This index gives, for every halacha (paragraph) in Mishneh Torah, references to sources that dealt with that halacha. We have over 550,000 references, taken from about 3500 books.

The index includes also sources that don't deal directly with the Rambam's text, but deal with the subject that the Rambam's halacha concerns. Thus it actually is a general index to halachic subjects, arranged according to the order of Mishneh Torah. This character of the index was determined according to the needs of The Halacha Brura and Berur Halacha Institute, which seeks to elucidate the views of all the poskim and not only that of the Rambam. But the order of Mishneh Torah is the easiest order to build around it the list of sources.

The advantages of this index over similar available indexes are: 1. The wider scope of books, 2. The constant systematic additions of references, 3. The list of books indexed, with names of authors, place and year of publication, and most important - book locations in various public libraries.

The first edition of the index was published in 5752, and the second edition was published in 5755. Two volumes of addenda were published in 5758 and 5760, with tens of thousands of additional references. The computerized index now on the internet combines the second edition with the two volumes of addenda, and tens of thousands of new references, never published.

Since most of the books indexed are not found in most libraries (especially outside Israel), we offer a unique service: A researcher interested in commentaries on a specific halacha (or halachot) of the Mishneh Torah, can contact us (at hb@netvision.net.il), and we will send back photocopies of the sources mentioned in our index, at a minimal price.

Our goal is to index the entire rabbinic literature, to make available to Torah learners all the gems scattered in that literature, which meanwhile are almost beyond their reach because of the lack of indexing. The most efficient way to do this (at least in the first stage) is by using the order of the Mishneh Torah, which 1. Covers all the fields of Halacha and the important aspects of Jewish thought (as opposed to Shulchan Aruch which does not include fields of Bet Hamikdash and statehood), 2. Is arranged systematically, 3. Is divided into 15,000 halachot, thus generating an index with very fine classification. Using this method, a book can be indexed in a few hours, since it only entails quick perusal of the book and marking down any Rambam mentioned, with number of chapter and halacha and the page number in the book. Offers of fiscal or manual help to reach this goal will be welcomed heartfully.