Mahadura Basra — The Later Edition

This passage, introducing the four surviving chapters of Mahadura Basra (“The Later Edition”) of the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, was added when the entire work was published. As to why the Alter Rebbe sought to revise his original text — Mahadura Kama (“The First Edition”) — see the above Overview and the Prefaces written by his sons.

The closing phrase borrows a Talmudic expression, which Rashi (Shevuos 4a) interprets as follows: Once the text of a mishnah had been disseminated among scholars, then even when its author, R. Yehudah HaNasi, had since revised its content, the original version was not discarded. Nevertheless, while both versions were thus preserved for posterity, discerning students knew that the later teaching was the one accepted as law. The same principle applies with regard to these four revised chapters of the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch.