Chayei Adam חיי אדם
Orach Chaim retold for the householder: 224 chapters on weekdays, Shabbat and the festivals. Whole societies were formed to study it together.
224 chapters: 69 on daily conduct and prayer, 155 on Shabbat and the festivals. Written for the literate layman—not for one who will unpick a dispute of the Rishonim, but for one who needs to know what to do.
Printed beside it is Nishmat Adam: the same questions taken deeper, so that the abridgement can give an account of itself. The book thus answers at once the reproach always brought against abridged codes.
The year of the first edition differs in the reference works: some give 1801, others 1810, and Vilna is named in both cases. In 1810 Nishmat Adam was first printed there as an addendum to Chayei Adam; hence, it seems, the confusion. The second edition appeared in 1818, in the author's lifetime. But the main thing happened afterwards: in town after town chevrot Chayei Adam were formed—societies that studied it together. From here the road runs straight to the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch and the Mishnah Berurah.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Acharonim and later rabbinic literature
- Chayei Adam — the structure: 69 chapters on weekdays and prayer, 155 on Shabbat and the festivals
Scholarship
- The reference works differ on the first edition — 1801 against 1810, Vilna in both cases; the earlier year is taken here
Basis: documents and evidence.