CARO, JÓSEPH. — Rabbi, born in Toledo in 1488. After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, his family settled in Adrianople.
Here C. began his greatest work, the Bèth Jósèph, a commentary on the Talmudic code of law by J'ágóbh ben 'Ášer, which cost him twenty years of work. For each subject he cites the Talmudic source and then reports what had been written about II. After some years he moved to Safad, then the most important rabbinic center in Palestine; there he died on 24 March 1575. Alongside his fundamental work, there is a compendium entitled Šulhán 'drákh, which immediately achieved great popularity, was translated into various languages, and remains to this day the fundamental norm of Jewish life. C. also left a commentary on Maimonides’ code and answers to ritual questions.
BBL.: Tschernowitz, Die Entstehung des Schulchen Arsch, Berna 1915; S. M. Dubnow, Weltgeschichte des jüdischen Volkes, VI, Berlino 1927. Alfredo Ravenna