Acharonim

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Rabbinical Eras
Zugot Tannaim Amoraim Savoraim Geonim Rishonim Acharonim

Acharonim (Hebrew: אחרונים; sing. אחרון, Acharon; lit. "last ones") is a term used in Jewish law and history, to signify the leading rabbis and poskim (Jewish legal decisors) living from roughly the 16th century to the present.

The Acharonim follow the Rishonim, the "first ones" - the rabbinic scholars between the 13th and the 16th century following the Geonim and preceding the Shulkhan Arukh. The publication of the Shulkhan Arukh thus marks the transition from the era of Rishonim to that of Acharonim.

1 Consequences for Halakhic change
2 Some Acharonim
3 See also
4 External links and references

[edit] Consequences for Halakhic change

According to Orthodox Jewish tradition, scholars in one era within the history of halachic development do not challenge the rulings of previous-era scholars, and hence Acharonim cannot dispute the rulings of rabbis of previous eras unless they find support from other rabbis of previous eras.

The question of which prior rulings can and cannot be disputed has led to efforts to define which rulings are within the Acharonim era with precision. According to many rabbis the Shulkhan Arukh is from an Acharon. Some hold that Rabbi Yosef Karo's Beit Yosef has the halakhic status of a work of a Rishon, while his later Shulkhan Arukh has the status of a work of an Acharon.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Some Acharonim

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Isaac Abendana, 17th century Sephardic scholar in England
Jacob Abendana, 17th century Sephardic rabbi in England
Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, 17th century Dutch scholar and Kabbalist, first Rabbi in the Americas
Yehudah Leib Alter (Sfas Emes) Gerer rebbe.
Bezalel Ashkenazi, (Shittah Mekubetzet), 16th century Talmudist
Chaim Joseph David Azulai, (Chida, Shem ha-Gedolim) 18th century scholar and traveler, pioneered history of rabbinic writings
Yair Bacharach, (Havvot Yair), 17th century German Talmudist
Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, (Netziv ; Ha'emek Davar) 19th century head of Volozhin Yeshiva in Lithuania
Josef Chaim of Baghdad, (Ben Ish Chai) 19th century Iraqi Halakhist, Posek, Kabbalist and communal leader
Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, (RaMaK) 16th century Holy Land Kabbalistic scholar
Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler, (Michtav Me'Eliyahu) 20th century religious philosopher and ethicist
Dovber of Mezeritch, (Maggid), 18th century Eastern European mystic, primary disciple of the Baal Shem Tov
Elijah ben Solomon, (Gra, Vilna Gaon), 18th century Lithuanian Talmudist and Kabbalist, leader of the Mitnagdim, opponent of Hasidim
Mordechai Eliyahu, Halakhist, posek and former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel
Jacob Emden, 18th-century Danish/German scholar and controversialist
Baruch Epstein, (Torah Temimah), 20th-century Lithuanian Torah commentator
Moshe Mordechai Epstein, (Levush Mordechai), 20th-century Talmudist and co-head of Slabodka Yeshiva
Yechiel Michel Epstein, (Aruch ha-Shulchan) 19th-20th-century halakhist and posek (decisor)
Jonathan Eybeschutz, 18th-century scholar, Dayan of Prague, accused of heresy
Moshe Feinstein, (Igrot Moshe), 20th-century Russian-American legal scholar and Talmudist
Nosson Tzvi Finkel, (Alter / Sabba), early 20th-century founder of Slabodka Yeshiva, Lithuania. Disciples opened major yeshivas in US and Israel
Kalonymus Haberkasten, 16th-century Polish rabbi; Rosh Yeshiva of many early acharonim
Hillel ben Naphtali Zevi, (Bet Hillel), 17th-century Lithuanian scholar
Samson Raphael Hirsch, 19th-century German rabbi, founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz movement
Yitzchok Hutner, (Pachad Yitzchok), 20th-century European-born, American and Israeli Rosh Yeshiva
Moshe Isserles, (Rema), 16-century Polish legal scholar, author of Hamapah component of the Shulkhan Arukh.
Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz, (Chazon Ish), 20th-century Belarusian-born, leading legal scholar and leader of Haredi Judaism in Israel.
Yisrael Meir Kagan, (Chofetz Chaim), 20th-century Polish legalist and moralist
Yosef Karo, (Mechaber), 16th-century Spanish and Land of Israel legal codifier of the Shulkhan Arukh code of Torah Law
Abraham Isaac Kook, 20th-century philosopher and mystic, first chief rabbi of Palestine
Judah Loew ben Bezalel, (Maharal), 16th-century Prague mystic and Talmudist
Isaac Luria, (Ari), 16th-century Holy Land mystic, founder of Lurianic Kabbalah
Solomon Luria, (Maharshal), 16th-century Posek and Talmudist
Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, (Ramchal), 18th-century Italian philosopher, mystic, and moralist
Malbim, Meir Lob ben Jehiel Michael, (The Malbim), 19th-century Russian preacher and scholar
Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, (Ohr Sameiach ; Meshech Chochmah) Lithuanian-Latvian Talmudist and communal leader
Menasseh Ben Israel, 17th-century Portuguese/Dutch Kabbalist, diplomat and publisher
Obadiah ben Abraham of Bertinoro, (Bartenura) 15th-century commentator on the Mishnah
Chaim Rabinowitz Rosh Yeshivah in Telz, Lithuania
Yisrael Lipkin Salanter, 19th-century Lithuanian ethicist and moralist
David HaLevi Segal, (Taz) 16th-century Halakhist, major commentatry on the Shulchan Aruch
Sforno, 15th, 16th, and 17th-century family of Italian Torah scholars and philosophers
- Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno, (Sforno), 16th-century Italian scholar and rationalist
Shalom Sharabi, 18th/19th-century Yemenite Sage, Kabbalist and Founder of the Beit El Yeshiva
Moses Sofer, (Chatam Sofer) 19th-century Slovak rabbi
Chaim HaLevi Soloveitchik ("Reb Chaim Brisker") Rosh Yeshivah in Volozhyn
Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, 16th-century Kabbalist and primary disciple of Rabbi Isaac Luria
Ovadia Yosef, Iraqi-born Halakhist, posek and former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel
Yisroel ben Eliezer, (Baal Shem Tov) considered to be the founder of Hasidic Judaism