The catalyst for the dispute was charges brought by the apostate Nicholas Donin. In 1236, Donin left the faith of his fathers and became a Christian. This apostate, who it appears had been less than an ideal Jew - having been excommunicated, possibly for Karaism, by the famed R. Jehiel of Paris - became a bitter opponent of the Jews and the Talmud.

Donin’s denunciation of the Talmud included thirty-five charges, among them Jewish emphasis on the sanctity of Oral Law, in itself is a blasphemy of sorts against the holiness of Scriptures recognized by Jew and Christian alike; Talmudic material that overtly fosters anti-Christian attitudes and actions; Talmudic materials that, in their puerile descriptions of the deity, constitute sacrilege against God; and Talmudic materials that are in a general way morally and intellectually offensive. Based on these charges Pope Gregory IX issued Apostolic letters, heeded in France only ordering the seizure of all the books of the Jews to be carefully guarded by the Dominican and Franciscan Friars. The subsequent investigation of the seized books consisted of a famous trial (disputation), presided over by the Queen Mother Blanche, then in an advanced stage of pregnancy. The judges were high Church dignitaries, none of whom knew Hebrew. Testifying in defense of the Talmud were R. Jehiel ben Joseph of Paris (head of the rabbinical academy of Paris), R. Moses of Coucy (Semag), R. Judah ben David of Melun (head of the rabbinical academy in Melun and, possibly, R. Meir of Rothenberg's teacher), and R. Samuel ben Solomon of Chateau-Thierry.

Although questioned separately, their responses were sufficiently similar so that the clerical court did not bother to question the other rabbis. R. Jehiel defended the Talmud well. To Donin’s charge that the Talmud was only four hundred years old, R. Jehiel replied that rather than being a heretical innovation, the Talmud, and the traditions it contained, had been accepted by all of world Jewry for 1500 years. He further stated that the writings of Jerome had noted the Jews’ devotion and fidelity to the Talmud, an allegiance that Christendom had never previously attacked. On the contrary, he continued, Donin, in his opposition to Talmudic Judaism, was the real heretic, justifiably excommunicated by the Jewish community fifteen years before the debate, concluding:

And you [the audience] know that every biblical statement needs an interpretation, and therefore [because of his rejection of the Talmud] we have excommunicated him and anathematized him. From then until now he has plotted against us to destroy [us] completely. Yet in vain has he striven, because for it [the Torah, including its rabbinic interpretation] we shall die, and one who [even] touches it is like one who touches the pupil of our eye. And if you punish us, we [Jews] and this our law are dispersed throughout the whole world [punishing French Jewry for the Talmud will be of no avail]; in Babylonia, Persia, Greece, the lands of Islam, and the seventy nations beyond the rivers of Ethiopia<197>there this law of ours will be found. R. Jehiel responded equally well to the other charges but to no avail. No matter how capable the defense, the matter was predetermined, and well before the court's formal decision was rendered, it had been decided to burn the condemned books. In June, 1242, twenty-four wagon loads of Hebrew books, containing thousands of volumes, were seized and burned in Paris.

עמ' 16: "חתימת המעתיק הראשון" (בכתב היד ממנו נדפס הספר), עם שיר הפותח: "אברך אל אשר קם על נדיבות". סימנו: אברך בה"ר נתן ואפסי חזק. אוצר השירה והפיוט, א, עמ' 17, מס' 346. עמ' 19-17: "שיר בדרך תוכחה" הנזכר בשער. פותח: אלהים ברא בצלמו האדם וינשאהו. אוצר, שם, עמ' 215, מס' 4693. הסכמות: ר' אליעזר איזידאר, פריס, ראש-חדש סיון תרכ"ז; ר' צבי הירש קאלישער, טהארן, ג יתרו תרל"ג.