Page "Shulchan Aruch" Paragraph 1

The halachic rulings in the Shulchan Aruch generally follow Sephardic law and customs whereas Ashkenazi Jews will generally follow the halachic rulings of Moses Isserles whose glosses to the Shulchan Aruch note where the Sephardic and Ashkenazic customs differ.

These glosses are widely referred to as the mappah ( literally: the " tablecloth ") to the Shulchan Aruch's " Set Table ".

Almost all published editions of the Shulchan Aruch include this gloss, and the term " Shulchan Aruch " has come to denote both Karo's work as well as Isserlis ', with Karo usually referred to as " the mechaber " (" author ") and Isserles as " the Rema ".