Piskei HaSiddur
Piskei HaSiddur ("Rulings of the Siddur") are the halachic rulings of the Alter Rebbe written and decided within the Siddur of the Alter Rebbe.
Final Ruling edit
It is an accepted tradition from our Rebbes[1] that the Alter Rebbe compiled the siddur in the final period of his life, after having reconsidered a number of his earlier rulings — making it the mishnah acharonah, the definitive final word, relative to what he had ruled in the Shulchan Aruch. One of the reasons he revisited his earlier positions was that in the Shulchan Aruch he had felt constrained not to disagree with the Magen Avraham; but in his later years, having grown in wisdom, he stood firm in his own considered view and was willing to differ from the Magen Avraham even to rule leniently in any matter that did not seem correct to him. It is known that he explicitly stated that he was retracting his earlier practice of placing excessive reliance on the Magen Avraham.[2]
Among the best-known instances of the Alter Rebbe reversing his earlier positions are those found in the siddur. One example is the time for reciting the Shema, where in the siddur he ruled in accordance with the opinion of the Vilna Gaon (the Gra), departing from the position of the Magen Avraham that he had followed in the Shulchan Aruch. Another is the time of shkiah (sunset), where in the siddur he ruled in accordance with the opinion of the Geonim, departing from the Shulchan Aruch where he had ruled in accordance with Rabbeinu Tam. A further ruling concerns stringency regarding the cooking of something that has melted — in the Shulchan Aruch (§318) he had ruled this to be permitted.
Further Reading edit
- Piskei HaSiddur — a comparative study of the rulings in the siddur against those in the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch, by R' Chaim Naeh.
External Links edit
Notes edit
- ↑ See the introduction to the halachic works of the Alter Rebbe in Torah of Chabad — Bibliography, p. 55 ff.
- ↑ Responsa Divrei Nechamiah, Orach Chaim, §21. The same is stated in the responsa of the Tzemach Tzedek. Cited in the notes to the introduction by the sons of the Alter Rebbe to the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch, Kehot edition.