Jesus’ teachings and followers were seen as threats by most Jewish religious leaders. However, Jewish scholars freely acknowledge Jesus as a historical figure.
The Talmud, a collection of books dealing with Jewish law written between A.D. 100 and 500, speaks frequently of Jesus of Nazareth in unfriendly terms (as would be expected). But it never disputes that he existed.
Flavius Josephus, a Jewish general turned Roman historian (born A.D. 37), made several references to Jesus in his History of the Jews. For example: “…and brought before it the brother of Jesus, the so-called Christ, whose name was James.”