The Shulchan Aruch HaRav (Hebrew שולחן ערוך הרב: "Code of Jewish Law by the Rabbi"; also Shulkhan Arukh HaRav) is a codification of halakha by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, known during his lifetime as HaRav ("The Rabbi"). Following his passing, he has been alternately referred to as the Alter Rebbe (Yiddish: Old Rebbe) in Chabad Hasidic circles, or as the "Baal HaTanya" (Author of the Tanya) more broadly, for his other main work.
Contents |
At a young age, Shneur Zalman was asked by his teacher, Dovber of Mezeritch to recodify the Shulchan Aruch of Yosef Karo - incorporating commentaries on that work, as well as subsequent responsa - so that laymen would be able to study Jewish law. Shneur Zalman was qualified for this challenging task. His phenomenal familiarity with Rabbinic literature was complemented by a gift for lucid exposition. His logical and highly trained mind could not tolerate ambiguity or obscurity.[1] The work thus states the decided halakha, as well as the underlying reasoning.
The Maggid of Mezeritch, the second leader of Hasidism, recognised the abilities of the young Schneur Zalman in mastery of both the legal Talmudic aspects of Torah study, and the mystical. Among the "Chevra Kadisha" (Holy Society) of elite disciples in Mezeritch, Schneur Zalman was affectionately known as "the Litvak" for his analytical mind. After the passing of DovBer, Schneur Zalman was appointed to spread Hasidism in White Russia, adjacent to the Lithuanian stronghold of Mitnagdic opposition. In the academy of Mezeritch, it is related that he would study Torah in chavrusa (parnership) with Rabbi Avrohom HaMalach ("The Angel"), son of DovBer. He would guide Rabbi Avraham in Talmudic scholarship, and the Malach would teach him Hasidic philosophy.
The Shulchan Aruch HaRav is today used by most Hasidim as their basis for daily practice. The work is broadly considered an authoritative halachic text, and its rulings are frequently cited by later authorities such as Yisrael Meir Kagan in his Mishnah Berurah and the Ben Ish Chai of Yosef Chaim of Baghdad. Shulchan Aruch HaRav is also one of the three works on which Shlomo Ganzfried based his rulings in the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, the well-known precis of Jewish law.
Although widely accepted, the work was originally limited in printings. Much of the original text was destroyed in a fire in Lubavitch, and only parts of copies of the draft survived. Kehot Publication Society (2002) has recently begun publication of a Bilingual Edition; in this work notations appear whenever Shneur Zalman's rulings are at variance with those in Yosef Karo's Shulchan Aruch.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||