# #198: Rabbi Yosef Karo I: The Story behind the Shulchan Aruch

From **History For The Curious** by R Aubrey Hersh;Mena Reisner.

- **Published:** Wed, 02 Sep 2026 09:10:27 +0100
- **Duration:** 1:01:16
- **Audio:** https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/2kj6wzdgdj486hi2/HC093_-_Ep_198_-_Bes_Yosef_Assembled_mixdown_v46a9od.mp3
- **Page:** https://rabbiaubreyhersh.podbean.com/e/198-rabbi-yosef-karo-1488-1575-the-high-stakes-story-behind-the-shulchan-aruch/
- **TorahApp:** https://torahapp.org/share/p/3P_history-curious?e=rabbiaubreyhersh.podbean.com%2F92732421-42da-3a73-b644-ee9a0c8d843c

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<p style="font-weight: 400;">This 2-part series discovers the dramatic life of Rabbi Yosef Karo, which was lived far beyond the pages of his famous legal code, the Shulchan Aruch.</p>
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<p style="font-weight: 400;">Born into the upheaval of the 1492 Spanish Expulsion, he fled across borders from Lisbon to Cairo to Greece and eventually to Eretz Yisrael and was instructed by a spiritual maggid. But the 16th century of mass migrations threatened to fracture Jewish tradition into "countless Torahs". So he embarked on a monumental mission to write a master legal framework and unite the diaspora, which fundamentally reshaped our lives.</p>
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<p style="font-weight: 400;">His story included an attempt to hasten the Messianic era, that led to him being banned from the main synagogue of Tzfas and a son born to him in his old age.</p>
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<p style="font-weight: 400;">Timestamps:</p>
00:00 Intro &amp; dedication
02:20 Who was Rabbi Yosef Karo?
05:57 Tzfas: The rise of a holy city
16:46 Karo’s authority in Tzfas
21:08 What was Smicha and why revive it?
26:25 The 1538 Smicha controversy
35:44 Challenges to reviving Smicha
40:57 Rabbi Yosef Karo and Smicha
45:29 Why Karo wrote the Beis Yosef &amp; Shulchan Aruch
50:19 Why the Tur? Karo’s method of codification
54:33 Ashkenazi vs Sephardi practice &amp; local Minhag
57:38 Modern implications &amp; the post-Holocaust world
1:00:23 Closing &amp; Part 2