Rabbi Howard Morrison

Dear Congregational Family,

Many of us refer to the Code of Jewish Law as the Shulkhan Arukh, which literally means the prepared table or banquet table. The fact of the matter is that one should distinguish the original Shulkhan Arukh written in the sixteenth century from the Kitzur Shulkhan Arukh, an abbreviated codification of Jewish Law,  written in the nineteenth century by Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried.

Some historical background - In the sixteenth century, Rabbi Joseph Karo wrote an extensive work on Jewish Law called the Beit Yoseph, which is usually found as a commentary to the Arba Turim, an earlier codification of Jewish Law. Rabbi Joseph Karo condensed his Beit Yosef into a briefer more succinct format known as the Shulkhan Arukh. Rabbi Joseph Karo was a respected Sephardic authority of Jewish Law. Around the same time that the Shulkhan Arukh was being composed, Rabbi Moses Isserles (the Rema), an Ashkenazic authority of Jewish law, composed a digest of rulings which became known as the Mapa, literally, a table cloth. The table cloth (Ashkenazic rulings) came to serve as a cover for the prepared banquet table (Sephardic rulings). The combination of Rabbi Karo's and Rabbi Isserles's comments is integrated into the sixteenth century Shulkhan Arukh. For many Jews, this particular codification of Jewish Law continues to be normative precisely because it incorporated both Ashkenazic and Sephardic practices. 

Notwithstanding the history of Jewish legal texts and collections, an earlier use of the term "Shulkhan Arukh" appears in the Midrash and the Talmud from Judaism's ancient period and is cited by Rashi in his classic commentary on the Torah. On the opening verse of this week's portion of Mishpatim, "These are the rules which you will place before them," Rashi quotes as follows:

"Which you will place before them - God said to Moses: It should not enter your mind to say. 'I shall teach them a section of the Torah or a single Halakha twice or three times until they know the text verbatim, but I shall not take the trouble to make them understand the reasons of each thing and its significance.' Therefore, Scripture says, 'which you will place before them,' like a table fully laid before a person with everything ready for eating."

This earlier usage of the term Shulkhan Arukh, a prepared table, suggests that Jewish law and teachings should not be merely received as something  learned  by rote or repetition. Rather, Jewish law and teachings should be savored, digested, and enjoyed like a delicious meal served at a banquet table. May this be the way we approach our commitment to the study and practice of Torah and its normative interpretations.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Howard Morrison