Chayei Adam

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Chayei Adam (חיי אדם "The Life of Man") is a book on Jewish law by Rabbi Avraham Danzig. It deals with the laws discussed in the Orach Chayim section of the Shulchan Aruch. It is divided into 224 sections - 69 dealing with daily conduct and prayer, and 155 with Sabbath and holidays. In this work, Rabbi Danzig collected and critically sifted the Acharonic material in the field of the Halakha written in the more than two and a half centuries since the appearance of the Shulkhan Arukh. Chayei Adam was intended primarily "for the cultured layman", as opposed to rabbinic scholars, and the work is thus presented in a readily accessible form. The parallel work Nishmat Adam, published together with Chayei Adam, discusses the halachic issues in greater depth. The two are usually printed together. The scholarship of the work is evidenced by the fact that Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, known for his opposition to "digests of halakha", granted the work his approbation (on condition that each section be cross-referenced to the Shulkhan Arukh to allow for further study). In many cities, societies were formed for the purpose of studying Chayei Adam. The rulings of the Chayei Adam are often cited in later works, especially the Mishnah Berurah.