The source for this custom is in the Talmud, tractate Nidah, page 17a:Rabbi Marcus concludes that, "There may be some who would point to such statements in the Talmud and say that it is full of superstitious rubbish."“One who trims his nails and throws them into a public area [causes great harm] because a pregnant woman may walk over them and miscarry….... From a kabbalistic perspective, the nails are representative of negativity in general and must therefore be destroyed.
“Three things were said about nail trimmings: He who burns them is pious; he who buries them is righteous; he who throws them [to the ground] is wicked.”
So a righteous person buries them (or flushes them down the toilet as is done nowadays by “the righteous”), but the pious person goes even further and burns them. The pious person is concerned that if he buries them they may eventually be dug up and cause harm. So he burns them to a crisp ensuring that they never resurface. (People who do this will put the nails in a tissue then place it on the stove.)
The talmudic commentator Tosafot explains that destroying something of your own body is harmful. ... So when the pious person burns his nails he is overlooking his own harm in order to protect another person. That’s why it’s only the pious that will do it.
Well, I just might be one of those people...
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