reference: THE CHURCH ATTACK ON THE TALMUD

POPE GREGORY IX

Letter to the Archbishops of France, 1239 CE

     “‘In these letters, he [Gregory] delineates the new allegations. The Jewish dependence upon the Talmud, according to Gregory, is in itself an affront to the sanctity of the Bible. In addition, the specific contents of the Talmud are problematic. This lengthy work is filled with “matter so abusive and so unspeakable that it arouses shame in those who mention it and horror in those who hear it.” The pope calls for action on a number of fronts. He orders the archbishops of western Christendom to have the books of the Jews seized, invoking if necessary the aid of the temporal authorities. He also addresses the kings of western Christendom with the same request, and orders them, like the archbishops, to turn the sequestered volumes over to the Dominicans and Franciscans. Finally, the Dominicans and Franciscans of Paris are charged with responsibility for investigating the volumes which have been turned over to them and for carrying out the necessary punishment—burning.’

Papal Letter

TO THE ARCHBISHOPS of France:

If what is said about the Jews of France and of the other lands is true, no punishment would be sufficiently great or sufficiently worthy of their crime. For they, so we have heard, are not content with the old law which God set forth in writing through Moses; they even ignore it completely and affirm that God set forth another law which is called ‘Talmud,’ that is ‘Teaching,’ handed down to Moses orally. Falsely they allege that