General Menu of the Museum	Description of Books

Sidur – a collection of prayers for every day and Shabbats; all prayers are put in a certain order. The word “sidur” comes from the word “seder” (“order”) – the way of life and prayers connected with it. The first written sidur of Bar Amram Gaon was published 1200 years ago. Since that time, the Jewish world has seen thousands of various prayer books. Sidur contains supplications, thanksgiving, blessings and hymns to the Almighty. It also contains fragments of psalms, exerts from Mishnah treatise “The Teachings of Fathers”, explanations of the laws and rituals of prayer. The structure of the prayer book has always been pretty much the same. There are however different versions of sidurim – “nusachi” – made with due regard for the lifestyle and rituals of certain communities.

Machzor is a book of holiday prayers. The word "machzor" means a “cycle”. This name comes from the famous prayer book of the 12^th century that contained the full cycle of annual prayers. When the festival liturgy became longer, separate machzors from each holiday were issued. They contained a great variety of “piyuts” (poetic writings of religious nature), songs and hymns. Nowadays we have the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur machzor, and a special collection of prayers for the three “pilgrimage festivals”: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkoth.

Tchinot (“tchinah” - singular) – charity prayers that were written mainly for women and mainly in Yiddish.

“Eyn Yaakov" – a collection of agadot of the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds with commentaries. It was put together by Rabbi Yaakov ibn Haviv (who lived in around1445 - 1515) in Spain, Portugal, and then in Salonica, Greece.

Midrash Tanchumah – a homiletic midrash that covers all five books of the Torah. It is called so in the name of Rabbi Tanchum ben Abba, an amoray from Erets Israel that lived in the 4^th century but it relates to the later period: it was put together in Erets Israel in the first decade after the Arab invasion, that is, in the 7^th century. Many teachings of this midrash open with the question “yelamdenu rabeinu” (doesn’t our instructor desire to teach us?), that is why it is also called “Midrash Yelamdenu”.

"Yalkut Shimoni" (collection of Shimon) – an Haggadic collection put together in the first half of the 8^th century by rabbi Shimon Darshan (the Preacher) from Frankfurt. The “Yalkut Shimoni" contains Haggadic materials from almost 50 different books (most of which have been lost). It cincludes the greatest and the most significant part of the treasury of Haggadic literature starting with its earliest period. Haggadah here is in the same order as the books of the Scriptures, and the author points to the source of every midrash.

Tsena Urenah (Go and see) – narration of the Torah and Tanah stories in Yiddish, chiefly for women. The first edition was published  in 1622. it was put together by Yaakov ben Itshak Ashkenazi from Yanov. More than 210 edition of this book are known. Some printing shops still print it nowadays.

Galachic literature
The need to always comment on and renew the law to fit the changing historical circumstances has led to the emergence of a huge number of works on Galachah. The Galachic literature was created in the course of many centuries and continues to be written today. These books contain answesr to the question of Galachah and are called “Sheyelot u-tshuvot” (questions and answers) or “Rabbinical Responses”. Their authors are known in the history of Judaism as “poskim” – legislators. Problems that relate to one and the same area of the Jewish life were put together in one section of such collections. Thus the first legal codes were written. The most well known codes were written by RAMBAM ("Mishneh Torah") and Yosef Karo ("Shulchan Aruch"). Legislators wrote their works in many countries and in different times. Besides the books of RAMBAM and Rabbi Yosef Karo, the following works were also widely known and popular: the works of Rabbi Itshak Alfasi (RIF), rabbeinu Asher (ROSH) and later “Chayey Adam” (“Ways of Life of a Man”) of Rabbi Abraham Dantsig and especially “Kitsur Shulchan Aruch” by Rabbi Shlomo Gantsfrid (lived and buried in Uzhgorod). The main works on Galachah in the new history are the “Shulchan Aruch haADMOR” written by Rabbi Shneur-Zalman from Lyady (the author of the book “Tania”) and “HaNoda be Yehuda” by Rabbi Yehezkel Landau. In the 20^th century the Galachic literature was enriched with new works, such as, for instance, “Mishnah Brurah” by Rabbi Israel Meir Cohen from Radin, Poland. He died in 1933 and was known in the Jewish world as Chafets Chaim, by the title of one of his first books. "Mishnah Brurah" by Chafets Chaim is a commentary to the “Orach Chaim” chapter of “Shulchan Aruch”, which in its turn consists of the following chapters: “Mishnah Brurah” (“Clear Teaching”) – an explanation of the Galachic laws of “Shulchan Aruch”, “Shaarey Tsion” (“The Gates of Zion”) – the sources of the “Mishnah Brurah” commentaries, and “Biur Galachah” (“Explanation of the Galachah”) – an expanded commentary on “Shulchan Aruch”.

"Shulchan Aruch" (“Laid Table”) – was written by Rabbi Yosef Karo in the 16^th century. He and his family settled in Tsfat after the Jews were exiled from Spain. “Shulchan Aruch” analyzes in detail the life of a Jew – from birth to death. Rabbi Moshe Isserless (RAMA) from Krakow (17^th century) added Galachic rules of European rabbis, according to the Ashkenazi Jewish tradition, to this fundamental work. These remarks – “Mapa” (“Tablecloth”) accompanied the main text of “Shulchan Aruch” and were printed in a different font, the RASHI font, to make the search of information easier.

This work is divided into four parts:

"Orech Chaim" (the laws of everyday life);
"Yore Dea" (the laws of what’s allowed and what’s prohibited);

“Hoshen hа-mishpat" (property relations);
"Even hа-Ezer" (the laws of family life).

"Orech Chaim" contains the rules of conduct for the Jewish people during the day, as well as the laws of keeping Shabbat and holidays.

"Yore Dea" – questions that are usually asked of rabbis to get explanations or permission to do something within the Galachah: problems related to shchitah (ritual slaughtering), kashrut, the laws of purchasing the firstborn child, funeral, and mourning.

"Hoshen ha-Mishpat" – the laws of legislation that must be learned by “dayanim” – members of “beit-dinah”, the rabbinical court. Certain chapters are devoted to the laws of receiving testimonies and to property cases.

"Even hа-Ezer" – a chapter devoted to the problems of marriage: betrothal, wedding, “ketubah”, divorce, and the so-called “leviratic marriage".

Mishnah – a collection of laws that add to and explain the Oral Torah. The word “mishnah” comes from the same root as the verb “lishnot” – to learn. It was edited by Rabbi Yehudah ha-Nasi, the spiritual leader of the Jews of Erets Israel, in approximately 200, that is, 1800 years ago. Mishnah is divided into six chapters – “seders”: “Zraim” (“grains”) devoted chiefly to agriculture; “Moed” (“holiday”) – the laws of festivals; “Nashim” (“wives”) – laws on family life; “Nezikin” (different kinds of damage) – the laws of property and human relations; “Kodashim” (“holy things”) – the laws of Temple sacrifices; “Taharot” (“purity”) – the laws of ritual cleanness of people, their homes and belognings.

Talmud ("Study") – collection of religious, ethical, legal, and everyday rules of Judaism that were formed in the 4^th century BC – 5^th century AD. Talmud is based upon interpretation and commenting of the Torah. In their debates the wise men discussed every area of life. As a result, Talmud became a real treasury of Jewish wisdom. It’s a collection of laws, parables, philosophical thoughts, historical information, scientific discoveries, and stories full of fantasy and humor. Talmud is the largest and the most valuable work of the post-Biblical period. It became the foundation of the spiritual life of the Jewish people. It also became the foundation of its legislative tradition that exists even today. This work was carried out simultaneously in two major centers of the Jewish life of that time – Erets Israel and Babylon. That is why there exist the Jerusalem Talmud that was written in Erets Israel and edited in its supreme yeshiva in Tveria, and the Babylonian Talmud that was created mainly in the yeshivas of Surah and Pumpedita – the most important centers of studying the Torah in Babylon.

General Menu of the Museum	Description of Books