A Short Tribute

The esteemed rabbis of the glorious city of Constantinople, may God protect it, sent a missive about the 24 books of the Bible that were reprinted in London by non-Jews, saying they were invalid and that it is forbidden to read from them, and that by law they should be burned. For reasons of their own they said that they would hide them from sight, and we, in all modesty, were astounded at their trepidation and are unaware of any such law… In the first versions in which changes were made to strengthen their faith, their intentions and thoughts were on foreign worship. This is similar to the disciples of "that person" who twisted the living words of God and whom RASH"I interpreted to refer to heretics, as we mentioned above. The non-Jews of our time, who do not indulge in foreign worship and follow their usual habits and forefathers' customs, are clearly and simply not heretics, and it is permitted to read all books they have published, with the exception of a Torah scroll written by a non-Jew, which is to be archived if discovered, for we demand that the writing be done for its own sake; it may also not be read from in public.