About

Peninei Halakha is a modern code of halacha by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, head of Yeshivat Har Bracha, written in clear everyday Hebrew and organized by topic. The series began in 1993 with the volume on Prayer and now covers some twenty volumes. Rabbi Melamed regularly notes where Ashkenazi and Sephardi practice differ.

Both. Peninei Halakha is written for every Jewish community. Where the customs are the same, there is one halacha for everyone. Where they differ, Rabbi Melamed gives the Ashkenazi and the Sephardi practice side by side (and often Yemenite, Moroccan and other customs too), so each community can follow its own. The smart search works the same way: it shows the book’s own text, with both customs in it. Follow your family’s custom, or what your rav tells you.

Peninei Halakha by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, © Yeshivat Har Bracha. The Hebrew and Yeshivat Har Bracha’s official English edition come via Sefaria and ph.yhb.org.il, used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) license. Source: Peninei Halakha, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, Har Bracha Institute.

Ten volumes have the official English translation. The rest were translated by AI, and every such halacha is marked with an AI tag. These translations have not been reviewed by a person and are not endorsed by Yeshivat Har Bracha. Check them against the Hebrew.

This site is not affiliated with Yeshivat Har Bracha.

The Sephardi code by Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, following the rulings of his father, Rav Ovadia Yosef. Choose it if you follow Sephardi practice and want Rav Ovadia’s rulings. The text is the original Hebrew. Our own AI English translation, not affiliated with Yalkut Yosef, is available on request.

When you ask a question, Google’s search and our own search find the relevant halachot in the book. An AI (Claude) then writes a short answer from those halachot only, and shows them alongside it. The answer can be wrong. Always read the source halacha itself, and ask your rav before acting on it.

Halacha on the Go is an educational tool. Its answers are generated by artificial intelligence from Peninei Halakha and Kitzur Yalkut Yosef. An answer may be incomplete, may not fit your particular circumstances, or may simply be wrong. Nothing here is a halachic ruling (psak halacha), and it does not replace a qualified rav. Halacha often depends on the details of a case, on family and community custom, and on things the app cannot know. Always read the source itself and consult your rav before acting. By using Ask, you agree that you rely on it at your own discretion.