In 1240 Nicholas Donin, a Jewish convert to Christianity, engaged in a public debate with his former teacher, Rabbi Yechiel of Paris. Donin charged that the Talmud was a noxious document that prevented the Jews from embracing Christianity, and brought a total of 35 distinct accusations against this ancient holy text. Ultimately, 24 carriage loads of Talmuds, representing 10,000 priceless manuscripts were burned in Paris on June 6, 1242.
Personal note to my subscribers: I was so impressed with the NCSY Learnathon that my son Alexander completed, that I decided to join on my own! Please visit http://learn.ncsy.org/learner/hmabramson/ to support this great organization that does so much for Jewish youth (and encourage me to study more Talmud)!
The burning of books has always been a rallying cry of the Reactionist! The thought police are never satisfied. We have witnessed most recently Christian Fundamentalists burn the Koran in the land of the free, while our troops were trying to win the hearts and minds of Muslims in far flung fields of war! It had a serious and detrimental effect on Afgan relationships and US esteem.
May we never again burn the sacred writings of any group of people just to keep things from changing as reactionaries do!