Beit Yosef (book)

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Beit Yosef
AuthorJoseph Karo
CountryTurkey, Land of Israel
LanguageHebrew
SubjectJudaic Law
Publication date
1550-1559

Beit Yosef (

transliterated Beth Yosef), written by Rabbi Joseph Karo, is a long and detailed commentary on the Halakhic code Arba'ah Turim ("Tur") by Jacob ben Asher (fl. c. 1300). The Shulchan Aruch
, which Rabbi Karo wrote later in his life, is a condensation of its rulings.

Description

Beit Yosef is a comprehensive commentary on the

Adrianople, finished it in 1542 at Safed in the Land of Israel
; he published it in 1550–59.

Thirty-two authorities, beginning with the Talmud and ending with the works of Rabbi Israel Isserlein (1390–1460 and known as the Terumath ha-Deshen), are summarized and critically discussed in Beit Yosef. No other rabbinical work compares with it in wealth of material. Karo evidences not only an astonishing range of reading, covering almost the entire rabbinic literature up to his time, but also remarkable powers of critical investigation.

In the introduction, Karo clearly states the necessity of, and his reasons for undertaking such a work. The expulsion of the

Solomon ben Adret, whose opinions were accepted in Catalonia; and Asher ben Jehiel
and his family, of German origin, whose opinions were accepted in Castile. When the Spanish-Portuguese exiles came to the various communities in the East and West, where usages entirely different from those to which they had been accustomed prevailed, the question naturally arose whether the newcomers, some of whom were men of greater learning than the members of the host communities in Europe, should be ruled by the latter, or vice versa.

The proliferation of printed books, moreover, dramatically increased the availability of halakhic literature; so that many half-educated persons, finding themselves in possession of legal treatises, felt justified in following any ancient authority at will. Karo undertook his Beit Yosef to remedy this problem, quoting and critically examining in his book the opinions of all the major authorities then known.

References
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