Issur Veheter Ha'aruch
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{{Short description|Medieval work of Jewish law}}
Issur v'Heter Ha'aroch (known in short as O"H or Aroch) is a fifteenth-century book on the laws of prohibition and permission, particularly dietary laws.{{Cite web |title=Issur VeHeter HaArokh |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Issur_VeHeter_HaArokh?tab=contents |access-date=2025-04-26 |website=www.sefaria.org}} The author wrote the book according to teachings he received from the R. Shalom b. Isaac of Wiener Neustadt., the teacher of the Yaakov ben Moshe Levi Moelin (Maharil).
There are two versions of the book. The manuscript version of the book differs from the printed version, which was apparently printed based on a different manuscript. Several times, rulings from the book were cited in the words of the Rema{{Clarify|reason="Rema" is not defined and wikipedia doesn't have an article on it to wiki link|date=April 2025}} that are not found in the printed version, and sometimes they are found but with a different meaning. The Rema himself noted the difference between the two versions of the book.
Author
The identity of the book's author is unknown, but it was composed by one of the early sages of Ashkenaz (German Jewry) in the generation of Rabbi Israel Isserlein, the author of the book Terumat HaDeshen.Responsa of the Rema (Chapter 132:12): "But I am puzzled that I wrote twice in the name of Issur Veheter Ha'aroch that this was the practice of Maharash, and now I cannot find it in the printed Issur Veheter Ha'aroch. In truth, when I studied and collected the novellae of Issur v'Heter Ha'aroch, it had not yet been printed and I had a handwritten copy. Perhaps there I saw written that this was the practice of Maharash, for I am confident in myself that I did not make it up, and if so, it is possible that the wording was written in a different manner, even if it does not seem to me from this style which is before us as you wrote." There are several hypotheses regarding the author of the book. Some believe that his name is Rabbi Yonah Ashkenazi.According to Naftali ben Yaakov, Otzar HaGedolim Alufei Yaakov, Haifa, Vol. 4, entry 388, the author Rabbi Yonah Ashkenazi is Rabbi Yonah, the son of R. Isserlein, who was among the rabbis of Regensburg together with Mahari Bruna.
Importance
The book serves as a basic and significant source in the ruling of halakha in matters of prohibition and permission. It is one of the primary sources for the rulings of the Rema in the Yoreh Deah section, and the fact that Rabbi Joseph Karo did not use the book was one of the factors that motivated the Moses Isserles to compose the book Darkei Moshe.In his introduction to the book Even in later generations, the book continued to serve as an important source for halakhic rulings, and thus, for example, Rabbi Yonatan Eybeschütz wrote in his introduction to the book Kreiti Upleiti:
"And especially Issur v'Heter Ha'aroch, from whose mouth we literally live in the instruction of prohibition and permission." (Kreiti Upleiti 84:8)