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Hi, I have a friend who was raised traditional and wants to become more religious. He is learning with a rabbi once a week who is Ashkenazic (and honestly I think he takes too many leniencies) but he is Sephardic and I want to get him a basic Sephardic halacha book. Any leads?
TIA
The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch is what I consider to be the fastest way to learn halachah at any level. There are several translations. Unfortunately for your case, the Kitzur is written by a Hungarian and the footnotes largely cite the Mishna Berura. I’m not sure a comparable book exists that would give you exclusively Sphardi opinions.
Shaarei Halacha by R’ Greenwald is very good, and often mentions the Sephardic practice when it differs from the Ashkenazi.
The Ben Ish Chai wrote his own Sephardic book of practical halachah but I’m not sure if it’s been translated.
Meam Loez is very lengthy and focused to a large degree on midrashim, but it is also full of practical halacha from a Sephardic perspective, and has been translated into English by R’ Aryeh Kaplan and others.
I would ask a Sefardic rabbi.
If your friend understands Hebrew, I think the best option is the “Yalkut Yosef”
Yakut Yosef is great, and there is an English version too!
kitzur shulchan aruch is not a good seifer through which to learn practical halacha, because the author in many places paskens like rishonim whose opinions were rejected by shulchan aruch and pos’kim. Chayyei Adam is a better alternative.
Scarred driver: It’s not really comparable. The Kitzur is much more available and understandable for beginners. As for its differences with the normative halacha, yes they exist, but I think any addition will have footnotes where this occurs to let you know. Also, I think the occurrence is more rare that you think. It’s not like the author differs from the norm on every other halacha. Yes, one can’t really use the Kitzur for any kind of authoritative argument, but that’s not what the OP is looking for.
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