"The Talmud"

• Date: 1000 - 1499

• Location: Middle East & Caucasus & Europe & Russia & Central Asia

• Subject: Religious & Political/Economic/Social Opinion

• Medium: Literature

• Artist/Author/Producer: Various

• Confronting Bodies: Dominicans, Franciscans, Pope Clement IV, the Inquisition, USSR State.

• Dates of action: 1190

• Location: Egypt, France Italy, Spain, Soviet Union.

Description of the Art Work

"The Talmud and Midrash in Judaism commentaries and interpretive writings second in authority only to the Bible. The term Talmud commonly refers to a compilation consisting of the Mishana (oral laws supplementing spiritual laws), the Gemara; and certain auxillary materials. For most scholars, however, Talmud in the precise sense refers only to the materials customarily called Gemara, the commentary on Mishana.

Description of incident

1190 Egypt-Cairo : With his "Guide for the Perplexed", Maimonides, the Jewish philosopher, aroused the Christian's resentment. 1244 France-Paris : "Talmud" burned on charges of blasphemy and immorality. The book was persecuted in various places for another 100 years.

1244 Italy-Rome : Pope Clement IV appointed a committee of censors who expunged all passages that appeared derogatory of Christianity. (Talmudic references to ancient paganism were widely misrepresented as criticism of the Church.)

1926 Soviet Union : Official directions to libraries stated "The section on religion must obtain solely anti-religious books. Religiously dogmatic books such as the 'Gospel', the 'Koran', the 'Talmud', etc. must be left in the large libraries, but removed from smaller ones

Results of incident

1190 Egypt-Cairo : First official burning of Hebrew books by orders of Dominicans, Franciscans, and others.

1490 Spain-Salamanca : In an auto-da-fé, thousands of Hebrew books including biblical texts were burned by order of the Inquisition.

1926 Soviet Union : virtually no printing of the work since then.

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Record no 108