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

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-for-the-curious-the-jewish-history-podcast-4092442/198-rabbi-yosef-karo-i-the-story-behind-the-shulchan-aruch
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-for-the-curious-the-jewish-history-podcast-4092442/198-rabbi-yosef-karo-i-the-story-behind-the-shulchan-aruch.md
Podcast: [History for the Curious - The Jewish History Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-for-the-curious-the-jewish-history-podcast-4092442)
Published: 2026-09-02T08:10:27+00:00
Episode link: https://rabbiaubreyhersh.podbean.com/e/198-rabbi-yosef-karo-1488-1575-the-high-stakes-story-behind-the-shulchan-aruch/
Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/2kj6wzdgdj486hi2/HC093_-_Ep_198_-_Bes_Yosef_Assembled_mixdown_v46a9od.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/history-for-the-curious-the-jewish-history-podcast-4092442/episodes/198-rabbi-yosef-karo-i-the-story-behind-the-shulchan-aruch
Duration seconds: 3676

## Resource

Join our WhatsApp group for weekly exclusive content: https://chat.whatsapp.com/FEgoaCOQoyU2VX49SwA8Aw?s=cl&p=a&ilr=4 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. 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. 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. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro & 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 & Shulchan Aruch 50:19 Why the Tur? Karo’s method of codification 54:33 Ashkenazi vs Sephardi practice & local Minhag 57:38 Modern implications & the post-Holocaust world 1:00:23 Closing & Part 2

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