Yechiel Michel Epstein

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Yechiel Michel Epstein

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 , in Judaism, means a religious ?teacher?, or more literally, ?my great one?, when addressing any master. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ?great?, used in many senses, including the sense of a ?master? and apprentice, whence someone who is a distinguished ?teacher?....
and posek
Posek

Posek is the term in Halakha for "decider"?a legal scholar who decides the Halakha in cases of law where previous authorities are inconclusive....
(authority in Jewish law

Halakha

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 Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest....
. 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 tribes of Israel 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 possession"....
s.

iel 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 ....
(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....
).

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Encyclopedia

Yechiel Michel Epstein (1829-1908), often called "the Aruch ha-Shulchan" (after his main work, Aruch HaShulchan

Aruch HaShulchan

Rabbi

Halakha

Lithuania

Levite

Biography

Yechiel Michel Epstein was born into a family of wealthy army contractors for the Czarist Russian army in Babruysk

Babruysk

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....
). His wife was the sister of Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin

Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin

File:Netziv.gifRabbi Rabbi Naphtali Tzvi Judah Berlin was the Rosh yeshiva of the Volozhin Yeshiva and author of several works of rabbinic literature in Lithuanian Jews....
(the Netziv), who would become the rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the Dean of a Yeshiva . 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 Chaim Yeshiva, was a yeshiva in the town of Volozhin , founded in 1803 by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, a student of the Vilna Gaon....
. (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, Tanakh, 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

Semicha , 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....
(rabbi

Rabbi

Rabbi , in Judaism, means a religious ?teacher?, or more literally, ?my great one?, when addressing any master. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ?great?, used in many senses, including the sense of a ?master? and apprentice, whence someone who is a distinguished ?teacher?....
nic ordination) 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 River and Nemiga rivers. Minsk is also a headquarters of the Commonwealth of Independent States ....
), a town with a large number of Hasidic Jews

Hasidic Judaism

Hasidic Judaism is a type of Orthodox Judaism or Haredi Judaism Orthodox Judaism religious movement. Some refer to Hasidic Judaism as Hasidism, and the adjective chasidic / hasidic applies....
, mainly adherents of Chabad Lubavitch. He visited their rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn

Menachem Mendel Schneersohn

Menachem Mendel Schneersohn also known as the Tzemach Tzedek was an Orthodox Judaism rabbi and the third Rebbe of the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic Judaism movement....
(the Tzemach Tzedek), and forged a close relationship with him; this would increase his status in Hasidic circles.

Nine years after accepting his position in Novozypkov, in 1863, Epstein was appointed as the rabbi of Novogrudok (or Novogradok, south of Minsk), where he would serve for 34 years, until his death. Here, he was recognised as a posek
Posek

Posek is the term in Halakha 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 Hebrew transliteration Halocho and Halacha ? is the collective body of Judaism 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 Novogrudok.

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 Novogrudok. 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 Bible 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 Hebrew transliteration Halocho and Halacha ? is the collective body of Judaism 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 Posek who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the Shulkhan Arukh and following the Geonim....
and arrives at a psak
Posek

Posek is the term in Halakha 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 Halakha and history, to signify the leading rabbis and Posek 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 country in the Middle East 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 relatively small area....
, 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 rabbi notes about the Jewish Oral law as detailed in the 2nd-century Mishnah....
;
Leil Shimurim - a commentary on the Haggada.

External links

Arukh HaShulhan at Hebrew Wikitext (Hebrew text)
- Daily study cycle at
has most of the Arukh HaShulhan scanned in pdf format (search for ???? ??????)