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Published in 1565 in Safed (Tzfat) by Rabbi Yosef Karo, the Shulchan Aruch ("set table") is the practical halachic code that has governed observant Jewish life for nearly 500 years. Karo was Sephardic; Rabbi Moshe Isserles ("the Rema") added Ashkenazi customs in margins. Together: the universal Jewish legal handbook. Four sections, organized by daily life rather than by Talmudic tractate.
Cultural note, Karo wrote the Shulchan Aruch in Tzfat alongside Yosef Caro\'s contemporary Isaac Luria (the Ari), the same time and place that produced Lurianic Kabbalah. The book\'s title ("set table") is humble: here\'s the food, the laws are arranged like dishes ready to eat. Modern Israelis say "השולחן ערוך" (the table is set) for any well-prepared situation.
The Four Sections (Helkim)
Authors
Categories of Halacha
Daily Life Halacha Vocabulary
Shulchan Aruch: Orach Chaim 1:1 (opening)
The very first paragraph of the entire code. About waking up. The text moves from the cosmic to the practical in 4 lines.
Shulchan Aruch: Yoreh Deah 240:1 (honoring parents)
The opening of the laws of honoring father and mother. Cited in nearly every Israeli book on parenting.