Halakhic literature is concerned with describing a person’s obligations in accordance with the Torah’s commandments. It encompasses all areas of life and behavior: between the individual and God, between the individual and others, and those that affect only the individual himself. Books on Jewish customs complement the halakhic literature, as they describe the customs that are traditionally accepted and practiced. These genres are full of extensive discussions concerning the details of the mitzvot. Through thorough analysis, these works seek to arrive at a more complete understanding of the reasons for the mitzvot. This understanding is particularly significant. From a practical perspective, it allows halakhic rulings to accord with the purpose of the commandment and the nature of the custom; from a philosophical perspective, it reveals the ideas concealed within the halakha and the custom; and from an emotional perspective, it helps us to internalize the obligation and understand its true intention.

Abudarham (fl. 1340) was born in Seville, Spain. His major work is Ĥibur Peirush HaBerakhot VehaTefillot, but it is popularly known as Sefer Abudarham. It is a detailed commentary on the prayer book, and it cites the customs of the communities of Spain and France, in particular those of Seville and Toledo. In addition to his commentary on the various weekday and Shabbat prayers, the writer discusses many other liturgical matters such as the Passover haggada, the order of the weekly Torah readings and the haftarot (the weekly readings from the Prophets), the blessings recited before performing mitzvot, and the Grace after Meals. He even gives a detailed explanation of the calculation of the Jewish calendar. He cites the prayer books of Rav Amram Gaon and Rav Se’adya Gaon, as well as previously published books of customs. He devotes considerable attention to issues of spelling and vowelization, as well as to the different existing versions of the prayers. His surname is apparently derived from the currency called dirham, and it is believed that his family worked in commerce or tax collection.

From Rav David Abudarham:

Due to the length of the exile and the enormity of its hardships, the customs of the prayers have changed in the various lands. Most people raise their voices in prayer before the God of the Universe, and they are fumbling around like blind people in the dark; they do not understand the meaning of the prayers.… When I saw that the gates of prayer and service have been locked, and those who know and can teach about it are few, I thought to write this book, which provides valuable interpretations.

Rabbi Moshe Met (1551–1606) was born in Przemysl, Poland, and served as the rabbi of Belz, Krakow, and Opatow. He was a student of Rabbi Shlomo Luria, and a member of the Council of Four Lands, the administrative council of the Jews of Poland and Lithuania. His book Mateh Moshe is a halakhic work written in the order of the Oraĥ Ĥayyim volume of Shulĥan Arukh, which deals with halakhot pertinent to the Jewish calendar, whether daily, weekly, or annual. It details halakhot and customs, and provides explanations given by contemporary rabbis, as well as aggadot and Musar ideas that are based on the same themes.

From Rabbi Moshe Met:

There is no person whom the Holy One, blessed be He, does not test. He tests the rich person to see if his hand will be open to the poor, and He tests the poor person to see if he can endure suffering without rebelling. If the rich person passes his test and acts charitably, he will enjoy his money in this world and the principal will remain for him in the World to Come. If the poor person passes his test, he will receive double reward in the future.

Rabbi Yoel Sirkis (1561–1640) was born in Lublin and served as the rabbi of Brisk, Belz, and Krakow, Poland. He was wealthy, and consequently was able to run a yeshiva and provide support for poor Torah scholars.

His greatest work was Bayit Ĥadash (Baĥ), a commentary on the Tur with notes on the Beit Yosef. The book traces the source of each halakha, in the Mishna, the Talmud, and the early commentaries, showing its underlying logic and analyzing the reasons for it. He also wrote Haggahot HaBaĥ, textual emendations to the Talmud in accordance with manuscripts as well as his own logical deductions. These were printed in the margins of the Vilna edition of the Talmud. His opinions with regard to the needs of the community are evident in his halakhic rulings.

Rabbi Sirkis also sought to form an education system where religious studies, Hebrew grammar, and mathematics would be taught. At age fourteen, each student would be examined to determine whether or not he was capable of learning Talmud, and anyone not suited to Talmud study would be taught a profession.

Some believe that Rabbi Sirkis’s surname was Yafeh and that he changed it to Sirkis, meaning “of Sarah,” after his mother or mother-in-law, which was customary in those days.

From Rabbi Yoel Sirkis:

I called this work of mine Bayit Ĥadash, which means new house, because I did not gather into my house, that is, I did not cite in this work, the statements of the great ones unless they contained something new, such as a new question, solution, interpretation, or ruling.

Rabbi David Frankel (1707–1762) was born in Berlin. He served as the rabbi of Dessau and later as the chief rabbi of Berlin. His works Korban HaEda and Sheyarei Korban constitute his commentary on the orders of Nashim, Moed, and part of Nezikin, of the Jerusalem Talmud. His commentary completes the work of Rabbi Eliyahu of Fulda on tractates Bava Kamma, Bava Metzia, Bava Batra, and the order of Zera’im. Rabbi Frankel’s commentary is influenced by the Babylonian Talmud, yet it has become, alongside Rabbi Moshe Margolies’s Penei Moshe, the most influential commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud, on which relatively few commentaries have been written.

From Rabbi David Frankel:

“As water reflects a face to the face, so does the heart of a person to a person” (Proverbs 27:19). One looks into water and sees a face like his own; if he laughs, it laughs, and if he has a crooked nose, it has a crooked nose. The same is true with regard to the heart of a person, which mirrors that of another person; if one loves the other, the other will love him back.

Ĥatam Sofer (1761–1839) was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and served as the rabbi and head of the yeshiva in Pressburg, Hungary. He wrote Responsa Ĥatam Sofer, which comprises thousands of questions and answers on every topic in Judaism. The book is considered a fundamental halakhic work because of its tremendous scope, its bold, original reasoning, and the writer’s thorough command of Talmud and halakha. He also wrote Ĥiddushei Ĥatam Sofer on some tractates of the Talmud, and Torat Moshe, a collection of his sermons on the weekly parasha.

He was the foremost opponent of the Reform movement in Hungary, and he reshaped the face of Judaism in the region in light of the challenges of the time. He was in contact with many of the great scholars of his generation, and he taught hundreds of students in the Pressburg yeshiva, training them to serve as the leaders of the communities of Hungary.

The name Ĥatam Sofer is based on a talmudic expression (see Gittin 66b), and it alludes to the first letter of his name as well as to his family name, Schreiber, which means scribe [sofer]. Many of his descendants were rabbis, and they chose similar names for their works: Ketav Sofer, Shevet Sofer, and Ĥatan Sofer.

From Ĥatam Sofer:

Only if one studies Torah for its own sake, the Holy One, blessed be He, illuminates his eyes and he merits the truth, even if others refute him…God helps him to comprehend the truth. It is permitted to act in accordance with his words as though they came from Heaven.

Ben Ish Ĥai (1835–1909) was born and died in Baghdad. He had contact with Jewish communities from India to England, and was on friendly terms with the rabbis of the Land of Israel, especially the kabbalists of the Beit El yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem.

His book Ben Ish Ĥai is a collection of his sermons on the weekly Torah portion that he delivered to the congregation each Shabbat. The book weaves together aggada and halakha, and connects the halakhic rulings of Rabbi Yosef Karo with the words of other halakhic and kabbalistic authorities, both Sephardic and Ashkenazic. Due to its clear, didactic style, this work is considered, even today, the main work of halakha for Iraqi Jews.

Ben Ish Ĥai wrote on many different areas of Torah: Ben Yehoyada, a commentary on talmudic aggadot; Torah Lishma, a book of responsa; Da’at UTvuna, kabbalistic teachings; books of stories and parables; and even a book of mathematical puzzles, among many other books. He thoroughly understood Jewish life in his generation, and his books and sermons are filled with folk stories and parables that are pertinent even to the common people. His sermons were very popular; it is told that when he spoke at the Great Synagogue of Baghdad four times a year, the synagogue would be filled to capacity, but everyone would remain quiet out of reverence and awe for the rabbi, and consequently the entire congregation heard him clearly.

From Ben Ish Ĥai:

It is known that the hearts of most of the nation are not drawn to expounding halakhot alone; rather, the majority of one’s sermons should be words of aggada and Musar.

Rabbi Yeĥiel Mikhel Tukachinsky (1871–1955) was born in Lyakhavichy, Lithuania, and was the head of the Etz Hayyim yeshiva in Jerusalem. He worked on calculating halakhic times, such as the exact times of sunrise and sunset; the correct time for reading the Megilla, the book of Esther, on Purim; and the halakhic issues surrounding the international date line. He published Luaĥ Eretz Yisrael, a calendar that contains the daily halakhic times as well as the customs of the Land of Israel. This calendar is still commonly used in synagogues today. Rabbi Tukachinsky also wrote books on the mitzvot of the Land of Israel, e.g., Sefer HaShemita, and a series on the sanctity of Jerusalem, called Ir HaKodesh VehaMikdash.

His book Gesher HaĤayyim deals with the topics of visiting the sick, burial, and mourning. It incorporates halakha, aggada, and Jewish thought with regard to the various aspects of death, including purification rites, accompanying the dead, burial, the customs of the seven-day mourning period [shiva], the thirty-day mourning period [sheloshim], the twelve-month mourning period, and the recitation of Kaddish. He characterizes life as “a bridge that connects between two worlds,” and discusses the meaning of life and its transience, and the spiritual meaning of death and the life that follows it.

From Rabbi Yeĥiel Mikhel Tukachinsky:

Temporary life on this earth is nothing but a passageway to a life that is more abundant and bright. There is no conception of this when we are alive and are confined within a mere body, having limited understanding.