Burning Of The Talmud -Parshas Chukas

24 wagon loads of the Talmud burnt                              


In the year 1244 עש"ק פרשת חקת, - Twenty four wagon loads
of the Talmud was burnt in the main square of Paris.

R. Yechiel of Paris had a student named Nicholas Donin שר"י,
who became a משומד.
He went to the pope accusing the Talmud of being against
the נוצרים & אותו האיש.

R. Yechiel of Paris and R. Moshe miKutzi (סמ"ג) tried to
defend the Talmud but to no success.

After the burning of the Talmud, R. Yechiel of Paris
moved to עכו. Hence the first of the Ba’alei
Tosfos in Eretz Yisroel.

The Maharam Mi Rottenberg wrote a  קינה about the burning
of the Talmud. Ashkenazim say this   קינה on Tisha B'av
(שאלי שרופה באש -קינה מ"א)

One of the powerful stanzas of the קינה.

 אוריד דמעות עדי יהיו כנחל ויגיעו לקברות שני אציליך משה ואהרן
בהר ההר ואשאל היש תורה חדשה בכן נשרפו גליליך

"I will shed tears until they flow like a river and reach the
graves of your two princes Moishe & Aaron who are resting
on the mountain of Hor.
And I will ask them, Is there a Torah that is new and therefore
your scrolls have been burnt"

R.Hillel Verona* writes the Talmud was burnt on the exact
same square, the opponents of the Rambam burned the
Moreh Nevuchim a few years earlier.
They now had realized that they had wronged the Rambam.

*Talmid of R. Yonah who was originally an opponent of the Rambam.