From amongst the Spanish exiles emerged the great Torah genius Rabbi Yosef Caro who settled in Safed. During his lifetime, a movement to revive the Sanhedrin arose but was so vehemently opposed, it never took hold. Rabbi Caro's encyclopedic work the Shulchan Aruch became a substitute Sanhedrin, a guide to Jewish Law for every Jewish home. With the additions of Ashkenazic law and custom by Rabbi Moshe Isserles and the advent of the printing press, this monumental book became the universal legal authority for the Jewish people.