Acharonim

In Jewish law and history, Acharonim (Hebrew: אחרונים, romanized: Aḥaronim, Modern Israeli Hebrew: [ʔaχ(a)ʁoˈnim], Biblical Hebrew: [ʔaħ(a)roˈnim]; lit. 'last ones'; sing. אחרון, Aḥaron) are the leading rabbis and poskim (Jewish legal decisors) living from roughly the 16th century to the present, and more specifically since the writing of the Shulchan Aruch (lit. 'Set Table'; a code of Jewish law) in 1563 CE.

The Acharonim follow the Rishonim, the "first ones"—the rabbinic scholars between the 11th and the 16th century following the Geonim and preceding the Shulchan Aruch. The publication of the Shulchan Aruch thus marks the transition from the era of Rishonim to that of Acharonim.

The Acharonim are thus contemporary with the Early Modern Period, the foundation of Hasidic Judaism, Jewish emancipation in Europe, the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment), Zionism, the Holocaust, the foundation of the State of Israel and the Jewish exodus from the Muslim world.

Consequences for Halakhic change

The distinction between the Acharonim, Rishonim and Geonim is meaningful historically. According to the widely held view in Orthodox Judaism, the Acharonim generally cannot dispute the rulings of rabbis of previous eras unless they find support from other rabbis in previous eras. Yet the opposite view exists as well: In The Principles of Jewish Law Orthodox Rabbi wrote: