Arba'ah Turim - Later Developments

Later Developments

The best-known commentary on the Arba'ah Turim is the Beit Yosef by Rabbi Joseph Karo: this goes beyond the normal functions of a commentary, in that it attempts to review all the relevant authorities and come to a final decision on every point, so as to constitute a comprehensive resource on Jewish law. Other commentaries are Bayit Chadash by Rabbi Yoel Sirkis, Darkhei Moshe by Moses Isserles, Beit Yisrael (Perishah u-Derishah) by Joshua Falk, as well as works by a number of other Acharonim. These often defend the views of ben Asher against Caro.

The Tur continues to play an important role in Halakha.

• Joseph Caro's Shulchan Aruch, the fundamental work of Halakha, is a condensation of his Beit Yosef and follows the basic structure of the Arba'ah Turim, including its division into four sections and chapters - Tur's structure down to the siman is retained in the Shulchan Aruch.
• The views in the other commentaries are often relevant in ascertaining or explaining the Ashkenazi version of Jewish law, as codified by Moses Isserles in his Mappah.

Students of the Shulchan Aruch, particularly in Orthodox Semicha programs, often study the Tur and the Beit Yosef concurrently with the Shulchan Aruch itself: in some editions the two works are printed together, with the Tur occupying one half of each page and the corresponding passage of the Shulchan Aruch occupying the other.