Joseph ben Ephraim Caro

Joseph ben Ephraim Caro , 1488-1575, eminent Jewish codifier of law, b. Toledo, Spain. He left Spain as a child when the Jews were expelled (1492) and finally settled in Safed, Palestine. His literary works rank among the masterpieces of rabbinical literature. Chief among them are the Bet Yosef [house of Joseph] and Shulhan Aruk [the table set], parts of which are still used as the authoritative code for Orthodox religious and legal disputes. This code owes its fame and popularity as much to the opposition it aroused and the many commentaries it inspired as it does to its merits. Caro was also a noted kabbalist (see kabbalah ) who claimed to have had heavenly visitations. He recorded much of this in a diary later edited to appear as a commentary on the Pentateuch ( Maggid Mesharim, 1646).

Bibliography: See study by R. J. Werblowsky (1962).

Caro, Joseph ben Ephraim (1488–1575). Rabbinic authority and author of the Shulḥān Arukh. Having lived much of his life in Turkey, in 1534 he settled in Safed where he was regarded as the leading scholar. His Beit Yosef (House of Joseph, 1555), on which he worked for twenty years, was a commentary on the Arbaʿah Turim (Four Rows) of Jacob b. Asher; he investigated every law, discussed its development, and gave a final decisive ruling. His aim was to lay down the definitive halakhah so that there would be ‘one Law and one Torah’. Shulḥān Arukh (Prepared Table, 1597) was a digest of the Beit Yosef designed for ‘young students’. Caro also produced many responsa and a commentary on Maimonides' Mishneh Torah (Second Law), the Kesef Mishneh (Silver Repetition) (1574).