בעל הטורים

The Baal HaTurim, Rabbi Yaakov son of the Rosh, is the man who gave the law the form in which it lives to this day. The son of the Rosh, he saw that the law was scattered across the Talmud and the Rishonim, and it was hard to know what applied in practice, and he composed the 'Arba'ah Turim' (Four Columns), in which he divided all practical law into four gates.

His division is brilliant in its simplicity: Orach Chayim, the order of the day from waking to sleep, Shabbat and festivals; Yoreh De'ah, the forbidden and permitted; Even HaEzer, marriage and family; Choshen Mishpat, monetary law. The four columns became the skeleton of all halachic literature after him, and Rabbi Yosef Karo wrote the Beit Yosef and the Shulchan Aruch upon them, in exactly the same order.

The Baal HaTurim did not decide every dispute but brought the opinions, chiefly the Rif, Maimonides and the Rosh his father, and gave the learner a full picture. He built a house in which every law knows its place, and every questioner knows which gate to turn to.

What do we learn from him? That order and organization are themselves a great act of kindness, for they give every person access to his Torah. The Baal HaTurim teaches that genius lies not only in innovation but in building a structure that will last for generations, and that a right division of knowledge can be a gift that all of Israel enjoys to this day.