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and more in epitaphs. At the beginning the secular name of
the deceased alone figured together with the Hebrew; later
a fairly lengthy vernacular (e.g., English) inscription paralleled
and repeated the details of the Hebrew: in due course
often the Hebrew name alone figured, or sometimes not even
this. In some cemeteries (e.g., in England) the use of some
Hebrew has been made obligatory; in others, belonging to
strongly Orthodox groups, no English whatsoever is allowed.
In Israel, the tendency is now for simple epitaphs in which
Hebrew alone figures.
Bibliography: Cantera-Millás, Inscripciones; M. Schwab,
Rapport sur les inscriptions hébraïques de la France (= Nouvelles Archives
des Missions Scientifiques, 12 (1904), 143–402); A. Berliner, Luḥot
Avanim, hebraeische Grabinschriften in Italien, 1 (1881); R. Pacifici, Le
iscrizioni dell’antico cimetero ebraico a Venezia (1936); S. Hock, Die
Familien Prags (1892); M. Horovitz, Die Inschriften des alten Friedhofs
… Frankfurt a. M. (1901); I.S. Emmanuel, Maẓẓevot Saloniki
(1963–68); D.H. de Castro, Keur van Grafsteenen … (1883); M. Gruenwald,
Portugiesengraeber auf deutscher Erde (1902); I.S. Emmanuel,
Precious Stones of the Jews of Curaçao (1957); E.M. Shilstone, Monumental
Inscriptions in the Burial Ground of the Jewish Synagogue at
Bridgetown, Barbados (1956); J.A.P.M. Andrade, A Record of the Jews
in Jamaica (1941); D. de Sola Pool, Portraits Etched in Stone (1952).
[Cecil Roth]
EPPENSTEIN, SIMON (1864–1920), German rabbi and
scholar. Eppenstein was born in Krotoszyn, Poland, and
served as rabbi at Briesen (West Prussia) 1889–1911, and thereafter
was lecturer in Jewish history and Bible exegesis at the
Berlin Rabbinical Seminary. As an early supporter of religious
Zionism (Mizrachi), he conducted some of his lectures at the
Seminary in Hebrew.
Eppenstein’s main fields of study were the geonic period,
on which he wrote Beitraege zur Geschichte und Literatur im
geonaeischen Zeitalter (1913), and medieval Bible exegesis,
such as publishing *Astruc’s Midrash ha-Torah (1899), Joseph
*Kara’s commentaries on the Bible, as well as *Saadiah Gaon’s
introduction to his commentary on the Psalms (publ. in
Festschrift A. Harkavy). He also made Hebrew translations of
Joseph b. Judah ibn *Aknin’s Marpeh Nefashot (in Festschrift
N. Sokolow) and *Abraham b. Moses b. Maimon’s Kifāyat al-
ʿĀbidin (in Festschrift J. Lewy). Eppenstein also wrote a biography
of Maimonides (for W. *Bacher’s work on him), as well as
one on his son Abraham (in Jahres-Bericht des Rabbiner-Seminars
zu Berlin fuer 1912/13). He also edited and annotated the
fourth edition of the fifth volume of *Graetz’s Geschichte der
Juden (1909) and the Festschrift D. Hoffmann (1914).
Bibliography: X.N. Simchoni, in: Ha-Tekufah, 9 (1921),
488–90; A.B. Posner, in: Festschrift… J. Freimann (1937), 172–9 (incl.
bibl.); E. Ben-Reshef, in: S. Federbush (ed.), Ḥokhmat Yisrael be-
Ma’arav Eiropah, 1 (1958), 37–39; Kressel, Leksikon, 1 (1965), 134–5.
[Akiva Posner]
EPPLER, SANDOR (1890–1942), Hungarian communal
worker. Eppler, the son of an Orthodox rabbi, was born in
Budapest and despite his association with the Neolog move-
eppstein, paul
ment maintained an Orthodox way of life. After completing
his studies in a business academy, he entered the service of
the Neolog community of Budapest and as a result of his outstanding
organizational and administrative ability became its
general secretary.
His abilities, however, found full scope following the anti-
Jewish discrimination in Hungary, which began in 1938, and
the consequent impoverishment of the Jews of the country.
He undertook negotiations with the government and participated,
initially as an observer, at the Evian Conference in 1938.
He established contact with the Jewish welfare organizations
of France and England, and in 1939 proceeded for that purpose
– with Samuel Stern, chairman of the National Council
of Hungarian Communities (Neolog) – to Paris and London,
where he pleaded unsuccessfully with Lord Winterton, the
chairman of the Inter-Government Commission for Refugees
in London, to include Hungarian Jewry in Germany and Austria
among those granted priority in emigration.
As a result Eppler devoted himself energetically to the
problem of the rehabilitation of the Jews of Hungary, especially
after the annexation to Hungary in 1939–40 of territory
which had belonged to it before World War I and contained
the largest Jewish population, and the arrival of Jewish refugees
from Germany, Slovakia, and Poland. He established welfare
organizations, educational and trade institutions, reopening
schools which had been closed.
His greatest achievement was the Jewish Hospital which
gave employment to Jewish doctors whose qualifications, received
outside Hungary, were not recognized. In opposition to
the leadership of the community he assisted in the hakhsharah
of ḥalutzim who intended on immigrating to Ereẓ Israel.
Eppler published a number of works on social service:
A budapesti zsidósàg szociàlis munkàja (“Social Work of the
Jews of Budapest,” 1937); A zsidósàg helyzete, kulturàlis és
szociàlis munkàja Europa tizenkét àllamàban (“The Position
of the Jews, Their Cultural and Social Activities in Twelve
European Countries,” 1938); A rabbik szerepe a hitközségi
ügyintézésben (“The Function of Rabbis in Communal Activities,”
1940); Zsidó segitöszervezetek (“Jewish Welfare Organizations,”
1942).
Eppler died a natural death in 1942.
Bibliography: P. Ujvari (ed.), Magyar Zsidó Lexikon (1929);
B. Vihar (ed.), Sàrga könyv (1946); F. Karsai, in: Evkonyv (1971/72),
162–180.
[Baruch Yaron]
EPPSTEIN, PAUL (1901–1944), sociologist and German-
Jewish community leader, “elder” of *Theresienstadt. Eppstein,
born in Mannheim, was lecturer in sociology at the
university there from 1926 until 1933. After the Kristallnacht
pogrom of November 1938, he was invited to England as a
sociology lecturer but refused to go. As a prominent Jewish
youth leader, organizer, and speaker he was one of the founders
of the Reichsausschus der juedischen Jugend-Verbaende
(National Board of Jewish Youth Organizations) and of the
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 465