[Avodah] Rabbiner Hirsch and the Mishna Brura [NishmaBlog]

[Michael Makovi]

> I have just completed reading the Biography of Rabi Samson Raphael Hirsch.
> Apparrently Rabbiner Hirsch bemoaned the fact that the Shulchan Aruch[1] was
> in 4 parts and Thereby people were not being holistic in that they neglected
> vast tracts of Hosehn Mishpat etc, in their behavior.
>
> While the Mishna Brura pointedly commented on ONLY Orach Haim because he
> felt that this was the primary legal text for Jewish People [see hakdamah to
> the Mishna Brura.] [2]
>
>  Posted By Rabbi Richard Wolpoe to NishmaBlog at 2/02/2008 10:12:00 PM

Rav Hirsch's letter to his friend regarding the publication of Horeb,
in the Soncino English translation of the Horeb, says that he wants
Horeb to be printed as one volume so that what is one in concept is
one in expression; he says one could write an entire treatise on the
damage that's been done to the Jewish people through the exclusive
study of Orach Chayim.

Rav Hirsch of course lived before the Chofetz Chaim. I can only wonder
what would have happened had he seen the publication of the Mishna
Berurah on OC alone. I imagine the Chofetz Chaim would have gotten a
firm letter from Rav Hirsch; saying that one could write a treatise on
the damage to Am Yisrael suggests this wasn't a minor topic on Rav
Hirsch's mind. And what Rav Hirsch says about Rambam in his 19 Letters
shows he was not one to be beholden to a personality.

In any case, this is why I want to study the Aruch haShulchan instead
of the Mishna Berurah when I reach that stage.

Mikha'el Makovi