Rishonim

The fact is that, although being Jewish is not simply a checklist of behaviors as Reb Dovid Sears points out, the Shulchan Aruch -- which is for all intents and purposes a checklist of behaviors -- is a set of standing orders that, if we observe them, we will succeed in being Jewish according to the opinions of Chazal and the Rishonim, which is good enough for all of us, even without the spoons.

A Simple Jew 2008

There are standard medieval commentaries such as Rashi and other Rishonim as part of their commentary on the Babylonian Talmud, Maimonides in his commentary on the Mishnah, and later commentators Obadiah of Bertinoro (c. 1450 – before 1516) and Tosefot Yom Tov (Yom Tov Lipmann ben Nathan ha-Levi Heller, 1579 – 1654).

Niddah, Tractate. leBeit Yoreh 2009

Zikhron Brit la-Rishonim, edited by Jacob Glassberg.

Medieval Ashkenaz (1096-1348). 2009

The Rishonim added to this category a girl whose father had traveled to a foreign country and who was betrothed by her mother or brother.

Legal-Religious Status of the Married Woman. leBeit Yoreh 2009

This demonstrates divergent opinions during the period of the Rishonim (early authorities: mid-eleventh to mid-fifteenth centuries).

Abortion. leBeit Yoreh 2009

This Talmudic disagreement concerning the status of the modesty strictures was continued by the Rishonim and is expressed in the difference of opinion between Maimonides and Nahmanides in Sefer ha-Mizvot (Prohibition 353).

Modesty and Sexuality in Halakhic Literature. 2009

In the literature of the Rishonim the term ishah hashuvah relates to the historical reality in various communities.

Ishah Hashuvah (Woman of Distinction). 2009

In contrast with the latter, the legal authorities among the Rishonim (medieval authorities), including Maimonides, preferred Lev. 18: 6 over 18: 19, possibly because of its less specific nature.

Modesty and Sexuality in Halakhic Literature. 2009

In the following period, known as that of the “Rishonim,” Maimonides (1135 – 1204) recommends in his Code, the Mishneh Torah, that beating a bad wife is an acceptable form of discipline: “A wife who refuses to perform any kind of work that she is obligated to do, may be compelled to perform it, even by scourging her with a rod” (Isshut 21: 10).

Wifebeating in Jewish Tradition. 2009

I was interested to note that despite recent years of squinting at Rashi script and badly xeroxed teeny tiny print of the Rishonim that get crammed into the back and side commentaries, only my distance vision has gotten worse.

Eye Vey Zmeer - Danya Ruttenberg 2006