Episode Details

For centuries, the Talmud has stood at the heart of Jewish learning—but it has also been the target of censorship, confiscation, and destruction. Beginning with the 1240 Disputation of Paris, accusations against the Talmud led to the public burning of thousands of handwritten manuscripts in Paris in 1242, one of the greatest cultural losses in Jewish history. In this episode, we'll explore why the Talmud came under attack, how church authorities and later governments sought to suppress Jewish scholarship through censorship and book burnings, and how Jewish communities preserved and rebuilt their sacred texts despite centuries of persecution.