Setting the Table: An Introduction to the Jurisprudence of Rabbi Yechiel Mikhel Epstein’s Arukh Hashulhan

by Michael J. Broyde

One of the most basic questions for any legal system is that of how one interprets, analyzes, weighs, and applies a mass of often competing legal rules, precedents, practices, customs, and traditions to reach final determinations and practical guidance about the correct legal-prescribed course of action in any given situation. Questions of legal methodology raise not only practical concerns, but theoretical and philosophical ones as well. We expect law to be more than the arbitrary result of a given decision maker's personal preferences, and so we demand that legal methodologies be principled as well as practical. These issues are especially acute in religious legal systems, where the stakes are raised by concerns for respecting not just human, but divine law. Despite this, the major scholars and codifiers of halakhah , or Jewish law, have only rarely explicated their own methods for reaching principled legal decisions. This book explains the major jurisprudential factors driving the halakhic jurisprudence of Rabbi Yehiel Mikhel Epstein, twentieth-century author of the Arukh Hashulchan -the most comprehensive, seminal, and original modern restatement of Jewish law since Maimonides. Reasoning inductively from a broad review of hundreds of rulings from the Orach Chaim section of the Arukh Hashulchan, the book teases out and explicates ten core halakhic principles that animate Rabbi Epstein's halakhic decision-making. Along the way, it compares the Arukh Hashulchan methodology to that of the Mishna Berura . This book will help any reader understand important methodological issues in both Jewish and general jurisprudence.

428 pages, Paperback

Published June 20, 2023

Reviews

[Yehuda Isseroff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember when I first started learning seriously in my late teens, I was discussing a Halacha with my father, and he told me that Rabbi Kelemer z”l would typically pasken like the Arukh Hashulchan over the Mishnah Brurah if there was an argument between them, because the Arukh Hashulchan was a community Rav and the Mishnah Brurah was not. This got me interested more in the Arukh Hashulchan, and since around that time, whenever I research a Halacha, I typically check first what the Arukh Hashulchan has to say.

This book allowed me to take a much deeper dive into who R’ Yechiel Mikhel Epstein was, and how the Arukh Hashulchan was written. I enjoyed most of the book in general, but especially enjoyed the first 70 pages, which discuss the background up to and around the publication of the Arukh Hashulchan. One interesting part of the biographical portion is that much of it is based on the work of Rabbi Eitam Henkin, who was murdered before his biography on R’ Yechiel Mikhel Epstein was completed (it was published posthumously in Hebrew in 2019).

The book also expounds on what they believe to be the 10 methodological principles R’ Epstein used to come to Halachic decisions in the Arukh Hashulchan. I like methodology (sometimes), and even though the reading was a bit dry at times, I still enjoyed it overall.

The last 140 pages of the book are dedicated to 200 (!) examples from the Arukh Hashulchan Orach Chayim which illustrate the 10 methodological principles in action. I’ll admit that I skimmed most of this section. .

I’ve always enjoyed Michael Broyde’s writings and was excited to see a book on this topic published by him. It didn’t disappoint, and I’m sure I’ll be referencing it many times in the future. I recommend it to other fans of Arukh Hashulchan. I may check out a similar work of his on the Mishnah Brurah in the future.

Pages with bookdarts:
4: “Jewish legal history can be divided into Talmudic and post-Talmudic periods”
8: Since the loss of Sanhedrin, Jewish law has evolved for the last two thousand years without any clear way of resolving disputes (cf. majority votes in the US Supreme Court)
21 (fn. 75): “the tradition in Jewish legal literature is that a title rarely names the relevant subject or subjects.” Explanation of why so many Halachic works in that era play off of the “set table” theme.
33: The stage of the Jewish legal landscape and why it was ripe for the Mishnah Brurah and Arukh HaShulchan in the 19th century
45: Delays in the publication of the Arukh Hashulchan and why
51: “The Arukh HaShulchan on Orach Chaim summarizes what Rabbi Epstein viewed as the most central Jewish legal literature literally from the time God’s revelation of the Torah at Mount Sinai through the late 1800s on hundreds and hundreds of complex matters.”
85: The correct legal standard is the one that is used or expressed in the Talmud, so the goal should be to first look to determine the standard used there, and only then move on to other sources
94: Sources in the Geonim/Rishonim showing the precedence of the Babylonian Talmud over the Jerusalem Talmud
97: Rabbi Epstein quoting Jerusalem Talmud that the reason for three daily prayers is because that’s how many times each day our environment changes around us
141: R’ Epstein derives Halachos (eg. not having a third meal on Shabbos Erev Pesach) from the Zohar
159: History of extralegal strictures in Judaism (learned from rape of Tamar by Amnon?)
162: R’ Chiya the money changer
177: Opinions that the Zohar is weightier than “all other post-Talmudic authors” combined (!?)
180: R’ Epstein saying that “the Zohar never disagrees with the Talmud… one must therefore properly expound the vide [of the Zohar] so that it accords with the Talmud.”
190: Origins of the binding power of the “family minhag” (?)
216: Achronim that say that stam yaynam should no longer apply today (?)
241: If you are concerned your muktzah item will be ruined outside on Shabbos and want to bring it in, pretend you will want to use it as a pillow and then you can move it