Aruch HaShulchan

Arukh HaShulchan (Hebrew: עָרוּךְ הַשֻּׁלְחָן [or, arguably, עָרֹךְ הַשֻּׁלְחָן; see § Title below]) is a work of halacha written by Yechiel Michel Epstein (1829–1908).

The work attempts to be a clear, organized summary of the sources for each chapter of the Shulchan Arukh and its commentaries, with special emphasis on the positions of the Jerusalem Talmud and Maimonides.

Epstein tends to take a lenient view (le-kula) but decidedly without compromising in any form on the power and rule of Jewish law.

[4] The Arukh HaShulchan is often quoted alongside the Mishnah Berurah, a work partially composed earlier[5] by Yisrael Meir Kagan.

However, many people (including Yosef Eliyahu Henkin and Yehuda Pearl) have famously held that the Arukh HaShulchan is more authoritative, since its author was the rabbi of a community, and since it was printed after the Mishnah Berurah.

A ninth volume was published in 1992 by Simcha Fishbane of Chicago, Illinois, who was given permission by the Israeli Bar-Ilan family, descendants of the author, to print 36 previously unpublished chapters on the laws of oaths (Hilkhot Nedarim, Yoreh Deah 203-239).