Thursday 24 September 2009

Halachah BeQitzur

I have probably posted on this before so here is an update

The most popular Qitsur is the Qitsur Shulchan Aruch (and I will now revert to using K instead of Q)

But the KSA is neither the first nor the last.

Many books have been condensed.

The Rif condensed Shas

A relatively unknown Kitzur is that of the Tur. Yes the Turim were more-or-less condensed by Sefer Ho'agur.

There are kitzurim of Sefer Hachinuch and even of Chayei Adam - despite wise cracks about shortening one's life!

Sefer Hamitzvos of the Rambam was condensed by none other than the Chofetz Chaim.

Another handy Kitzur - that is not so well known - is the abridged Mishneh Torah by Philip Birnbaum. I recommend the bilingual edition - and it is hard to get nowadays.

Two of my favorite "kitzurs" are on Hilchos Shabbos
The Chayei Adam's own Zichru Toras Moshe
And
R Posen's Kitzur Hilchos Shabbos

The former is great for principles
The latter has a lot of modern applications

BeKitzur:
Have a great 5770!

Shalom

RRW

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