Reference for Shabbat 229:7
אמר ר' יוסי מעשה באבא חלפתא שהלך אצל רבן גמליאל בריבי לטבריא ומצאו שהי' יושב על שלחנו של (יוחנן הנזוף) ובידו ספר איוב תרגום והוא קורא בו אמר לו זכור אני ברבן גמליאל אבי אביך שהיה עומד ע"ג מעלה בהר הבית והביאו לפניו ספר איוב תרגום ואמר לבנאי שקעהו תחת הנדבך אף הוא צוה עליו וגנזו ר' יוסי ברבי יהודה אומר עריבה של טיט כפו עליו אמר רבי שתי תשובות בדבר חדא וכי טיט בהר הבית מנין ועוד וכי מותר לאבדן ביד אלא מניחן במקום התורפה והן מרקיבין מאליהן מאן תנאי
or Greek, though they may not be read, they may be saved from a fire: this refutes R. Huna? — R. Huna can answer you: It is [a controversy of] Tannaim. For it was taught: If they are written in <i>Targum </i>or in any language, they may be saved from a fire. R. Jose said: They may not be saved from a fire. Said R. Jose: It once happened that my father Halafta visited R. Gamaliel Berabbi<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A title of scholars most frequently applied to disciples of R. Judah ha-Nasi and his contemporaries, but also to some of his predecessors (as here), and sometimes to the first Amoraim (Jast.). V. Naz., Sonc. ed., p. 64, n. 1. ');"><sup>18</sup></span> at Tiberias and found him sitting at the table of Johanan b. Nizuf with the <i>Targum </i>of the Book of Job in his hand<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This shows that a Targum of Job existed already in the middle of the first century C.E. This is not identical with the extant Targum, which on internal evidence must have been composed later; v. J.E. art. Targum, Vol. XII, p. 62; Zunz, G. V. 64 seq. ');"><sup>19</sup></span> which he was reading. Said he to him, 'I remember that R. Gamaliel, your grandfather, was standing on a high eminence on the Temple Mount, when the Book of Job in a Targumic version was brought before him, whereupon he said to the builder, "Bury it under the bricks."20 He [R. Gamaliel II] too gave orders, and they hid it.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The spread of words inimical to Judaism, both through the rise of Christianity and false claimants to the Messiahship, caused the Rabbis to frown upon books other than those admitted to the Holy Scriptures, even such as were not actually inimical thereto. — Weiss, Dor, I, 212, 236. ');"><sup>21</sup></span> R. Jose son of R. Judah said: They overturned a tub of mortar upon it. Said Rabbi: There are two objections to this: Firstly, how came mortar on the Temple Mount?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A mixture of lime and sand was used, but not mortar, which is made of earth and water. ');"><sup>22</sup></span> Moreover, is it then permitted to destroy them with one's own hands? For they must be put in a neglected place to decay of their own accord.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The objection to writing down the Targum was probably due to the fear that it might in time be regarded as sacred. V. also Kaplan, op. cit., p. 285. ');"><sup>23</sup></span> Which Tannaim [differ on this question]?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Sc. whether they may be rescued from a fire. ');"><sup>24</sup></span>