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eisenstadt, abraham Ẓevi hirsch ben jacob
tion in American Society (1979), and Reconsidering Tocqueville’s
Democracy in America (1988) as well as numerous volumes in
Davidson, Harlan’s American History Series.
[Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)]
EISENSTADT, ABRAHAM ẒEVI HIRSCH BEN JACOB
(1813–1868), halakhic authority. Eisenstadt, who was born
in Bialystok, was appointed rabbi of Berestovitsa, district of
Grodno, in 1836, and of Utina (Uttian), district of Kovno, in
1856. Eisenstadt took upon himself the task of collecting and
digesting the enormous amount of halakhic material scattered
throughout the responsa literature, and relating it to the relevant
laws in Caro’s Shulḥan Arukh, publishing his digest in
Pitḥei Teshuvah. At the end of his introduction to Even ha-Ezer
he enumerates 180 volumes of responsa and other works that
he used. In the introduction he explains that the purpose of
his book is to supply a missing link in the chain of posek literature,
namely, the decisions to be found in responsa. In addition
to establishing the halakhah he also gives the reasons
and the essence of the arguments in the different responsa.
This enabled rabbis to give decisions on matters and problems
which had arisen as a result of changed conditions since Caro’s
code had appeared. Eisenstadt regarded the literature dealing
with Even ha-Ezer as of supreme importance, as he believed
that it was impossible to come to a practical decision on any
of the laws discussed in it by relying upon the original text.
As a result, his work on this section of the Shulḥan Arukh is
very detailed. Since the Sha’arei Teshuvah (Dubnow, 1820), begun
by Ḥayyim Mordecai Margolioth of Dubnow and completed
by his brother Ephraim Zalman *Margolioth, already
met this need with regard to the Oraḥ Ḥayyim, Eisenstadt
confined himself to the other three sections of the Shulḥan
Arukh. His own novellae on the Shulḥan Arukh are highly
regarded by halakhists.
Pitḥei Teshuvah on Yoreh De’ah and Even ha-Ezer was
published during Eisenstadt’s lifetime (1836 and 1861) and on
Ḥoshen Mishpat (1875) after his death. He also published Seder
Gittin va-Ḥaliẓah by Michael b. Joseph of Cracow accompanied
by his own commentary and glosses, also entitled Pitḥei
Teshuvah (1863), in which he gave the sources of the book in
the Shulḥan Arukh and among the rishonim and aḥaronim.
Many of his responsa appear in the works of contemporary
rabbis. Eisenstadt died in Koenigsberg where he had gone for
medical treatment. His son BENJAMIN (1846–1920) was appointed
to succeed him in Utina after his death, and served
in this post for 52 years. He was the author of Masot Binyamin
(1921), talmudic novellae. Benjamin’s son ABRAHAM ẓEVI
(1871–1939) succeeded his father in Utina and served there for
19 years. He was one of the early Zionists. Leon *Rabinovich,
editor of Ha-Meliẓ, was also a grandson of Abraham Ẓevi
Hirsch Eisenstadt.
Bibliography: S.M. Chones, Toledot ha-Posekim (1910), 502;
H. Tchernowitz, Toledot ha-Posekim, 3 (1947), 313, 325–30; Yahadut
Lita, 1 (1959), 256f.; 3 (1967), 26.
[Shmuel Ashkenazi]
EISENSTADT, BENZION (1873–1951), U.S. Hebraist, rabbi,
and scholar. Eisenstadt was born in Kletsk, Belorussia. He
studied at Nishvitz with Rabbi Yosepoh Grodzinski. In his
youth he was attracted to modern Hebrew literature and
while in his teens corresponded with Jewish scholars, such
as Slonimski and Buber. While still in Russia he published
Ẓioni (Warsaw, 1895; Parts 2–4, Vilna, 1899–1902), a biographical
dictionary of contemporary rabbis and scholars, and Rabbanei
Minsk va-Ḥakhameha, on the rabbis and scholars of
Minsk (Vilna, 1899), as well as Ve-Zot li-Yehudah (1901), annotations
on Noda bi-Yehudah, the responsa of Ezekiel Landau.
In 1903 he immigrated to the U.S. where he served as
a pulpit rabbi and continued writing biographical works on
well-known rabbis, scholars, and communal leaders. They include
Ḥakhmei Yisrael be-Amerikah (with photographs, 1903),
Dorot ha-Aḥaronim (2 vols., 1913, 1917), Anshei ha-Shem Be-
Arẓot ha-Brit (1933) on American rabbis and, posthumously,
Benei Ḥiyyon (1952). He was an ardent Zionist, active in Mizrachi
and in charity for the then Palestine.
Add. Bibliography: M.D. Sherman, Orthodox Judaism in
America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook (1996), 56–58.
EISENSTADT, ISAIAH (Isay; pseudonym: Yudin, Vitali;
1867–1937), pioneer of the Jewish socialist labor movement in
Russia; born in Vilna. He became a member of Populist Narodnaya
Volya (“People’s Will”) circles in the 1880s and was
imprisoned for revolutionary activities. He returned to Vilna
and in 1889 joined the Social Democrats. A Marxist theoretician,
Eisenstadt also proved an extremely able organizer
among the Jewish workers in Vilna and in Odessa. In 1896 he
was exiled to Siberia, remaining in prison there until 1901. After
his release, Eisenstadt became one of the main leaders of
the *Bund, his activities being suspended by frequent arrests;
during the controversy within the party (1908–10) between
those preferring the use of legal action and the “anti-legalists,”
Eisenstadt supported the latter. In the central committee of the
Russian Social Democratic Workers’ Party he endeavored to
effect a compromise between the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks.
After the Revolution of February 1917 Eisenstadt was active
in Petrograd (Leningrad). He was elected vice chairman of
the central committee of the Bund, and after its split with the
Communists, became associated with the leadership of the Social
Democratic Bund. He was subsequently imprisoned, and
at the beginning of 1922 received permission to leave Soviet
Russia. He reached Berlin, and continued his political activity
among the Menshevik émigrés there and in Paris, gradually
inclining to the leftist faction. His first wife LYUBA EISEN-
STADT-LEVINSON (1866–1903), also born in Vilna, became a
Social Democrat while a student in Geneva. She was arrested
at the Russian border and imprisoned for three years. From
1890 she was active as one of the leading propagandists for
the party among the Jewish workers in Vilna and Bialystok.
She was imprisoned with her husband in Siberia from 1896
to 1901. She died on a visit to New York.
270 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6