Tuesday 2 August 2016

Concise Code of Jewish Law: A Guide to the Observance of Shabbat‏

From RRW


R Appel Z"L authored the modern masterpiece The Concise Code of Jewish Law

This Sefer has recently  been updated and modernized for contemporary reads. Hilchot Shabbat is now available
 The Concise Code of Jewish Law: A Guide to the Observance of Shabbat—Revised Edition
By Rabbi Gersion Appel
Revised edition edited by Rabbi Daniel Goldstein 
OU Press, Maggid Books and Yeshiva University Press
Despite the eternal nature of halachah, each generation requires its own halachic works. Some halachic works are expansive, theoretical and appeal to the intellect, while others are more practical, to the point and answer the crying need for day-to-day guidance in proper halachic observance. The Concise Code of Jewish Law is an up-to-date work ofhalachah lema’aseh for our generation, presented, as its title suggests, in a concise and user-friendly format. (This volume on Hilchot Shabbat is the first of a projected four-volume series covering all areas of practical halachah.) The text, which loosely follows the organization of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, is accompanied by notes with more detailed examples and applications, as well as a section of Hebrew sources and references at the end of the volume.
First published a generation ago by Rabbi Gersion Appel, the work has been updated by Rabbi Daniel Goldstein in style and in substance to address new technological developments and the opinions of recentposekim. Unique among halachic works in English, Concise Code incorporates not only classic sources such as the Chayei Adam, Mishnah Berurah and Aruch Hashulchan, but a wide spectrum of the greatest posekimfrom the recent past such as Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli and Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, down to the leading posekim of our own day such as Rabbi Nachum Rabinovitch, Rabbi Hershel Schachter, Rabbi Mordechai Willig and Rabbi Eliezer Melamed.
The enthusiastic haskamot of Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik and Rabbi Dovid Lifshitz to the prior edition, and of Rabbi Hershel Schachter and Rabbi Mordechai Willig to the new edition, attest to the important place Concise Code should occupy in your library. Concise Code makes a perfect text for students, as well as for all those interested in enhancing their observance of halachah and acquiring greater knowledge about the intricacies of practical halachah in our generation 
Responding to a perceived need for our generation, The Concise Code of Jewish Law is a modern and up-to-date work of halachah lema’aseh, presented in a concise and user-friendly format. The main text is an adaptation of classic sources of halachah, loosely following the order of theKitzur Shulchan Aruch, supplemented by notes which explore issues in greater depth and address a wide variety of contemporary applications of the laws.
This volume on the laws of Shabbat is part of a projected four-volume series covering all areas of practical halachah. First published a generation ago by Rabbi Gersion Appel, this edition has been updated by Rabbi Daniel Goldstein, in style as well as in substance, to address new technological developments and the opinions of recent poskim. Unique among English halachic works in its breadth of sources, Concise Code includes the halachicdecisions of classic works such as the Chayei Adam, Mishnah Berurah, andAruch Hashulchan, in addition to the rulings of the greatest poskim from the recent past, such as R. Moshe Feinstein, R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik, and R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, and the leading poskim of our own day, such as R. Nachum Rabinovitch, R. Hershel Schachter, and R. Mordechai Willig, and many more great poskim of the past and present.
Concise Code is a perfect text for students, as well as all those interested in enhancing their observance of halachah and acquiring greater knowledge about the intricacies of practical halachah in our generation.
  
The Concise Code of Jewish Law achieves an impressive integration of halachah together with hashkafah and fundamentals of our faith that underlie the halachah. With an engaging style, the author presents detailed halachic material in a manner that is easily accessible. Rabbi Appel’s updating of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch to deal with halachic issues of our generation is truly admirable. Rabbi Hershel Schachter

In reviewing the first edition of Rabbi Appel’s The Concise Code of Jewish Law, I found it brimming with essential halachic information, old as well as new. I am confident that this updated edition will be a valuable aid to all who seek to be punctilious in their Shabbat observance. –Rabbi Mordechai Willig

This is a versatile masterpiece, which can serve equally well for the scholar and the novice. Of the many fine expositions of Shabbat laws currently available, Rabbi Goldstein’s revision of Rabbi Appel’s classic stands supreme.Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb

Rabbi Gersion Appel broke new ground with his adaptation of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch for contemporary Jews. With great insight, he translated and updated the text for today’s concerns and gracefully condensed immense scholarship on other important cases. In this new edition, updated for the smartphone age, Rabbi Daniel Goldstein continues Rabbi Appel’s significant project. –Rabbi Gil Student 

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