Shulchan Aruch

Known in Hebrew as Shulchan Aruch (“Set Table”), the Code of Jewish Law lays out practical and concise instructions culled from the intricate web of Talmudic deliberation and rabbinic commentaries that come along with it.

With this modern translation of the Shulchan Aruch Harav, the English-reading public can study Jewish law as taught by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Alter Rebbe, from the original source.

Rabbi Yosef Caro published the Shulchan Aruch, the Code of Jewish Law. This concise codification of all Jewish law which is germane today was an extension of his Beit Yosef commentary (see entry for the 11th of Elul). The Shulchan Aruch is divided in to f...

Halakhah refers to Jewish law. Per its literal translation, “the way,” halachah guides the day-to-day life of a Jew.

In the old cemetery in Cracow stood a great tree, whose large branches seemed to have borne the weight of centuries, and were laden with the heaviness of time.

The first half of the last millennium (1000–1500) saw an explosion in Jewish literacy in many fields: Kabbalah, philosophy, biblical commentary, poetry, and most notably the great codifications of Halachah (Jewish Law). How did these great Codes originate...

This class provides a basic overview of the evolution of halacha, and also discusses the laws of waking in the morning, including the ritual hand washing.

Great Torah centers, most notably in Eretz Israel, Turkey, and Poland, arose to replace the destruction of the Spanish communities.

The Torah is comprised of two parts, the Written Law and the Oral Tradition. Learn the basics of the Oral Tradition here.

The first section of the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) authored by Rabbi Joseph Caro (1488-1575) was completed in the Holy Land on this date in 1555.