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Question about disposing of Christian books
Hey, my name is Jack. I’m coming from Christianity and I’m working toward converting to Orthodox Judaism. I’ve been praying and attending a synagogue for a little while now, and I’ve kept putting off what to do with all of my old Christian books. I have around 75 of them—Bibles, commentaries, prayer books, devotionals, canon law, and so on.
I’m confused about the proper way to dispose of them. A friend told me that even the English word “God” should be treated like Hashem’s name and shouldn’t be erased, but I’m not sure if that applies here. These books promote Christian beliefs, so I obviously don’t want to donate them and spread idolatry. I also don’t have a place to burn them.
Is it permissible to just throw them away, or do they need to be buried? A few of the books contain Hebrew words in transliteration, but none of them contain the actual Tetragrammaton.
I’d really appreciate some guidance on the correct halakhic approach to this, preferably as soon as possible. Thank you.
1 answer
For practical advice you'll need to ask your own rabbi, particularly as some of our sources disagree with each other. Here's what I found:
It appears to depend on what specifically the books are:
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A sefer torah written by a heretic is burned (Rambam Laws of Tefilin, Mezuzah, and Sefer Torah 1:13).
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For a Christian bible that contains the Tanakh, Halachically Speaking: Shaimos has this to say:
Book of the Missionaries
Many poskim maintain that a “book” of the missionaries which may contain a t’nach may be burnt and one should not keep this in his possessions.[103] Others maintain that one should place this sefer in shaimos.[104]Those in favor of burning (note 103) are: Igros Moshe Y.D. 1:172, Yaskil Avdi Y.D. 7:20, Maharam Shik O.C. 66.
Those who say it should be buried (note 104) are: Avnei Yushfei 1:204, Emes L’Yaakov Y.D. 281:footnote 199, Ve’alu Lo Yeibol 2:page 121:121, Yugel Yaakov page 251, Divrei Chachumim Y.D. 100:5.
Din Online (h/t rosends) also says it's controversial whether to burn it or bury it, and adds that if you bury it you should first deface it. He cites Maharam Shick O:CH 66, Igros Moshe Y:D 2-137, Avnei Yoshpe 1-204.
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For a Christian "new testament" (sic), opinions differ. You can just throw it out according to Rabbi Shlomo Aviner as cited in a comment here (on a question I asked here some years ago). On the other hand, Rabbi Ari Shvat wrote in an ask-the-rabbi post that it should be burned, citing Igrot Moshe, YD 172. I don't know which opinion is more popular.
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Other Christian printed papers that have English names of God are treated like the Tanakh case, according to Din Online again (but with no named sources).
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