Category: Halacha

Knowledgebase entries on halachic concepts, areas, and major genres.

  • Responsa

    Sheelot u-teshuvot – shu”t – שאלות ותשובות – שו”ת – A major genre of halachic literature recording questions (sheelot) and answers (teshuvot) that give pesak halakhah (practical halakhic rulings). There is a voluminous literature of responsa beginning in the period of the Geonim and continuing till today. Earlier collections of responsa may have details removed […]

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  • Shulchan Aruch

    שלחן ערוך (“The Set Table”) – A code of Jewish law, written in 1563 by R. Yosef Karo, a Sefardi rabbi, which became accepted as authoritative and normative with the addition of glosses incorporating Ashkenazi practice by Rema. Shulchan Aruch is actually a summary of Karo’s important, and much larger, halachic work, the Beit Yosef. […]

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  • The Rosh

    ר’ אשר בן יחיאל – רא”ש – R. Asher b. Yechiel (c. 1250-1327) – Primarily known for his responsa, Rosh was already an acknowledged leader of German Jewry when he fled persecution, settling in Toledo, Castile (in present-day Spain). The Rosh’s immigration from Ashkenaz to Sefarad was impactful in bringing knowledge and methods of learning […]

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