The four parts of halakhah: Orach Chaim, Yoreh De'ah, Even HaEzer, Choshen Mishpat ארבעה חלקי ההלכה
Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher divided the whole living law into four parts—and since then every code and every question finds its place in one of them.
The division was introduced by the Arbaah Turim—the "Four Rows" of Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher, son of the Rosh, and the Shulchan Aruch is built on it too. It has held for seven hundred years.
Orach Chaim—"the way of life." Everything a person does from day to day and year to year: waking and the morning blessing, tzitzit and tefillin, prayer, the meal, the Sabbath, the festivals, the fasts. The most read part: the Mishnah Berurah and the Kaf HaChaim are both written on it.
Yoreh De'ah—"it teaches knowledge." The permitted and the forbidden: kashrut and slaughter, the separation of offerings, vows, family purity, mourning, honouring parents, Torah scrolls. The part a rabbi turns to when asked what is allowed.
Even HaEzer—"the stone of help." Marriage and divorce: betrothal, the ketubah, kiddushin, the get, levirate marriage. The name is taken from the book of Samuel, and through it from the words about a wife as "a helper opposite him."
Choshen Mishpat—"the breastplate of judgment." Monetary and civil law: loans and pledges, buying and selling, hire, damages, inheritance, the court and witnesses. The name is from the high priest's breastplate, by which judgment was given.
What is not in them. The laws that apply only in the Land of Israel and only with the Temple: offerings, purity, shmitah, terumah and maaser. The Rambam sets these out in the Mishneh Torah; the Tur and the Shulchan Aruch do not: they wrote about what is done now. That is why the Peat HaShulchan was later needed—a code of what the Shulchan Aruch left outside its edge.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Rishonim
- Arbaah Turim, introduction to Orach Chaim — the plan of the fourfold division itself
Acharonim and later rabbinic literature
- Shulchan Aruch, introduction — the same division, taken up by the code
Basis: documents and evidence.