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Yechiel Michel Epstein

Yechiel Michel Epstein

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Yechiel Michel Epstein (1829-1908), often called "the Aruch ha-Shulchan" (after his main work, Aruch HaShulchan
Aruch HaShulchan
Aruch HaShulchan is a work of Jewish scholarship, written by Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein. The title "Aruch HaShulchan" is a clear allusion to the Shulchan Aruch , the authoritative work of halacha on which it draws...

), was a Rabbi
Rabbi
Rabbi is the term in Judaism for a religious teacher. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ‘great’ in many senses, including "revered." The word comes from the Semitic root R-B-B, and is cognate to Arabic ربّ rabb, meaning "lord" Rabbi ' onMouseout='HidePop("34390")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Posek">posek
Posek
Posek is the term in Jewish law for "decider"—a legal scholar who decides the Halakha in cases of law where previous authorities are inconclusive....

(authority in Jewish law
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho and Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish religious law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions....

) in Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of...

. His surname is often preceded by ha-Levi, as he descended from a family of Levite
Levite
In Jewish tradition, a Levite is a member of the Hebrew tribe of Levi. When Joshua led the Israelites into the land of Canaan, the Levites were the only Israelite tribe who received cities but no tribal land "because the Lord the God of Israel himself is their inheritance"...

s.

Biography


Yechiel Michel Epstein was born into a family of wealthy army contractors for the Czarist Russian army in Babruysk
Babruysk
Babruysk or Bobruisk is a city in the Mahilyow Voblast of Belarus on the Berezina river. It is a large city in Belarus with a population of approximately 227,000 people . The name Babruysk probably originates from the Belarusian word babyor , many of which used to inhabit the Berezina...

 (presently in Belarus
Belarus
Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel , Mahilyow and Vitebsk...

). His wife was the sister of Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin
Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin
Rabbi Naphtali Tzvi Judah Berlin was the Rosh yeshiva of the Volozhin Yeshiva and author of several works of rabbinic literature in Lithuania...

 (the Netziv), who would become the rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...

(head) of the Volozhin Yeshiva
Volozhin yeshiva
The Volozhin Yeshiva, also known as Etz HaChaim Yeshiva, was a yeshiva in the town of Valozhyn , founded in 1803 by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, a student of the Vilna Gaon.-History:...

 . (Berlin was later to marry a daughter of Epstein, after being widowed of his first wife.)

Epstein studied Torah
Torah study
Torah study is the study by Jewish people of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism's religious texts...

 locally, and was encouraged to do so by the town's rabbi and his parents (the concept of an out-of-town yeshiva was only slowly gaining ascendancy). After his marriage he received semicha
Semicha
Semikhah , also semichut , or semicha lerabbanut is derived from a Hebrew word which means to "rely on" or "to be authorized". It generally refers to the ordination of a rabbi within Judaism. In this sense it is the "transmission" of rabbinic authority to give advice or judgment in Jewish law...

(rabbi
Rabbi
Rabbi is the term in Judaism for a religious teacher. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ‘great’ in many senses, including "revered." The word comes from the Semitic root R-B-B, and is cognate to Arabic ربّ rabb, meaning "lord" Rabbi and accepted his first position.

Epstein became the rabbi of Novozypkov (east of Minsk
Minsk
Minsk is the capital and largest city in Belarus, situated on the Svislach and Niamiha rivers. Minsk is also a headquarters of the Commonwealth of Independent States . As the national capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is also the administrative centre of Minsk...

), a town with a large number of Hasidic Jews
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew: , Hasidut, meaning "piety") is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith. The majority of Hasidic Jews are ultra-orthodox....

, mainly adherents of Chabad Lubavitch.

Nine years after accepting his position in Novozypkov, in 1863, Epstein was appointed as the rabbi of Navahrudak, where he would serve for 34 years, until his death. Here, he was recognised as a posek
Posek
Posek is the term in Jewish law for "decider"—a legal scholar who decides the Halakha in cases of law where previous authorities are inconclusive....

(decisor of Jewish law
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho and Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish religious law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions....

), and he was to compose most of his writings in Navahrudak.

Epstein was involved in many charitable endeavors. He was particularly close to Rabbi Shmuel Salant, Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, and wrote extensively on the obligation of all Jews to support the Rabbi Meir Baal Haneis Salant charity that Rabbi Salant founded in Israel in 1871.

Epstein died on 22 Adar II 5668 (1908), and is buried in Navahrudak. His son, Rabbi Baruch Epstein
Baruch Epstein
Rabbi Baruch Epstein or Baruch ha-Levi Epstein was a Lithuanian rabbi, best known for his Torah Temimah commentary on the Torah...

, was a bookkeeper by profession but produced a number of scholarly and popular works, most notably the Torah Temimah.

Works

  • Aruch HaShulchan
    Aruch HaShulchan
    Aruch HaShulchan is a work of Jewish scholarship, written by Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein. The title "Aruch HaShulchan" is a clear allusion to the Shulchan Aruch , the authoritative work of halacha on which it draws...

    a work of Halakha
    Halakha
    Halakha — also transliterated Halocho and Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish religious law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions....

    , which traces the origins of each law and custom to its source, states the view of the Rishonim
    Rishonim
    "Rishon" redirects here. For the preon model in particle physics, see Harari Rishon Model. For the Israeli town, see Rishon LeZion.Rishonim were the leading Rabbis and Poskim who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the Shulkhan Arukh and...

     and arrives at a psak
    Posek
    Posek is the term in Jewish law for "decider"—a legal scholar who decides the Halakha in cases of law where previous authorities are inconclusive....

    (decision) - often supported by (and sometimes in disagreement with) the Acharonim
    Acharonim
    Acharonim is a term used in Jewish law and history, to signify the leading rabbis and poskim living from roughly the 16th century to the present....

    ;
  • Aruch HaShulchan he'Atid (Laying the Table of the Future) - a parallel work to Arukh HaShulkhan summarising and analysing the laws that will apply in Messianic times; this work became more relevant when Jewish farming communities were re-established in Israel
    Israel
    Israel officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...

    , since many agricultural laws which apply only in Israel are covered in this work;
  • Or li-Yesharim (a commentary on the classic work Sefer ha-Yashar, attributed to the Tosafist
    Tosafists
    Tosafists were medieval rabbis known in Talmudical scholarship as Rishonim who created critical and explanatory glosses on the Talmud. These were collectively called Tosafot ....

     Rabbi Yaakov ben Meir, Rabbeinu Tam);
  • Mical ha-Mayim - a commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud
    Jerusalem Talmud
    The Jerusalem Talmud or Talmud Yerushalmi , often the Yerushalmi for short, is a collection of Rabbinic notes about the Jewish Oral tradition as detailed in the 2nd-century Mishnah...

    ;
  • Leil Shimurim - a commentary on the Haggada.

External links