Sephardic
Journeys: Sefer Shulchan HaPanim

The rare books and artifacts in this
exhibit, Sephardic Journeys, reflect
a rich tradition of scholarship and culture shaped by migrations, and they
invite, in turn, reflection upon the physical, emotional and spiritual journeys
of Jewish history.

Item above:

Sefer Shulchan HaPanim (ספר שלחן הפנים)
Joseph ben Ephraim Karo
Mosheh ben Shelomoh Ashkenazi (Venice, 1712)
Hebrew, Ladino

While intending to write a concise version of
the Beit Yosef, his commentary on halacha (Jewish law), Joseph ben Ephraim
Karo (1488-1575) succeeded in creating an authoritative legal code, the Shulchan Arukh. Karo departed from the
works of others by listing only definitive rulings, allowing his book (shown
here in partial Ladino translation) to serve, with some Ashkenazic amendments,
as the practical guide to observance for the Jewish world. A refugee from the
Inquisition, Karo spent decades in Turkey before traveling to Egypt and
settling in Safed.

Gift of
Dr. Jacques Roumani and Family

Sephardic Journeys
is on view through June 2015 in The David Berg Rare Book Room. Sephardic Journeys has been supported by
a generous grant from The David Berg Foundation and was created by the Center
for Jewish History with American Sephardi Federation.

To see
other artifacts from Sephardic Journeys click
here: http://16thstreet.tumblr.com/tagged/Sephardic-Journeys