Collections of halakhic rulings in concise and systematic arrangement constitute a significant branch of halakhic literature. They are primarily designed to serve as guides for religious practice for laymen as well as for halakhic authorities. They invariably comprise both civil and ritual law, often including moral as well as legal directives. Based upon Torah law as expounded by the rabbinic sages, their authority is commensurate with the reputation of their respective authors.
The earliest rabbinic codes, called halakhot, were compiled in the first and second centuries CE by the tannaim and consisted of two categories: those attached to the Scriptural verses from which the halakhot were derived and those arranged according to subject matter. The former are midrash (i.e., inferred by rabbinic exegesis) and include the following: Mekhilta to Exodus; Sifra to Leviticus; Sifré to Numbers and Deuteronomy. The latter are mishnah (i.e., teaching) and include the Mishnah and Tosefta (cf. Kid. 49a-b). The halakhot were taught orally; additions were made to them by succeeding generations of teachers; and they included various conflicting opinions. In the first decade of the third century, R. Judah Ha-Nasi assembled the leading scholars of his time and had each of them repeat the halakhot learned from their teachers. Judah then arranged them in six codices or "orders," each dealing with a different branch of Jewish law. This arrangement is the Mishnah. The Tosefta contains supplementary teachings.
Specific codes were not composed during the talmudic period (third to sixth centuries). The gaonic period, which began shortly thereafter, saw the compilation of a series of halakhic codes, systematic digests of the diffused teachings of the Talmud incorporating decisions of the ge'onim (see Gaon). The She'iltot of the eighthth century Babylonian scholar Aḥai of Shabḥa, was a pioneer of codification. So too was Halakhot Pesukot of Yehudai Gaon, head of the Sura Academy (middle of the eighth century). Despite his blindness, he was able to dictate to his students briefly stated rulings of the Talmud confirmed as Halakhah (Jewish law) by his teachers. He was opposed to innovation and therefore ruled against the introduction of prayers and benedictions not mentioned in the Talmud. His work received wide acclamation and was circulated in many versions. A generation or two later, Simeon Kayyara, basing himself on the Halakhot Pesukot, composed a larger digest called Halakhot Gedolot, which became the most widely accepted halakhic work of the geonic period, frequently cited by the early rabbinic authorities as absolutely reliable. In the Introduction, Simeon listed the 613 biblical injunctions (see Commandments, 613), the first such listing in rabbinic literature.
The latter half of the geonic period (850-1000) saw a spate of halakhic codes of a different genre---a series of treatises each dealing with the laws of a specific subject. The Prayer Books of Amram Gaon and SAADIAH GAON contained not only the text of the prayers but the laws concerning prayer as well. Saadiah was the most prolific codifier, composing about ten separate monographs on specific areas of the halakhah, such as legal documents, inheritance, trusts, oaths, and dietary laws. These works were written in Arabic, at that time the common language of the Jews in the Middle East, North Africa, and Muslim Spain. Saadiah's successors in the geonate, samuel ben hofni and HAI in particular, composed similar works; the most prominent among them the Sefer Mekaḥ u-Memkar ("Book of Buying and Selling") of Hai Gaon. Unfortunately, most of these works are known only from citations in the writings of others or from fragments discovered in the Cairo GENIZAH.
The first of the early Spanish authorities, Isaac ALFASI, introduced a new system of codification. He followed the pages of the Babylonian Talmud, recording only those passages relevant to the practical halakhah, and where necessary the decisions of the ge'onim. His work is known as Hilkhot ha-Rif, and it soon became the standard code for Sephardi Jewry. Little more than two centuries later, a distinguished Ashkenazi authority, ASHER BEN JEHIEL, followed the style of Alfasi in his code, entitled Hilkhot (or Piskei, decisions) ha-Rosh. His work included the opinions of the many authorities of the 12th and 13th centuries and soon became the standard code for Ashkenazi Jewry. Beyond these two luminaries, dozens of digests of Jewish law were composed, the shifts in population from country to country and the introduction of new minhagim (customary practices) making such handbooks necessary. The Ashkenazi works included: Sefer ha-Roke'aḥ by ELEAZAR OF WORMS; Sefer Yere'im by Eliezer ben Samuel of Metz; Even ha-Ezer by Eliezer ben Nathan of Mainz; Sefer ha-Terumah by Baruch ben Isaac of Worms; Avi ha-Ezer (also known as Sefer Raviah) by Eliezer ben Joel ha-Levi. The last and most comprehensive of this series is the Or Zaru'a of ISAAC BEN MOSES OF VIENNA, a staunch defender of the earlier authorities. Two Ashkenazi codes from this period but of different style are: Maḥzor Vitry, a comprehensive prayer book that includes, in addition to the order and text of the prayers, the halakhic rulings concerning prayer. It was composed by simḥah of vitry, a disciple of RASHI. MOSES BEN JACOB OF COUCY wrote the Sefer Mitsvot Gadol (or Semag), an halakhic and homiletic treatment of the 613 commandments.
The contributions of most Sephardi scholars of this period to halakhic literature was not in codes. The reason was that for Sephardim, in addition to Hilkhot ha-Rif, the authoritative code was the Mishneh Torah (also known as Yad ha-Hazakah) of Moses MAIMONIDES. This code was, and remains to this day, the most comprehensive and systematic collection of Jewish law ever written. In contradistinction to all the others mentioned, it encompasses every aspect of Jewish law, including laws in effect only when sacrificial offerings are offered in the Jerusalem Temple, such as the measurements of the Temple to be built and the rules governing a Jewish sovereign. Maimonides' code attracted host of commentaries, and to this day most halakhic discourses contain one or more references to its rulings. Maimonides also wrote a Sefer ha-Mitsvot, a listing of the 613 commandments with brief annotations; another work on the same subject which adds the rationale to these biblical injunctions is the Sefer ha-Ḥinnukh, attributed to Aaron ha-Levi of Barcelona.
Another series of halakhic digests was produced in the third center of medieval talmudic scholarship, the area of southern France called Provence. Among the earliest is the Sefer ha-Ittim by Judah ben Barzilai of Barcelona, a digest of laws on the Sabbath and festivals which contains many citations from the ge'onim and influenced succeeding works. These included Sefer ha-Eshkol by Abraham ben Isaac of Narbonne; Sefer ha-Ittur by Isaac ben Abba Mari of Marseilles; Orḥot Ḥayyim by Aaron ha-Cohen of Lunel.
The period of the early authorities (RISHONIM) comes to a close with the appearance of another compendium of Jewish law which became a classic code, the Arba'ah Turim (Tur for short) or "Four Rows" of JACOB BEN ASHER, the son of Asher ben Jehiel. Differing from the Mishnah, which is divided into Six Orders and encompasses all aspects of Jewish law, the Tur deals only with laws in effect during the period of the Exile, i.e., when the Jerusalem Temple is not in existence. It divides them into four major divisions, as follows: 1) Oraḥ Ḥayyim or Way of Life, comprising the laws of prayer, Sabbath and festivals; 2) Yoreh De'ah or Instructor of Knowledge, comprising the dietary laws, the menstruant woman and her purification, and sundry commandments, e.g., honoring parents, circumcision, charity, and the laws of mourning; 3) Even ha-Ezer or Stone of Help, comprising the laws of marriage, divorce, levirate marriage; and 4) Ḥoshen Mishpat or Breastplate of Judgment, with laws concerning courts, judges, witnesses, and all matters of property (contracts, loans, damages etc.). The Tur became the basis of the best known code, the SHULḤAN ARUKH, but was not displaced by it; it is still a major reference book for halakhic authorities.
A century later, a much more condensed guide to religious practice appeared, the Minhagim of Jacob MÖLLN of Mainz. Appended to it is the Hilkhot Sheḥitah U-Vedikah (laws of slaughtering and examining cattle) of his disciple, Jacob ben Judah Weil.
By the beginning of the 16th century, after a long period of expulsions suffered by both Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jewries, new centers of Jewish life were established; the sephardim concentrated in North Africa, the Balkans and Erets Israel, and the ashkenazim in Eastern Europe. The newly established communities required new guidance, either confirming the old practices of their predecessors or legitimizing the new practices which had arisen. By this time the differences between Sephardi and Ashkenazi practices had multiplied, a reflection both of their different ambience and the somewhat different approach to halakhic decisions of their respective religious leaders. Because of the system of PILPUL (casuistic argument) which dominated among the Ashkenazim there was great hesitancy in making clear-cut decisions where earlier authorities had expressed contradictory opinions and the rule adopted was always to follow the more stringent opinion. Force of law was given to many customs which added restrictions in marital relations and to those in mourning. Another factor which had some influence for both Ashkenazim and Sephardim in halakhic decision was the spread of the mystical teachings of the KABBALAH. The needs of the time were met by two eminent talmudists, Joseph CARO, a Sephardi, and Moses ISSERLES of Cracow ("Rema" for short), an Ashkenazi. Each had first written an extensive commentary to the Tur, but they then proceeded to condense their works into a concise code with clear decisions. Caro published his code first, following the four-volume structure of the Tur, and called it shulḥan arukh, "a set table" or handy guide for student and scholar alike. Isserles, seeing that Caro ignored many decisions and minhagim of the Ashkenazim---he mostly followed Maimonides' Mishneh Torah---decided to add haggahot, annotations, to the Shulḥan Arukh to set down the Ashkenazi practice. He called these notes the Mappah, a tablecloth covering the "set table" of Caro. Together, they constitute the authoritative code of Jewish law, the Sephardim following the decisions of Caro and the Ashkenazim following the decisions of Isserles. The wide acceptance of the Shulḥan Arukh did not, however, close the door to continued analysis of all its sources and opinions. This is attested by the number of commentaries, which increased with each new edition of the Shulḥan Arukh. This proliferation of halakhic material created the need for new digests of Jewish law, so that even the layman could have some handy reference to the requirements of the halakhah in his daily conduct. Ḥayyei Adam and Ḥokhmat Adam are the respective digests of Oraḥ Ḥayyim and Yoreh De'ah of the Shulḥan Arukh written by Abraham Danzig of Vilna. Solomon Ganzfried of Hungary composed for the layman a handbook of Jewish law which he called Kitsur ("Abridgment of") Shulḥan Arukh. It became extremely popular and has been published in many editions, with commentaries to bring it up-to-date. A more elaborate review of the Shulḥan Arukh, citing the sources for its decisions and not infrequently disagreeing with them, is the Arukh ha-Shulḥan of Jehiel Michal epstein of Novogrudok, Belorussia. Early in the 20th century, a clarification and resolution of the decisions recorded in the Shulḥan Arukh, Oraḥ Ḥayyim, that gained wide acceptance amongst halakhic authorities was the Mishnah Berurah ("Clear Code") of Israel Meir ha-Cohen Kagan, better known as the HAFETS ḤAYYIM.
A recent digest of the laws concerning the Sabbath and festivals is Shemirat Shabbat ke-Hilkhata of Yehoshua Neuwirth of Jerusalem, advertised as paying "particular attention to problems arising in our time."
Sephardi scholars were no less diligent and productive in providing halakhic guidance for their communities. Many dealt with the laws of ritual slaughter, designed primarily to instruct ritual slaughterers. Ashkenazi rabbis also composed such special guides. A rather unusual guide for his time was the Pe'at ha-Shulḥan of Israel of Shklov, a disciple of the Gaon of Vilna, who settled in Erets Israel in the early 19th century. It deals with the laws of agricultural products, a subject which had been rather neglected previously.
Another system of codification of Jewish law involves the attempt to make accessible to the halakhic authority (posek) its voluminous literature in encyclopedic form, with subject matters arranged alphabetically. The first such encyclopedia was compiled in the early 18th century by Isaac Hezekiah Lampronti of Ferrara under the title Paḥad Yitshak. A bulkier though somewhat less systematic work was published in the latter half of the 19th century by Ḥayyim Hezekiah Medini of Izmir entitled Sedé Ḥemed. A comprehensive encyclopedia of rabbinic law is the Entsiklopedia Talmudit (Talmudic Encyclopedia) appearing in Jerusalem.
