Halakha

Halakha (Hebrew: הלכה; also transliterated as Halakhah, Halacha, Halachah) is the collective corpus of Jewish rabbinic law, custom and tradition. Like the religious laws in many other cultures, Judaism classically drew no distinction in its laws between religious and non-religious life. Hence, Halakha guides not only religious practices and beliefs, but numerous aspects of day-to-day life.

Codes of Jewish law

The Torah and the Talmud are not formal codes of law; they are sources of law. There are many formal codes of Jewish law that have developed over the past few thousand years. The major codes are:

Related Topics:
Torah - Talmud

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• The Mishnah, composed by Rabbi Judah the Prince, in AD 200, as a basic outline of the state of the Oral Law in his time. This was the framework upon which the Talmud was based.
• The Hilchot of the Rif, Rabbi Isaac Alfasi (1013–1103), summations of the legal material in the Talmud.
• The Mishneh Torah (also known as the Yad Ha-Hazaqah), by Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, the Rambam). The 14 volumes in this work encompass the full range of Jewish law, as formulated for all ages and places. It completely reorganizes and reformulates the laws in a logical system. It opens with a section on systematic philosophical theology, derived largely from Aristotelian science and metaphysics, which it regards as the most important component of Jewish law.
• The work of the Rosh, Rabbi Asher ben Jehiel (1250?/1259?-1328), an abstract of the Talmud, concisely stating the final Halakhic decision and quoting later authorities, notably Alfasi, Maimonides, and the Tosafists. This work superseded Rabbi Alfasi's and has been printed with almost every subsequent edition of the Talmud.
• The Sefer Mitzvot Gadol (The "SeMaG") of Rabbi Moses ben Jacob of Coucy (13th century, Coucy, France). "SeMaG" is organised around the 365 negative and the 248 positive commandments, separately discussing each of them according to the Talmud (in light of the commentaries of Rashi and the Tosafot) and the other codes existent at the time.
• The Arba'ah Turim (The Tur, The Four Columns) by Rabbi Jacob ben Asher. (1270 - 1343, Toledo, Spain.) The Tur followed Maimonides's precedent in arranging his work in a topical order. However, the Tur covers only those areas of Jewish religious law that were in force in the author's time. The code is divided into four main sections; almost all Jewish codes of law since this time have followed the Tur's arrangement of material.
• Orach Chayim - "The Way of Life" worship and ritual observance in the home and synagogue, through the course of the day, the weekly sabbath and the festival cycle.
• Yoreh De'ah - "Teach Knowledge" assorted ritual prohibitions, dietary laws and regulations concerning menstrual impurity.
• Even Ha-'Ezer - "The Rock of the Helpmate" marriage, divorce and other issues in family law.
• Hoshen Mishpat - "The Breastplate of Judgment" The administration and adjudication of civil law.
• The Beit Yosef, and the Shulkhan Arukh of Rabbi Yosef Karo (1488–1575). The Beit Yosef is a huge commentary on the Tur in which Rabbi Karo clarifies the opinions of rabbinic authorities who lived after the time of Rabbi Yaakov. The Shulkhan Arukh is a more concise collection of the Beit Yosef. (Literally translated, Shulkhan Arukh means "set table".) In writing the Shulkhan Arukh, Rabbi Yosef followed the chapter divisions of the Tur. Sephardic Jews use the Shulkhan Arukh as the basis for their daily practice.
• Rabbi Moshe Isserles (Kraków, Poland, 1525 to 1572) noted that the Shulkhan Arukh was based on the Sephardic tradition, and he created a series of glosses to be appended to the text of the Shulkhan Arukh for cases where Sephardi and Ashkenazi customs differed. The glosses are called Hamapah, the "Tablecloth" for the "Set Table". His comments are now incorporated into the body of all printed editions of the Shulkhan Arukh; typeset in a different script. Isserles' Darkhei Moshe is similairly a commentary on the Tur and the Beit Yosef.
• The Shulchan Aruch HaRav of Rabbi Shneiur Zalman of Liadi (c. 1800) was an attempt to recodify the law as it stood at that time, stating the decided halakha, as well as the underlying reasoning; unfortunately, most of the work was lost in a fire prior to publication. It is held in esteem by some Hasidim, and is quoted as authoratitive by many subsequent works.
• "Layman oriented" digests of Halakha: The Kitzur Shulkhan Arukh of Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried (Hungary 1804 -1886), based on the very strict Hungarian customs of the 19th century, became immensely popular after its publication due to its simplicity. This work is not binding in the same way as the Mishneh Torah or the Shulkhan Arukh. It is still popular in Orthodox Judaism as a framework for study, if not always for practice. Chayei Adam and Chochmat Adam by Avraham Danzig (Poland, 1748-1820) are similar Ashkenazi works. The Ben Ish Chai by Yosef Chaim (Baghdad, 1832 - 1909) is a corresponding Sephardi work.
• The Mishnah Berurah of Rabbi Yisroel Meir ha-Kohen, (the "Chofetz Chaim", Poland, 1838 - 1933) is a commentary on the "Orach Chayim" section of the Shulkhan Arukh, discussing the application of each Halakha in light of all subsequent Acharonic decisions. It has become the authoritative halakhic guide for much of Orthodox Ashkenazic Jewry in the postwar period, supplanting the more scholarly Arukh HaShulkhan of Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein. Kaf HaChaim on Orach Chayim and parts of Yoreh De'ah, by Yaakov Chaim Sofer (Baghdad and Jerusalem, 1870 - 1939) is similair in scope, authority and approach to the Mishnah Berurah.
• "A Guide To Jewish Religious Practice", by Rabbi Isaac Klein, with contributions from the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly. This work is based on the previous traditional law codes, but written from a Conservative Jewish point of view. It is not accepted among Orthodox Jews.