Codification of Jewish Law and an Introduction to the Jurisprudence of the Mishna Berura

The<i> Mishna Berura</i> is, without a doubt, Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan's greatest and most complex contribution to the canon of Orthodox Jewish Law; it is a singular work that synthesizes Jewish traditions, laws, and mores into a practical <i>halakhic</i> guide to daily religious life. For all of his traditionalism, Rabbi Kagan was an iconoclast, and the <i>Mishna Berura</i> broke from many of the traditional approaches of deciding halakhic directives. Instead, he favored studying, engaging, and asserting decisions in a nuanced, almost natural approach to how ethical people should live their daily lives consistent with Jewish law. Today, the<i> Mishna Berura</i> has gained widespread recognition and is considered authoritative by essentially all of contemporary Orthodox Jewry, a measure of greatness that few works of<i> Halakha</i> have attained. Michael J. Broyde and Ira Bedzow here investigate this seminal text and explore its background and decision-making process.