[Avodah] Shulchan Aruch VS Our Own understanding

[rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com]

The Shulkhan Arukh
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/shulkhan_arukh.html

> The legal code known as the Shulkhan Arukh, compiled by the great
> Sephardic rabbi Joseph Caro in the mid­1500s, is still the standard
> legal code of Judaism. When rabbis, particularly if they are Orthodox,
> are asked to rule on a question of Jewish law, the first volume they
> consult generally is the Shulkhan Arukh.

> A major reason for its universal acceptance is that it was the first code
> to list the differing customs and laws of both Sephardic and Ashkenazic
> Jewry. (Maimonides's earlier Mishneh Torah, for example, contained only
> the legal rulings of Sephardic Jewry, which differed in certain areas
> from European Jewry's practices.) This unique feature was not intended
> by Joseph Caro, but came about through a happy coincidence. At the very
> time that Caro was compiling his code, a similar undertaking was being
> planned by Rabbi Moses Isserles of Poland. Isserles, known in Jewish life
> as the Rama, was thrown into some despair when he first heard about Caro's
> work, for he knew Caro to be a greater scholar than himself. Nonetheless,
> he soon realized that both Caro's legal code and his own would not by
> themselves meet the needs of all Jews. Thus, the Shulkhan Arukh was
> published with Caro's rulings listed first, and Isserles's dissents and
> addenda included in italics.

Also see Rema's haqdama
    "Mi sheyeish lo chaich lit'om..."
Vs.
    "Umi shelo higi'a l'madreiga zo..."

Of course a Gadol, a Gaon is not limitted by SA-Rema, if he's already
a baqi in shas and posqim

I saw an article quoting Ri miGash as recommending to rabbis to follow
Gaonic rulings and NOT to pasqen directlly from Shas

The article interpreted Ri miGash as referring to "medium level
rabbis". But Great Rabbis were never intended to be so restricted.
I believe that there have been upwards of 300 commentaries published
on SA. There is a reason for books like Mishna Brura etc.

KT
RRW
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