[Avodah] Halachic Texts: More Background

[Richard Wolpoe]

Earlier I posted:


Just as the Talmud has been elucidated and somewhat modified by various
commentators same for Shnulchan Aruch. Generally the Halachic world has
accepted the Shulchan Aruch [with Rema] as a Hatima in the same way as
Hatiimat Hatalmud. This is "Hatimat haRishonim:. E.G.; . in biographies of
Rav J. Breuer he constantly refers to Talmud-Shulchan Aruch as being
companion volumes of authoritative Halachah. This is a widely held model.

Since the Advent of the Shulchan Aruch, the VAST majority of Halachic works
are indexed by ITS indexing as opposed to the Talmud or Rambam. Even
Teshuvot are usually divided and indexed by the 4 Turim . There are an
estimated 350 published commentaries written on the Shulchan Aruch. Plus at
least a dozen review books on issur v'heter follow this model se'if by
se'if.


Note: Hermann Strack in his work on Talmud and Midrash specifically states
[19th century]
Now the taks of the poseiq is to consult the codes and to work BACK to the
Talmud.

IOW Halchically methodology has evolved since the 12th Century [Though I am
acquainted with severl rabbis who like "Chone hame'agel were probably born
just before 1204 and just woke up!] Maybe the Rif and Rambam did not have
enough Codes to consult so they still went to the Talmud. Neverthless, it is
evident in MANY cases that Rambam went back to the Rif and NOT to the Talmud
itself. [see Kessef Mishna in Rambam's intro]. It is absolutely true that
both Rosh and Mordechai used the Rif as their basic text and the Bet yosef
used the Tur as HIS basic text

Now the Shulchan Aruch has been cannonized as THE TEXT. That does not mean
we always FOLLOW it, We don't always follow the Mishna either even though it
is the cornerstone of BOTH Talmuddim

A story I have mentioned before...
I was learning Kitzur Shulchan Aruch [KSA] one day before mincha and I had a
conversation with a fellow:

He: Hassidim learn Kitzur!
I: Do you mean they pasken like the Kitzur?
He: No they just learn it.


IOW this is the text book of Halachah for many Hassidim - and for yeshiva
Boys THE textbook is Mishna Brura. But MOST intelligent Yeshiva students do
nto follow EVERY Mishna Brurah lehalachah. [one Yeshiva bopy at Breuer's
couldn' believe that the Hazzan says BAtzitzis [hataf] instead of B'tzitzis
[sheva] because thsi is against the Mishna Brura. Apparently he did
understand that the Minhag of KAJ/Breuer goes back to the ear of
PRE-Shulchan Aruch!]

So WHY learn Talmud NOW?
Good Question! Ther are many answers. I would say that in order to
understand Tosafos! --smile-- All kidding aside, after say the 1500's the
MAIN reason is to read the commentaries ON The Gmara. The Halachic action is
there, between Rif/Rosh/Ran etc.

Artscroll has done a msterful job in BOTH its Mishna and Talmud to connect
the texts with the CODES such as Rambam/Tur and especially Shulchan Aruch .
One of the earlier works to do this was the Tiferes Yisrael on the Mishnah.
A VERY new book called "Hazarat haShas" [pun intended] by the Sephardic
Hacham Rabbi Avrahm Portal collects references from Ein Mishpat and puts
them in book form - plus some key Me'eerees. I call this a modern day Rif.
NB: Steinsaltz actually paraphrases Rambam and SA in his Halachic commentary
- but this sefer QUOTES them.

Rav Kook began a project of showing Halachah from the Talmud. Actually I
agree with the Rambam on this. Halachah is to far removed from Talmud
nowadays, Talmud is more for THEORY and CODES more for practice. At times,
you need both of course. But Bet Yosef changed everything imho by giving the
sources you need. If you add Darchei Moshe et. al. you have 98% of all bases
covered.

More on this series about the future, etc.



Kol Tuv / Best Regards,
RabbiRichWolpoe at Gmail.com

--
Posted By Rabbi Richard Wolpoe to
NishmaBlog<http://nishmablog.blogspot.com/2008/06/halachic-texts-more-background.html>at
6/21/2008 11:35:00 PM



-- 
Kol Tuv / Best Regards,
RabbiRichWolpoe at Gmail.com
see: http://nishmablog.blogspot.com/
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