"Shulchan Aruch" has been "the code" of Rabbinical Judaism for all ritual and legal questions that arose after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. The author himself had no very high opinion of the work, remarking that he had written it chiefly for "young students". He never refers to it in his responsa, but always to the "Beit Yosef". The "Shulchan Aruch" achieved its reputation and popularity not only against the wishes of the author, but, perhaps, through the very scholars who criticized it.