Book
Beit Yosef בית יוסף
The vast commentary out of which the Shulchan Aruch grew: for each law, the whole history of opinion from the Talmud to his contemporaries.
Rabbi Yosef Karo wrote the Beit Yosef over twenty years as a commentary on the Arbaah Turim. His aim was not to decide the law but to show where every decision came from: he traces an opinion from its Talmudic source through the Geonim and Rishonim down to his own day.
His rule of decision was open and declared in advance: follow the majority of the three pillars—the Rif, the Rambam and the Rosh. Only afterwards, having finished the commentary, did he write a short abridgement "for the young"—the Shulchan Aruch, which became the code of the whole people.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Acharonim and later rabbinic literature
- Beit Yosef, introduction — the rule of the three pillars
- Shulchan Aruch, introduction — the abridgement «for the young»
Basis: documents and evidence.