[55] In midsummer, 1244, twenty waggon loads of copies of the
        Talmud were burnt in France.  This was in consequence of,
        and four years after, a public dispute between a certain
        Donin (afterwards called Nicolaus), a converted Jew,
        with Rabbi Yehiel, of Paris, on the contents of the
        Talmud.—­See Journal of Philology, vol. xvi, p.
        133.—­In the year 1569, the famous Jewish library in
        Cremona was plundered, and 12,000 copies of the Talmud
        and other Jewish works were committed to the
        flames.—­The Talmud, by Joseph Barclay, LL.D., London,
        1875, p. 14.

The traducers of the Talmud, among other false assertions, have represented the Rabbis as holding their own work as more important than even the Old Testament itself, and as fostering among the Jewish people a spirit of intolerance towards all persons outside the pale of the Hebrew religion.  In proof of the first assertion they cite the following passage from the Talmud:  “The Bible is like water, the Mishna, like wine, the Gemara, spiced wine; the Law, like salt, the Mishna, pepper, the Gemara, balmy spice.”  But surely only a very shallow mind could conceive from these similitudes that the Rabbis rated the importance of the Bible as less than that of the Talmud; yet an English Church clergyman, in an article published in a popular periodical a few years since, reproduced this passage in proof of rabbinical presumption—­evidently in ignorance of the peculiar style of Oriental metaphor.  What is actually taught by the Rabbis in the passage in question, regarding the comparative merits of the Bible and the Talmud, is this:  The Bible is like water, the Law is like salt; now, water and salt are indispensable to mankind.  The Mishna is like wine and pepper—­luxuries, not necessaries of life; while the Gemara is like spiced wine and balmy spices—­still more refined luxuries, but not necessaries, like water and salt.

With regard to the accusation of intolerance brought against the Rabbis, it is worse than a misconception of words or phrases; it is a gross calumny, the more reprehensible if preferred by those who are acquainted with the teachings of the Talmud, since they are thus guilty of wilfully suppressing the truth.  In the following passages a broad, humane spirit of toleration is clearly inculcated: 

“It is our duty to maintain the heathen poor along with those of our own nation.”

“We must visit their sick, and administer to their relief, bury their dead,” and so forth.

“The heathens that dwell out of the land of Israel ought not to be considered as idolators, since they only follow the customs of their fathers.”

“The pious men of the heathen will have their portion in the next world.”

“It is unlawful to deceive or over-reach any one, not even a heathen.”

“Be circumspect in the fear of the Lord, soft in speech, slow in wrath, kind and friendly to all, even to the heathen.”