The Shulkhan Arukh
The legal code known as the Shulkhan
Arukh, compiled by the great Sephardic rabbi Joseph
Caro in the mid1500s, is still the standard
legal code of Judaism.
When rabbis, particularly if they are Orthodox,
are asked to rule on a question of Jewish law, the first
volume they consult generally is the Shulkhan Arukh.
A major reason for its universal acceptance is that
it was the first code to list the differing customs
and laws of both Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jewry. (Maimonides's
earlier Mishneh Torah, for example, contained
only the legal rulings of Sephardic Jewry, which differed
in certain areas from European Jewry's practices.) This
unique feature was not intended by Joseph Caro, but
came about through a happy coincidence. At the very
time that Caro was compiling his code, a similar undertaking
was being planned by Rabbi
Moses Isserles of Poland.
Isserles, known in Jewish life as the Rama, was
thrown into some despair when he first heard about Caro's
work, for he knew Caro to be a greater scholar than
himself. Nonetheless, he soon realized that both Caro's
legal code and his own would not by themselves meet
the needs of all Jews. Thus, the Shulkhan Arukh was published with Caro's rulings listed first, and
Isserles's dissents and addenda included in italics.
The Shulkhan Arukh is divided into four volumes:
1. Orakh Hayyim-laws of prayer and of holidays.
2. Yoreh Deah-diverse laws,
including those governing charity (tzedaka), Torah
study and the Jewish dietary
laws.
3. Even haEzer-laws concerning
Jewish marriage and divorce.
4. Khoshen Mishpat-Jewish civil
law.
To this day, rabbinic ordination (semikha)
usually is given to a student only after he has been
examined on the Shulkhan Arukh, particularly
on those sections that deal with kashrut (dietary laws). More than rote knowledge of the Shulkhan
Arukh's rulings, however, is expected. A popular
Jewish folktale tells of a young student who came to
a prominent rabbi to be tested for ordination. The rabbi's
first question was "Name the five volumes of the Shulkhan Arukh."
The student, thinking that the rabbi
had made a slip of the tongue, named the four volumes,
but the rabbi asked him to name the fifth.
"There is no fifth volume,"
the student said.
"There is indeed," the rabbi
said. "Common sense is the fifth volume, and if
you don't have it, all your rulings will be of no use,
even if you know the other four volumes by heart."
The Shulkhan Arukh's exhaustive
presentation of the details of Jewish law is suggested
by the following, taken from the section listing the
laws of Torah study, in which Caro gives directives
to both teachers and pupils:
"The rabbi should not be angry with his pupils
if they do not understand but he should repeat the matter
over and over again until they grasp the proper depth
of the law. The pupil should not say that he understands
when he does not but should ask over and over again.
And if the rabbi is angry with him he should say, 'Rabbi,
it is the Torah and I want to know it, but my mind is
inadequate"' (Yoreh Deah 246:10).
Sources: Joseph Telushkin. Jewish
Literacy. NY: William Morrow and Co., 1991.
Reprinted by permission of the author. |