Sephardic Kitzur Shulchan Aruch
Tim Meushaw
and was wondering if anyone had any info on it. "The Sephardic Kitzur
Shulchan Aruch," written by Rabbi Reuven Amar, is available from
<http://seforimcenter.com/product.asp?P_ID=3852>. My question is,
does anyone know if it's worth it? The description says it's the
"classic guide" to Sephardic laws, but I can't find anything on Google
about the book or the rabbi.
Thanks,
Tim
--
Timothy A. Meushaw
meu...@pobox.com
Ken Bloom
> Hi all. I stumbled across a book I haven't seen referenced before, and
> was wondering if anyone had any info on it. "The Sephardic Kitzur
> Shulchan Aruch," written by Rabbi Reuven Amar, is available from
> <http://seforimcenter.com/product.asp?P_ID=3852>. My question is, does
> anyone know if it's worth it? The description says it's the "classic
> guide" to Sephardic laws, but I can't find anything on Google about the
> book or the rabbi.
I have seen it. It's one volume, with biggish print, on a subject where
one volume isn't really enough. Just enough to give you an overview of
basic principles and concerns. OTOH I don't know of any English book on
sepharadi halacha that's as cheap and small as this, so it may be good
for a certain segment of the market, good for travel, or good for using
as a framework for the review of halacha when going through the basic
outlines can jog your memory about the details too.
It's similar in scope and depth to Shaare Halacha, a recently written
English Ashkenazi code of halacha. They've even got the same number of
pages.
There are other options that are better if your budget, patience, and/or
skill allow:
Yalkut Yosef, now being translated into English, if you have bookshelf
space and budget for a massively multivolume set, and the patience to
wait as they translate new volumes over what I imagine will be another
year or more.
Yalkut Yosef Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, 2 volumes in Hebrew, about the same
price.
Ben Ish Hai, translated in 4 volumes, is about a century old, and in many
places in the Sephardic world, he's been eclipsed by R' Ovadia Yosef, who
wrote Halichot Olam to systematically disagree with areas of the Ben Ish
Hai's psak. The Ben Ish Hai also wrote before the existance of some
modern technologies that have an impact on Shabbat and Yom Tov observance.
The upshot of course, is that you should always look to expanding your
skill and your library, and understand the halacha from several different
sources.
--Ken
--
Ken (Chanoch) Bloom. PhD candidate. Linguistic Cognition Laboratory.
Department of Computer Science. Illinois Institute of Technology.
http://www.iit.edu/~kbloom1/
Tim Meushaw
> On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 23:08:24 +0000, Tim Meushaw wrote:
>
>> Hi all. I stumbled across a book I haven't seen referenced before, and
>> was wondering if anyone had any info on it. "The Sephardic Kitzur
>> Shulchan Aruch," written by Rabbi Reuven Amar, is available from
>> <http://seforimcenter.com/product.asp?P_ID=3852>. My question is, does
>> anyone know if it's worth it? The description says it's the "classic
>> guide" to Sephardic laws, but I can't find anything on Google about the
>> book or the rabbi.
>
> I have seen it. It's one volume, with biggish print, on a subject where
> one volume isn't really enough. Just enough to give you an overview of
> basic principles and concerns. OTOH I don't know of any English book on
> sepharadi halacha that's as cheap and small as this, so it may be good
> for a certain segment of the market, good for travel, or good for using
> as a framework for the review of halacha when going through the basic
> outlines can jog your memory about the details too.
Thanks. Price and size did play a factor in my asking. I'm just not
sure how authorative it is. Sounds like it's okay, though.
> It's similar in scope and depth to Shaare Halacha, a recently written
> English Ashkenazi code of halacha. They've even got the same number of
> pages.
Haven't seen that, so I'll take your word for it. The standard KSA is
bigger in English, I know.
> There are other options that are better if your budget, patience, and/or
> skill allow:
Low, low, and low. ;-)
> Yalkut Yosef, now being translated into English, if you have bookshelf
> space and budget for a massively multivolume set, and the patience to
> wait as they translate new volumes over what I imagine will be another
> year or more.
I've seen that to keep in mind, but wouldn't be getting it any time
soon. Although I do have a project to build a few bookcases in the
basement, and some multivolume sets would look pretty....
> Yalkut Yosef Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, 2 volumes in Hebrew, about the same
> price.
>
> Ben Ish Hai, translated in 4 volumes, is about a century old, and in many
> places in the Sephardic world, he's been eclipsed by R' Ovadia Yosef, who
> wrote Halichot Olam to systematically disagree with areas of the Ben Ish
> Hai's psak. The Ben Ish Hai also wrote before the existance of some
> modern technologies that have an impact on Shabbat and Yom Tov observance.
>
> The upshot of course, is that you should always look to expanding your
> skill and your library, and understand the halacha from several different
> sources.
The latter is one motivation for my initial post. My wife would
be unhappy with me for expanding our library just for the sake of
expanding it. :-) And skills are coming slowly; I've just started
learning mishnayot (my inlaws recently acquired the full Kehati English
pocketsized set for me), so I'm hoping once I know more basic halacha,
going back to Hebrew sources will be a little easier in translation
once I understand more basics.
Ken Bloom
> On 2008-04-09, Ken Bloom <kbl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 23:08:24 +0000, Tim Meushaw wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all. I stumbled across a book I haven't seen referenced before,
>>> and was wondering if anyone had any info on it. "The Sephardic Kitzur
>>> Shulchan Aruch," written by Rabbi Reuven Amar, is available from
>>> <http://seforimcenter.com/product.asp?P_ID=3852>. My question is,
>>> does anyone know if it's worth it? The description says it's the
>>> "classic guide" to Sephardic laws, but I can't find anything on Google
>>> about the book or the rabbi.
>>
>> I have seen it. It's one volume, with biggish print, on a subject where
>> one volume isn't really enough. Just enough to give you an overview of
>> basic principles and concerns. OTOH I don't know of any English book on
>> sepharadi halacha that's as cheap and small as this, so it may be good
>> for a certain segment of the market, good for travel, or good for using
>> as a framework for the review of halacha when going through the basic
>> outlines can jog your memory about the details too.
>
> Thanks. Price and size did play a factor in my asking. I'm just not
> sure how authorative it is. Sounds like it's okay, though.
I should mention that the copy I've seen is in my shul. That fact alone
should indicate that it's halachically correct. I'm unsure whether it's
derived from Rav Ovadia's psak or not, but many halachot are indicated as
either having a source in the Kaf HaHayyim or the Ben Ish Hai.
>> It's similar in scope and depth to Shaare Halacha, a recently written
>> English Ashkenazi code of halacha. They've even got the same number of
>> pages.
>
> Haven't seen that, so I'll take your word for it. The standard KSA is
> bigger in English, I know.
I have that in 2 volumes from Moznaim, which I got for I think $30. The
biggest issue with that it is that it assumes you know the basics of
hilchot shabbat, and then it just paskens on specific common cases.
>> Yalkut Yosef, now being translated into English, if you have bookshelf
>> space and budget for a massively multivolume set, and the patience to
>> wait as they translate new volumes over what I imagine will be another
>> year or more.
>
> I've seen that to keep in mind, but wouldn't be getting it any time
> soon. Although I do have a project to build a few bookcases in the
> basement, and some multivolume sets would look pretty....
You should put the bookcases in your livingroom. I've found that I can
identify a jewish house when I see the bookcases through the front
windows, because they have so many multi-volume sets. (Well, certainly
also because the bookshelves and books there to begin with.)
Tim Meushaw
> I should mention that the copy I've seen is in my shul. That fact alone
> should indicate that it's halachically correct. I'm unsure whether it's
> derived from Rav Ovadia's psak or not, but many halachot are indicated as
> either having a source in the Kaf HaHayyim or the Ben Ish Hai.
Thanks!
>> I've seen that to keep in mind, but wouldn't be getting it any time
>> soon. Although I do have a project to build a few bookcases in the
>> basement, and some multivolume sets would look pretty....
>
> You should put the bookcases in your livingroom. I've found that I can
> identify a jewish house when I see the bookcases through the front
> windows, because they have so many multi-volume sets. (Well, certainly
> also because the bookshelves and books there to begin with.)
We don't have a dedicated living room for the time being; it serves
double duty with the dining room, and as such the cabinet holds plates
and stuff. We're hoping to expand the house later this year, and the
dining room can then move back to where it should be, and the living
room can be solo again. At that time, some books may in fact move
upstairs.
mos...@mm.huji.ac.il
> I've seen that to keep in mind, but wouldn't be getting it any time
> soon. Although I do have a project to build a few bookcases in the
> basement, and some multivolume sets would look pretty....
Reminds me of the story of the fellow who goes into a sforim store
and asks the shopkeeper for "three feet" worth of books.
Moshe Schorr
It is a tremendous Mitzvah to always be happy! - Reb Nachman of Breslov
The home and family are the center of Judaism, *not* the synagogue.
May Eliezer Mordichai b. Chaya Sheina Rochel have a refuah shlaimah
btoch sha'ar cholei Yisroel.
Disclaimer: Nothing here necessarily reflects the opinion of Hebrew University