Saving Christian Books from Fire
[With regard to] the blank folios1 and the [Torah] scrolls of [the] heretics, one does not rescue them from the fire. R. Yosi says: During the week, one cuts the names [of God contained] therein and buries them, and burns the rest. R. Tarfon said: I will bury my sons [if I fail to do the following], that if [these books] come into my possession I will burn them and the names [contained] therein. As even [if] a person is pursuing him [with the intent] to kill him, and a snake is hurrying to bite him, one enters a house of idolatry and does not enter the houses of these [heretics. The reason is] that these [heretics] are aware [of the greatness of the Creator manifest in the Torah and its mitzvot], and [nevertheless, they] deny [God]; whereas these [idolators] are not aware, and [that is the reason that they] deny [God]. And with regard to the [heretics], the verse says: And behind the door and the doorpost you place your memory (Isaiah 57:8). [Although they remember the word of God, they treat it contemptuously, as if casting it behind the door.]
R. Ishmael said: [The fact that the names of God in the scrolls of heretics may be burned can be derived through an] a fortiori [inference]: Just as to make peace between a husband and his wife, [the] Torah says: My name that was written in sanctity shall be erased in the water [in the framework of the ordeal of the sotah2]; these, [the heretics,] who impose jealousy, and hatred, and conflict between the Jewish people and their Father in heaven, all the more so [it is proper to erase God’s names because of them]. And with regard to [heretics], David said: For I hate those who hate You, God, and I fight those who rise against You. I hate them with the utmost hatred, they have become enemies to me (Psalm 139:21–22). And just as they, [the scrolls of heretics,] are not rescued from the fire, neither are they rescued from a rockslide, nor from water, nor from [any other] matter that destroys them.
Joseph bar Ḥanin raised a dilemma before R. Abbahu: [With regard to] these books of the house of Abidan,3 [does] one rescue them from the fire or [does] one not rescue [them? R. Abbahu said] yes and no, and [the matter was] uncertain to him. Rav would not go to the house of Abidan, and all the more so [he would not go] to the house of Nitzrefei.4 Samuel, to the house of Nitzrefei he did not go, [but] to the house of Abidan he did go. [The gentile scholars] said to Rava, “Why did you not come to the house of Abidan?” [He] said to them, “There is a certain palm tree on the road, and [that makes the path] difficult for me.” [They said to him,] “We will uproot it.” [He said to them,] “[Nevertheless, the resulting pit in] its place [will be] difficult for me.” Mar bar Joseph said, “I am [one] of them, and I do not fear them.” [Still,] one time he went [and] they sought to endanger his [life].
R. Meir would call [the Christian writing, the Evangelion, the] wicked folio [‘aven gilyon]; R. Yoḥanan [called it the] sinful folio [‘avon gilyon].
Notes
[Gilyonim, probably the Gospels.—Ed.]
[In the ordeal of the woman suspected of adultery (Numbers 5:11–31), a scroll with curses containing God’s name is placed in water so that the writing rinses off, and the water is given to the woman to drink. The result determines whether the woman is considered guilty or is exonerated and can return to her husband.—Ed.]
[Possibly a Persian place for religious disputation.—Ed.]
[The identity of the “house of Nitzrefei” is uncertain. It may be a Persian temple or a Christian center.—Ed.]
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.
