eSefarad Noticias del Mundo Sefaradi
Summary:
This is a brief historical study on the Halachah (Jewish Law), its scholars and researchers before Rabbi Yosef Caro, the long journey of Yosef Caro: Toledo, Portugal, Constantinople, Adrianópolis, Nicopol(is) and Safed , his work in Nicopol / Bulgaria, his books: Beth Yosef and Shulchan Aruch and the Tribute to Yosef Caro , held in November 2012 in Nicopol / Bulgaria
Index:
- A brief overview on Halachah (Jewish Law) – Scholars and their works
- The long jorney of Rabbi Yosef Caro , his work in Nicopol and his books: Beth Yosef (The House of Joseph) and Shulchan Aruch (The Set Table)
- The Tribute to Yosef Caro, held in November 2012 in Nicopol/Bulgaria
- Bibliography
1. A brief overview on Halachah – Scholars and their works.
Yosef Caro is the author of one of the most important works of Judaism – the Shulchan Aruch (Set Table), which for the first time represents the Code of Jewish Law as a Reference Guide, complete, simple and practical, /1,2,3/. Even being a part of the great and monumental Talmud, the Jewish Law needed to be interpreted in an easier form, for every day’s life of a Jew and his Relation to God. Since the Talmud, five famous Rabbis dedicated their whole life to creating a Reference Guide, a Code of Jewish Law
Halachah Researchers, /1,2,3,6,10/
– Scholars of Sephardic Origin
1. Rabbi Yitzhak Alfasi (RIF), Fez 1013 – Lucena 1103. First wrote a summary on the Laws (Halachot) from the Talmud in his book Sefer Ha-Halachot .
2. Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (RAMBAM), Córdoba 1135 – Tiberias 1204. Maimonides created the famous book Mishne Torah (Study, Repetition of the MIshné Torá) with the subtitle Sefer Yad Ha-Jazak (Book of the strong hand) –.a compendium based on Talmud with facilities for logical search of the laws
Scholars of Ashkenazic Origin
3. Rabbi Asher Ben Yechiel (ROSH), Germany 1250 – Toledo 1327. ROSH also created a compendium on Jewish Law and included remarks from two other Rabbis of his time: Rabbi Shlomo Ben Yitzkhaqui (RASHI) from Troyes (France) and Rabbi Meir Ben Baruch from Worms (Germany)
4. His son, Rabbi Jacob ben Asher (Baal Ha-Turim or the Master of the Rows) Germany 1269 – Toledo 1343. He ordered the laws chronologically according to the different stages in the life of a person and presented according to the different stages in the life of a person and presented
5. Rabbi Yosef Caro , sephardic , Toledo 1488 – Safed 1575 – Shulchan Aruch.
2. The long journey of Yosef Caro: Toledo , Portugal, Constantinople, Adrianopolis, Nicopol(-is) and Safed His works : Beth Yosef and Shulchan Aruch , /1,3,4,5,7,9,11/
Yosef Caro was born in Toledo. He was 4 years old when, after the expulsion, together with his family, took a long trip toward the Ottoman Empire. In 1523 he was invited to be the Chief Rabbi for the following 13 years at the Sephardic Religious High School (Yeshiva) in Nicopol(-is) , a bulgarian city on Danube river.
Nicopolis (city of victory) , an ancient city, founded by Emperor Marcus Aurelius in 169 C.E. And, since 11th century, a medieval bulgarian city of big commercial and military importance. (Nicopol: the main part of Saints Peter and Paul Church from 10th century)
Overview of Nicopol, today
Yosef Caro’s Yeshiva was located exactly on this place in the years 1523-1536
We should emphasize the faith and strength of the sephardic jewish people, who, after having been expelled in 1492 and had to start a new life in places far away from their origin, like Bulgaria / the Ottoman Empire, despite of this, like 10 years later, they already restarted their businesses and reestablished their Yeshivot. Isn’t that amaizing!
According to Yosef Caro, the interpretations of Jewish Law from the Talmud, given by the medieval Rabbis, were still quite complicated and far from the Jewish people, so they had to get much more simplified. Yosef Caro worked on that in his works:Books: Beth Yosef (the House of Joseph) and Shulchan Aruch (Set Table)
The first great work of Yosef Caro, Beth Yosef was initiated in Nicopol. It was a practical comment to the preceding work Arba Turim by Rabbi Jacob ben Asher.
In 1536 Yosef Caro left Nicopol and settled in Safed, Israel, where he completed the book Beth Yosef. With the desire to write a guide to Jewish Law, even easier, as if it was a «table already set», in order to simply «sit down, eat and enjoy», without any prior preparation, Yosef Caro created his masterpiece : Shulchan Aruch (Set Table), /6,12,14/.
Yosef Caro, historic portrait Shulján Arúch, first edition,
(Toledo 1488 – Safed 1575) Venice 1565
Shulchan Aruch was finished in Safed and published in Venice,1565 and it is based on the Laws of the Sephardic Jewish rite, in accordance with the Rabbis RIF and RAMBAM. Three Years later, Rabbi Moshe Isserles (RAMAH) wrote a book with comments on the Schúlchan Órech (Yiddish) and laws based on Ashkenazic Jewish rite. It was published in Krakow in 1568 and, later on, it was incorporated into the original Shulchan Aruch and today it is a part of that
There have been many further intents to even more simplify the Code of the Jewish Law, as for example by Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried (1804-1886) from Uzhgorod, Ukraine, who wrote the Kitzur (abbreviated) Shulchan Aruch, /13/.
3. Tribute to Rabbi Yosef Caro in November 2012 in Nicopol / Bulgaria
The Tribute Ceremony was organized on Yom Shlishi, Kislev 13th , 5773 / Tuesday,November 27th ,2012 by Rabbi Yosef Salamon-Chief Rabbi at Rohr Chabad Center in Bulgaria. Guests of honour were : Chief Rabbi of Israel – Yona Metzger, two Chief Rabbis from the European Community, Israel’s Ambassador to Bulgaria – Shaul Kamisa-Raz and the Mayor of Safed- Ilan Shohad, as well as Bulgarian Parliament members and politicians.
A memorial was inaugurated in a park, named «Beth Yosef», very close to the place, where Yosef Caro´s Yeshiva once was. Both cities, Nicopol and Safed were fraternized. In their speeches , Chief Rabbi Metzger , Rabbi Salamon , Ambassador Kamisa-Raz and the Mayors, Shohad and Bebenov, expressed the idea of building a Museum Beth Yosef and converting Nicopol into an important City of Culture within the framework of the European Union , for the memory of Rabbi Yosef Caro.
Tribute to Yosef Caro at the City Council of Nicopol
IInauguration of the Memorial to Yosef Caro
The Memorial to Yosef Caro in Nicopol , Bulgaria
Inaugurated Kislev 13th , 5773 – November 27th , 2012
Bibliography: Tribute to Yosef Caro
- Histoire de la Literature Juive , par Isaac Bloch , Grand Rabbin de Nancy et Émil Lévy, Grand Rabbin de Bayonne , Paris Ernest Lerout Éditeur 1901
- http://jewishmag.com/132mag/yosef_caro/yosef_caro.htm – Joséf Caro, por Nachum Mohl
- Jüdisches Lexikon , tomo 3 /p. 603 , Jüdischer Verlag /Berlin, 1929
- http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4065-caro-joseph-b-ephraim
- http://libfindaids.yu.edu:8082/xtf/view?docId=ead/carogeneology/carogeneology.xml;query=;brand=default – La Familia Caro
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shulchan_Aruch#Beth_Yosef
- http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Caro.html
- http://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380611/jewish/Rabbi-Yosef-Caro-The-Master.htm
- http://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380684/jewish/Rabbi-Yosef-Caros-Works.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mishneh_Torah
- http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikopol_(Bulgaria)
- http://www.shulchanarach.com/ – Shulchan Aruch, Inglés, Online
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shlomo_Ganzfried#Translations – Rav Shlomo Ganzfried- Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (Shulchan Aruch Abbreviated) , translations http://www.torah.org/advanced/shulchan-aruch/
Dr. Marcel Israel , Madrid / Sofía, Mayo 2013
marcelisrael@telefonica.net ; marcelmechulam@movistar.es
