Torat HaBayit HaAroch (“The Long Laws of the House”) is a legal manual on ritual observances - like kashrut, niddah, and mikvah immersion - relevant for maintaining a Jewish home. The work reviews talmudic discussions and the positions of the Rashba’s predecessors, raises and refutes objections, and advances the Rashba’s own positions. The Re’ah, an old friend of the Rashba, wrote a critical commentary called the Bedek HaBayit. The Rashba then anonymously wrote the Mishmeret HaBayit, a defense against the Re’ah’s criticisms written in the third-person. Both commentaries are printed together with the Torat HaBayit, which is considered a critical legal text and is quoted often by later authorities.
