Shulchan Aruch HaRav

Shulchan Aruch HaRav (Hebrew: "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") and after his lifetime as the "Alter Rebbe" (Old Rebbe).

At a young age, Rabbi Shneur Zalman was asked by his teacher, Rabbi Dovber of Mezeritch to recodify the "Shulchan Aruch" of Rabbi Yosef Karo - incorporating commentaries on that work, and subsequent responsa - so that laymen would be able to study Jewish law. The work thus states the decided halakha, as well as the underlying reasoning.

The Shulchan Aruch HaRav is today used by Hasidim as their basis for daily practice. The work is considered authoritative throughout Judaism, and citations to it are found in respected non-Hasidic sources as well, such as the "Mishnah Berurah" and the "Ben Ish Chai". "Shulchan Aruch HaRav" is also one of 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 text was lost in a fire in Lubavitch, and only parts of copies of the draft survived. Kehot Publication Society (2002) has recently issued a Bilingual Edition; in this work notations appear when Rabbi Shneur Zalman's rulings are at variance with those in Yosef Karo's "Shulchan Aruch".

External links

* [http://www.chabadlibrary.org/books/adhaz/sh/index.htm Fulltext] (Hebrew), chabadlibrary.org