples) and survives as the standard Hebrew word for Christians to this day. The early Notzrim were thoroughly Jewish: they observed Torah, attended synagogue, participated in Temple worship (Acts 2:46, 3:1), and differed from other Jews primarily in their claim that Jesus was the Messiah and that his resurrection had inaugurated the messianic age. The distinction between Notzrim and non-Notzrim Jews was initially invisible from the outside — Paul’s letter-writing mission presupposes communities where followers of Jesus and non-Jesus Jews shared synagogue space. The hardening of the distinction occurs gradually through the 1st and 2nd centuries, accelerated by: the 66–70 AD revolt (the Notzrim’s reported flight to Pella while other Jews stayed to fight), the 132–135 AD Bar Kokhba revolt (followers of Jesus could not acknowledge Bar Kokhba as Messiah), and the Birkat HaMinim liturgical exclusion (~90 AD).