Acharonim

Acharonim is a Hebrew term meaning "the later ones." In Jewish scholarship, it designates the rabbinic authorities who came after the Geonim, the early medieval heads of academies. The label is commonly applied to scholars who lived from roughly the 16th century to the modern era, though the exact boundary with the earlier Rishonim is not uniform across communities. Acharonim include both Ashkenazi and Sephardi authorities, and their work spans commentaries, legal codes, and responsa.

They expand, refine, and apply Talmudic interpretation to new circumstances. They wrote commentaries on earlier authorities, compiled Halakhic codes, and produced the vast body of responsa that address questions of daily life, ritual, business, technology, and civil law. Their method often builds on earlier sources while adapting rulings to different communities and challenging conditions, helping to standardize practice in many settings.

Notable Acharonim include Joseph Karo, author of the Beit Yosef and, with his glosses, the Shulchan Aruch; Moses Isserles (the Rema), whose Ashkenazi glosses accompany the Shulchan Aruch; Yaakov Emden (17th–18th c.); and later poskim such as Moshe Feinstein and Ovadia Yosef. In modern times, the term also covers contemporary halakhic authorities whose decisions influence Jewish practice worldwide. The Acharonim thus form a continuing chain of halakhic development from the early modern period to the present.