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Laws of Religion

Laws of Judaism Concerning Women and Men

3.  Finding a Spouse

from the Biblical Books of Moses (Torah),

the Code of Maimonides (Mishneh Torah)

and the Shulchan Aruch

Finding a Spouse

From the Biblical Books of Moses (Torah)

The Torah explains that the first woman was created from the rib of the first man[1] which is why a man will leave his parents and cling to his wife.[2]

When it is time for Jacob to find a wife, his father, Isaac, tells him not to marry a woman from Canaan, where they live, but rather to travel to the house of his uncle, Laban, and find a cousin to marry.[3]

Jacob intended to marry Rachel, but Rachel’s father Laban brought Rachel’s sister, Leah, to Jacob instead at night. Jacob had sexual intercourse with Leah and, as a result, was married to her although he did not realize until the morning that it was Leah rather than Rachel.[4] Then, one week later, Jacob also marries Rachel.[5] (So Jacob was married to two sisters, who were his first cousins.)

If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed, then he shall pay the bride-price and marry her. If her father refuses the marriage, then the seducer shall still pay her father the bride-price for virgins.[6]

A male descendant of Moses’s brother Aaron, that is, a priest, is to marry only a virgin.[7] He is forbidden from marrying a woman who has been defiled, a prostitute, a divorced woman or a widow.[8]

When an Israelite man named Zelophehad died with no sons, his daughters complained to Moses and the other leaders that they did not want their father’s name to die because he had no sons. Moses asked the Lord what to do and the Lord said that daughters shall inherit if there are no sons. If there are no sons or daughters, then the man’s brothers inherit. If he had no brothers, then his father’s brothers inherit.[9] But the tribal leaders protested that if daughters inherit and then marry men of a different tribe, the land belonging to their father will then become transferred to the husband’s tribe. So the Lord decreed that daughters who inherit property must marry within their own tribe. As a result, the daughters of Zelophehad married their first cousins on their father’s side.[10]

The Lord commands the Israelites that when a town refuses to submit to them, they should besiege the town, kill all the men and take the women and children as booty.[11] (Thus, women and children who were captives of war could be enslaved and the women could be married.)

If, after a battle, an Israelite soldier sees among the female captives a woman of beautiful form whom he desires and wants to marry, he is to permit her to stay for one month in his house to mourn her father and mother. Only then may he have sex with her and make her his wife. But if he is not satisfied with her, he must set her free. He may not sell her for money or make her his slave at this point because he has defiled her.[12]

When the Israelites defeated the Midianites in battle, they killed all the Midianite men. Moses became angry with the army officers because they had permitted the Midianite women to live. Moses ordered that all the women and male children be killed, but that the virgin young females be allowed to live for the Israelite soldiers to take for themselves.[13] As a result, 32,000 Midianite virgins were taken as part of the booty by the Israelite soldiers.[14]

The Lord forbade the Israelites from marrying members of the seven nations they were going to conquer in the Land of Canaan: the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. He said that he would destroy them if they did marry people of these nations.[15]

The Torah lists close relatives that a man is forbidden to have sexual intercourse with (and is thus also forbidden to marry): his mother,[16] his father’s wife (even if she is not his mother),[17] his sister (even if they have only one parent in common),[18] his granddaughter,[19] his aunt,[20] his son’s wife and his brother’s wife.[21] Also forbidden is a woman and her daughter or granddaughter, and a woman and her sister while the original woman is still alive.[22] A man is also forbidden to have sexual intercourse with another man.[23]

A newly married man shall stay home to be happy with his wife for one year before he can join the army or take on any related responsibility.[24] The Lord said that when the Israelites amass for battle against an enemy, the leaders should send home any of the soldiers who are betrothed but not yet married, so they can get married. Similarly, soldiers should return home if they have built a new house but not yet dedicated it, if they have planted a vineyard but not yet eaten of its fruit or if they are afraid (so as not to dishearten their fellow soldiers).[25]

If a man divorces his wife and she marries another man and the second husband divorces her or dies, her first husband may not remarry her because she has been defiled. That would be an abomination before the Lord.[26]

If two brothers live together and one of them dies, the surviving brother is to have sexual intercourse with his brother’s widow and take her as his wife. Their firstborn child shall bear the name of the dead brother so that his name shall not be wiped out. (Editor’s note: This is called “levirate marriage” or, in Hebrew, yibbum.) If the surviving brother does not want to marry his brother’s widow, she is to report that to the city elders. If they cannot convince him to marry her, then the widow shall, in the presence of the elders, pull off his sandal, spit in his face and say, “This is what is done to a man that will not build up his brother’s house.” From that time on, his family shall be known as “the house of him whose sandal was pulled off.” (Editor’s note: This is known as the ritual of halitzah.)[27]

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Finding a Spouse

Jewish Law (Halakha) from the Code of Maimonides (Mishneh Torah)

Contents:

Obligation to marry and have children – Proper age for marriage

A desirable spouse

Partners forbidden for intercourse/marriage

Marrying a person with defects

Levirate marriage (yibbum)

     Halitzah procedures

Obligation to marry and have children – Proper age for marriage (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah). Every man is obligated to marry in order to fulfill the Biblical commandment to be fruitful and multiply.[28] A man should not live without a wife because marriage leads to great purity.[29] The Sages said that a man should have a wife to prevent him from having unchaste thoughts.[30] A man who is consumed by the study of Torah may forego marriage[31] if his sexual urges do not overcome him and he is free of unchaste thoughts.[32]

The Sages commanded that a man should marry off his sons and daughters when they are close to puberty, to prevent sexual thoughts and forbidden sexual relations.[33] At the same time, a man should first have an occupation and then buy a house to live in before getting married.[34] A man should study Torah before getting married because married life will interfere with his studies. However, if sexual desire and thoughts interfere with his studies, he should marry and then study Torah.[35]

The obligation to have children applies only to men, not to women.[36] Thus, a man is required to take a wife but a woman is permitted to remain unmarried. A man should not marry a barren woman, a woman too old to have children, a woman (aylonit) with masculine characteristics or a minor female not able to give birth, unless he has already fulfilled his obligation to be fruitful and multiply or he takes another wife who can bear children. A woman may marry a eunuch.[37] Nevertheless, the Sages say a woman should have a husband to avoid suspicion of immoral behavior.[38]

The obligation to have children is fulfilled when a man has one son and one daughter.[39] This obligation begins when a man is 17 years old and if he is not married by the time he is 20 then he is guilty of transgressing the commandment of the Torah to be fruitful and multiply.[40]

A betrothal^* involving a male minor (less than 13 years old or without pubic hair[41]) is not valid.[42] However, if the marriage of a male minor is finalized, no ketubah (marriage contract) is to be written until he is of age.[43]

A father may betroth his daughter to a man without her consent until she becomes a mature woman (bogeret)^**. If the betrothal is accomplished by a gift from the man, the gift is given to the girl’s father.[44] If a female minor is given for betrothal by her father and the man she is betrothed to insists on finalizing the marriage while she is still a minor, he has a right to do so even though it is improper for him to do that and even if the girl and her father object.[45] If the betrothal is accomplished by sexual intercourse, the girl must be over three years and one day old. If she is less than three years and one day old, betrothal by sexual intercourse does not result in betrothal.[46] (Sexual intercourse with a female less than three years and one day old is not considered to be sexual intercourse^§§.[47]) When a female minor is given for betrothal by her father the betrothal is valid, but the Talmudic Sages said that a father should wait until his daughter comes of age and freely consents to the marriage.[48]

If a man tells another man that he is taking as betrothed to him the female fetus of the second man's wife by giving the appropriate item to the second man, the betrothal is only valid if the second man's wife is visibly pregnant at the time (and, of course, only if the baby turns out to be a girl).  Maimonides expresses the personal view that such a betrothal must be repeated following the birth of the girl.[49] (Editor’s note: No minimum age for a female is specified for becoming betrothed with her father's consent through the payment of money or by contract.)

Though betrothal of a female minor is valid, a man should not betroth a female until she becomes a mature woman (bogeret).[50] A young man should not marry a much older woman and a young woman should not marry a much older man since this leads to forbidden sexual relations with others.[51]

A desirable spouse (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah). A man should see a woman to judge if she is attractive and suitable for marriage before they are betrothed.[52] It is improper for a man of virtue to marry a woman who has been divorced because of her loose moral conduct.[53]

A man should strive to marry the daughter of a scholar of the Torah and to marry his daughter to a scholar of the Torah.[54] No man should marry the daughter of a man who is not learned in the Torah, for if he dies then his children will grow up in ignorance of the Torah. If necessary, he should sell all his possessions to marry the daughter of a Torah scholar. Similarly, no man should give his daughter for marriage to a man who is not learned in the Torah, because such a man will, like an animal, hit her and have sexual intercourse with her, since he is without shame. A man should marry his daughter to a scholar of the Torah because there is no reprehensible conduct or strife in the home of a Torah scholar.[55]

A man should not marry a woman whom he intends to divorce unless he has informed her in advance that the marriage will be for a limited period of time.[56]

A man should not marry a woman who is pregnant by another man. This is to prevent him from harming the fetus during sexual intercourse because it is not his and he has no concern about it.[57]

Also, a man should not betroth or marry a woman who has had a baby until the two year period of nursing has ended, even if she has weaned the child or given it to a wet nurse for suckling. If the child dies before the two years is over, he may marry the woman.[58]

Partners forbidden for intercourse/marriage (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah). The Torah, as cited above, lists those with whom sexual relations, and thus marriage, are forbidden. Anyone who intentionally has sexual relations with a person with which such relations are forbidden in the Torah is subject to karet,[59] which includes a flogging, if there were the required witnesses and warnings.[60] If a man has sexual relations with his mother, his father's wife or his son's wife, they are subject to execution by stoning.[61] Also, if a man has sexual relations with his wife's sister while his wife is alive, his wife becomes prohibited to him and he must divorce her.[62]

Although the Torah does not say explicitly that it is forbidden to have sexual relations with one's daughter, this prohibition is implied by the prohibition[63] against sexual relations with one's daughter's daughter.[64]

There are 20 female relatives, including one's maternal and paternal grandmothers, with whom sexual intercourse (and, therefore, marriage) is forbidden by rabbinic decree but not forbidden by the Torah. These are considered secondary prohibitions because of their rabbinic origin.[65]

Three classes of women are forbidden to a priest (descendant of Aaron through the male line): a divorced woman, a harlot (zonah)^*** and a woman born from the union of a priest and a woman forbidden to him.[66] While it is not forbidden by Jewish law, a man who is not learned in the Torah should not marry the daughter of a priest. If they do marry, the Sages say that they will have no children. One of them will die early or there will be strife between them. It is good for a scholar of the Torah to marry the daughter of a priest.[67]

A Jewish man or woman who has sexual intercourse with a non-Jew as husband and wife is subject to a flogging.[68]

A Jewish man who has sexual intercourse with a non-Jewish woman with licentious intent rather than as her husband is subject to a flogging for disobedience to discourage marriage between them. If this happens only once with a particular non-Jewish woman, he is flogged for disobedience once for having intercourse with a non-Jewish woman. If, however, their relations continue, he is liable for flogging for disobedience multiple times, separately for having intercourse with a non-Jewish woman, with a menstruating woman, with a female servant and with a harlot (zonah). Having sex with non-Jewish women causes Jews to cleave to non-Jewish nations from which God has separated the Jews, to turn away from God and to betray him.[69] A child that results from such a union is not considered to be the child of the Jewish man, though a child resulting from any other type of forbidden sexual intercourse is considered to be the child of the Jewish father.[70]

If a Jewish man has sexual intercourse with a female heathen^§, the woman is to be executed. This applies as long as the man did the act intentionally, he is above the age of nine^§§ years and she is above the age of three years^§§§, whether or not she is married. She is executed because of her role in causing him to transgress,[71] just as an animal is to be killed if a Jew has sexual relations with it.[72]

If a male heathen has sexual intercourse with a married Jewish woman, he is liable to be executed. If she is not married, he is not to be executed.[73] (This is the same for a Jewish man.)

A betrothal of a Jewish woman to an apostate Jewish man is valid, and a get (bill of divorce) is required to end it.[74]

Any person who converts and accepts all the commandments of the Torah is a Jew in all respects.[75] A convert must undergo immersion and, for males, circumcision.[76] Such a convert may marry a Jew. Similarly, a freed slave (who has been immersed in the waters of a mikveh and who has agreed to follow the limited number of commandments that slaves of Jews a required to follow) is also a Jew in all respects, including the ability to marry a Jew.[77] A freed slave becomes a Jew in this manner even without accepting all the commandments of the Torah.[78]

A betrothal between a Jewish man or woman and a non-Jew or a slave is not valid.[79] Although a female slave who has undergone immersion and agreed to follow the limited number of commandments required for such a person is not a Jew, she is also no longer a heathen.[80]  Therefore, a Jewish man may marry her without being liable for a flogging. Also, a zealot may not kill a Jewish man for having sexual intercourse with her in public, as would be called for if she were a heathen.[81]

When a slave is purchased from a non-Jew, the slave is given the option of becoming a Jewish slave by following a limited number of the commandments of Jewish religious law and, for a male, becoming circumcised. If the slave agrees then the slave undergoes immersion in a mikveh. If the slave does not agree, then after one year the slave is to be sold to a non-Jew.[82] A slave who has been thus immersed, and for a male, circumcised, is no longer considered to be a heathen and the prohibitions that pertain to heathens no longer apply. The slave is, at the same time, not yet a Jew, so relations forbidden to Jews are not forbidden to the slave.  As a result, the slave is permitted to have sexual intercourse and to marry his mother, sister or daughter.[83] Similarly, when a slave is freed, those people who were his relatives in his slavery are no longer considered to be his relatives.  Therefore, he is now permitted to have sexual intercourse or marry his mother, his sister, his daughter or any other woman he was related to before he was freed.[84]

Marrying a person with defects (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah). If a man stipulates at the time of betrothal^* that the betrothal is conditional upon the woman having no defects and the woman does have one or more of the defects that make her unsuitable, then the betrothal is not valid[85] even if she then gets the defect cured by a physician.[86] If the betrothal takes place without the man making any stipulation concerning defects in the woman, and the woman has one or more defects that make her unsuitable, then the betrothal is of doubtful validity.[87]

If the betrothal is conditional on the man's being free from defects and he has defects that are then cured by a physician, then the betrothal is valid.[88] However, if a man with crushed testicles or whose penis has been severed such that the whole corona is gone marries a woman who was born a Jew and has sexual intercourse with her, he is subject to a flogging. He is, however, permitted to marry a woman who has converted to Judaism or a freed female slave.[89]

The defects in a woman that make her unsuitable include: offensive body odor or breath; a rough voice, breasts that exceed the size of other women's breasts by a handbreadth, breasts with a handbreadth of space between them, a scar from a dog bite, and a mole on the forehead.[90] A woman is also unsuitable for marriage if she has any of the defects that make a priest unsuitable to perform a service[91] including: being a dwarf or unusually tall; having a large or small body out of proportion to the limbs;[92] having black skin; being an albino;[93] being a deaf-mute or an epileptic;[94] a broken hand or foot;[95] lameness; chronically swollen feet;[96] bow-leggedness;[97] left-handedness (unless ambidextrous);[98] skin with scabs or eruptions;[99] an ear with a nick, crack, hole or dryness;[100] two unusually small ears or ears that hang down;[101] an eyelid with a slit or piercing;[102] one or both eyebrows missing or eyebrows that differ from each other (e.g., in length of the hair or the color)[103] missing or very thick eyelashes; eyelashes that differ from each other;[104] an eye missing or containing a growth or a white fleck in the pupil or a black fleck in the white of the eye;[105] eyes that are either higher or lower than is normal; eyes that are small or very big; squinting when looking at something closely or as a result of seeing light; eyes that differ from each other in position, color or size;[106] a pierced or slit nose;[107] a nose that is out of proportion by being either too large or too small; a nose that turns to one side or whose tip turns downward;[108] a pierced, nicked or cracked lip; a swollen mouth;[109] a swollen belly; a navel that protrudes out rather than being sunken in;[110] dry flaky skin anywhere on the body;[111] and trembling due to illness or advanced age.[112] Also, a man should not marry a woman from a family of lepers or epileptics if there are three examples in that family of the malady being inherited.[113]

If a man has made no stipulation concerning defects in his bride and the wife is then found to have a hidden defect that the husband was unaware of when they married, then she leaves the marriage without receiving either the amount of her basic ketubah (100 or 200 denar) or any additional amount that the man added to this. If, however, there is a public bathhouse and the man has local relatives, he may not claim that he did not know about her defects because his female relatives would have seen her naked there and reported her defects to him.[114] If the wife's defects are plainly visible, the husband may not claim that he did not know about them if it is customary for Jewish women where they live to walk in the marketplace with their faces uncovered, as they do now (meaning, in the time of Maimonides) in Europe. If, however, the custom is that the women do not go out in the street or the marketplace at all, or if the woman would be covered or hidden in the bathhouse, then the husband may make a valid claim that he was unaware of a defect and the wife loses the full amount of her ketubah.[115] If the man does not make a claim concerning a blemish on his wife's body until several days after they have had sexual intercourse, then his claim is to be ignored because he would have examined her thoroughly before having sex with her. This applies even if the blemish is in the folds of her skin or on the sole of her foot.[116]

Levirate marriage (yibbum) (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah). When a man without descendants dies, any woman who is married or betrothed to him is required by the Torah to marry his brother by the same father. Their firstborn child shall bear the name of the dead brother so that his name shall not be wiped out.[117] This is called levirate marriage (yibbum in Hebrew).[118] The woman and her deceased husband's brother are to go before judges who will advise them whether to have a levirate marriage or to be released from this requirement through the ceremony of halitzah. Halitzah might be better, for example, if one is young and the other is old.[119]

Either levirate marriage or halitzah is required unless the man who died has a living son or daughter or a living descendant of a son or daughter as long as the mother of these children was not a slave or a non-Jew. This is because the child of a slave is a slave and the child of a non-Jewish woman is a non-Jew and they are not considered connected to their Jewish father.[120] There is no levirate marriage (or halitzah) if the dead man and his brother have the same mother but not the same father.[121]

A widow who has a brother-in-law with whom neither levirate marriage or halitzah has yet occurred may not marry another man. If she does and has sexual intercourse with him, then they are both to be punished by flogging. The marriage must be dissolved by divorce, even if they had children. She is forbidden to ever remarry this man or to marry her brother-in-law. Once halitzah has been performed with the brother-in-law, then she may marry another man.[122]

If a man wants to marry or perform halitzah with his brother's widow, she cannot refuse him. He can tell her that as long as she is obliged to marry him, no other woman will marry him. If he is already married, then he can take her as an additional wife.[123]

If the man who died had many wives, his brother may marry only one of them. When the brother has sexual intercourse with this one wife, or else releases one of the wives from the requirement for levirate marriage through halitzah, then the other wives are released from their requirement of levirate marriage.[124] The brother may choose from among the widows which one he wants to marry. If she refuses, she is considered to be rebellious and they perform halitzah, after which she forfeits the amount of her ketubah. However, the other widows retain their ketubah funds.[125] Once a man performs levirate marriage or halitzah with a woman, the man and his brothers are forbidden from ever marrying any of her co-wives (other wives of her deceased husband).[126]

If the man who died has many brothers, levirate marriage or halitzah of one brother with one widow releases all the others from the obligation.[127] The obligation of levirate marriage or halitzah falls on the oldest brother of the deceased husband.[128] If the oldest brother does not desire the levirate marriage, a younger brother may take his place.  But if none of the brothers want it, then the oldest one is compelled to perform halitzah with the widow.[129] If the oldest brother wants to marry the widow but she wants to marry a different brother instead, she is compelled to marry the oldest one.[130]

As discussed under the laws concerning divorce, a man can be forced to divorce his wife and give her the amount of her ketubah if he has boils[131] bad breath of the mouth or nose or if he becomes a collector of dog feces or a tanner or a copper miner[132]. If a married man with one of these conditions dies and his brother has the same condition, the widow can tell the brother that she accepted this blemish in her husband but is not willing to accept it in him. If she says this, then the brother is required to do halitzah, freeing her of her obligation to marry him, and she receives the amount of her ketubah.[133]

Halitzah procedures (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah): Release from levirate marriage (halitzah) must be done before three Jews (none of whom is a convert or the child of a convert) who can read and assist the man and woman to recite properly. It is best to have five witnesses even if the additional two are not literate.[134]

Finding a Spouse

Jewish Law (Halakha) from the Shulchan Aruch

Contents:

General considerations

^*Betrothal: The marriage laws discussed here reflect the custom of earlier times in which two separate steps were required to achieve a full marriage. The first step, kiddushin or erusin, is the consecration of the woman to the man and is referred to in our texts as "betrothal." The reversal of this process required a get (a bill of divorce). A man was not responsible for supporting a woman who was betrothed to him.[254] Also, after betrothal the couple was not permitted to have sexual relations until the finalization of the marriage (nisu'in) even if the betrothal had been carried out through sexual intercourse.[255]

The marriage was finalized by nisu'in – the woman moving into the man's house to live there. In the earlier times being described in the codes of Jewish law, this second step might have occurred one year after the betrothal.[256]

In the present era, both steps, betrothal (kiddushin) and finalization of the marriage (nisu'in), occur in a single ceremony when the couple marries under the chuppah – the wedding canopy that symbolizes the couple's home.

^**A mature woman (bogeret) is one who is at least 12-1/2 years of age and has had at least two pubic hairs for at least six months.[257]

^***Harlot (zonah): The word zonah, meaning "harlot" or "licentious woman," is used in the texts of Jewish religious law to designate any female who is not Jewish by birth, no matter what her age, even if she has converted to Judaism.

The term zonah also includes any Jewish woman who has had sexual intercourse with a man who she is forbidden to marry by Jewish religious law.[258] Such forbidden men include relatives forbidden by the Torah, all heathen men and slaves.[259] A Jewish woman becomes a zonah as a result of sexual intercourse with a man she is not permitted to marry whether the intercourse was consensual or by accident or rape and whether it was vaginal or anal as long as the woman was more than three^§§§ years of age when it happened and the man was over nine^§§ years of age.[260] However, an unmarried Jewish woman, even a prostitute, who has sexual intercourse indiscriminately with men is not classified by Jewish religious law as a zonah as long as none of the men she has sex with are forbidden to her the law.[261] Similarly, becoming pregnant while unmarried[262], or even having sexual intercourse with animals[263], does not make a woman a zonah.

^§The word "heathen" refers to an idol-worshiper (polytheist) – a person who worships false gods.[264]  An apostate is considered to be a heathen[265] as is a Jew who publicly desecrates the Sabbath.[266] While Muslims are recognized as monotheists,[267] according to Maimonides Christians are not,[268] (though there are other rabbis who hold that the Christian Trinity is compatible with monotheism).

^§§ Sexual intercourse with a male less than nine years old does not count as sexual intercourse according to the codes of Jewish law.[269]

^§§§Sexual intercourse with a female less than three years and one day old is not considered as sexual intercourse[270] because, according to the codes of Jewish law, healing will restore the hymen, and thus the virginity of such a young female, following intercourse.[271]

^‡The Shulchan Aruch, written by Joseph Caro in the 16th century, represents his Sephardic background. Printed copies of the Shulchan Aruch always include the comments of Moses Isserles, which are written from an Ashkenazi perspective.

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Abbreviations used in footnotes:

Gen: The Biblical book of Genesis.

Exod: The Biblical book of Exodus.

Lev: The Biblical book of Leviticus.

Num: The Biblical Book of Numbers.

Deut: The Biblical Book of Deuteronomy.

MT:  The Mishneh Torah of Maimonides (Code of Maimonides). The names of the specific books and treatises within each book are given according to the Yale University Press translation and also the Moznaim/Touger Hebrew transliterations to facilitate locating the texts posted here.

F:  indicates page numbers in the Feldheim Publishers, Ltd., translation of Book 1 of the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides, the Book of Knowledge.

M:  indicates page numbers in the relevant volume of the Moznaim Publishing Corporation’s Touger translation. (Some of the books of Mishneh Torah are published in several volumes by Moznaim, so the Moznaim volume numbers do not correspond to the Book numbers of Maimonides’ work.)

Y:  indicates page numbers in the translation of the Yale University Press Judaica Series.

SA:  The Shulchan Aruch of Joseph Caro, with the comments of Moses Isserles noted, as appropriate. Our summaries are based on the Sefaria English translation, which is not yet complete. The four sections of the Shulchan Aruch are on Sefaria at the following links: Orach Chayim, Yoreh De'ah, Even HaEzer and Choshen Mishpat.

●  The sources cited are described on the page Source Texts Used for Laws of Judaism.