Kosher Bookworm: The long and short of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch

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Kosher Bookworm

By Alan Jay Gerber

February 5, 2010/ 21 Shvat 5770

I had always assumed that learning long and hard was a virtue, and that looking for the short and easy way out was a vice.

Well, that was until I learned the history of the composition of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch at RJJ (Rabbi Jacob Joseph Yeshiva) with my rebbe, Rabbi Herschel Kurzrock. In that class this charismatic teacher taught us the virtue of being brief. He demonstrated that Rashi’s greatness as a commentator was due to his terse interpretations of Biblical and Talmudic texts. Rabbi Kurzrock also explained to us that later commentators sought to emulate Rashi by explaining and elucidating other sacred writings in the hope of popularizing and making them more accessible to the Jewish public.

Among the most successful in this category was the 19th century commentator, Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried. In 1864, he succeeded where others had failed, and composed a concise version of the Orach Chaim section of the Shulchan Aruch.

Popularly known as “The Kitzur,” Rabbi Gansfried wrote in a brief and terse manner, a talent that enabled him to simplify some of the most complicated laws and concepts. He helped enhance the observance of all the mitzvoth involved in daily Jewish ritual.

As a Hebrew text, this premier legal work stood for generations next to the Chumash and Siddur on the bookshelves of observant Jewish households.

As time passed, an English translation of the Kitzur became needed in American homes, synagogues and especially in schools. Over sixty years ago a translation by Dr. Hyman Goldin met this need. His work, under the imprint of The Hebrew Publishing Company, became the standard for my generation.

By the mid 1980’s a new work, a more fluid and contemporary version composed by Rabbi Avraham Davis, was released in linear format under the imprint of Metsudah Press. It received acclaim by leading educators and rabbis. A non-linear version published to similar acclaim further enhanced its popularity.

With the success of ArtScroll’s format utilizing both a modern translation and “elucidation” of the texts for Rashi and Chumash, the Ramban, as well as the Mishnah and Talmud, it was felt that the classic Kitzur deserved the same literary treatment. Thus we have a new series that is the subject of this review.

“Elucidation” refers to a running sub-commentary on the text within the core translation that helps further explain laws and concepts in layman’s terms.

Further, additional footnotes are provided on each page that explain the teachings of the basic texts, sourcing such primary Halachic authorities as the Mishnah Berurah, the Chayei Adam, the Beur Halachah, the Maharshah, and the Igros Moshe among many others.

Each volume contains a detailed set of appendixes that give the reader further technical data relating to the proper understanding of Halachic observance and an appreciation of the Halachic and rabbinic decision-making process. Also, each of the three volumes published to date have mutually exclusive indexes that further enhance the convenience of this work to the learner.

This work was prepared by a team of rabbis under the general editorship of Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Klugman and editorial director Rabbi Yosef Asher Weiss. The Halachic guide to this work and a prime source of guidance and counsel is Hagaon Harav David Feinstein.

Other rabbinic luminaries involved in this project include Rabbi Chaim Malinowitz, Rabbi Dovid A. Kaufman, Rabbi Shmuel Kirzner, Rabbi Eli Lefkowitz, Rabbi Mordechai Sonnenschein, Rabbi Yehudah Wischnitzer and Rabbi Sheah Brander.

It is anticipated that the ArtScroll Kitzur will eventually total five volumes.

One thing for sure: this is not your Zeide’s Kitzur; it is better.