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epstein, baruch ha-levi
EPSTEIN, BARUCH HA-LEVI (1860–1942), Russian talmudic
scholar. Born in Bobruisk, Epstein received his early
education from his father, R. Jehiel Michal *Epstein, author of
Arukh ha-Shulḥan. In his youth he distinguished himself by
his unusual diligence and his phenomenal memory. He continued
his studies under his uncle, Naphtali Ẓevi Judah *Berlin,
who, recognizing his outstanding abilities, devoted special
attention to him. Berlin later married Baruch’s sister. Epstein
declined offers to occupy rabbinical positions in such great
communities as Pinsk, Moscow, and Petrograd, preferring to
work in a bank and to devote all his spare time to his studies.
His correspondence with many leading scholars brought him
wide recognition. Epstein is best known for his Torah Temimah,
a compilation of quotations from the oral law arranged
according to the scriptural verses to which they refer and annotated
by a brilliant commentary which attests to his vast
and profound knowledge of Talmud.
Bibliography: B. Epstein, Mekor Barukh (1928); H. Seidman,
Elleh Ezkerah, 1 (1956), 142–9; Sefer Yahadut Lita, 1 (1959), 293,
no. 5; 3 (1967), 31, under his father’s name; A.Z. Tarshish, R. Barukh
ha-Levi Epstein (1967).
[Mordechai Hacohen]
EPSTEIN, BRIAN SAMUEL (Shmuel; 1934–1967), British
impresario, one of history’s most successful show business entrepreneurs
whose success in managing the Beatles changed
the world of music. Epstein was born on Yom Kippur to Harry
(Tzvi) and Malka (“Queenie”) in Liverpool, where the family
owned a furniture store and where Epstein became manager
of the store’s record department. When his father opened an
NEMS music store on Whitechapel Street, Brian was put in
charge, becoming fully engrossed in the world of music and
writing a music column for Mersey Beat beginning August
3, 1961. The store was down the street and around the corner
from a basement nightclub called The Cavern, and it was there
on November 9, 1961, that Epstein first met and saw the Beatles
perform. Three weeks later he approached John Lennon and
offered to become the Beatles’ manager. Paul McCartney’s father
– who had once bought a piano at the Epstein furniture
store – immediately approved, telling Paul that Epstein would
make a good manager. “He thought Jewish people were very
good with money,” McCartney said years later. “That was the
common wisdom. He thought Brian would be very good for
us.… And he was right.… If anyone was the fifth Beatle, it
was Brian.”
Epstein immediately changed the Beatles’ appearance
from their unpolished, jeans and leather-jacket greaser look
to one of neatly tailored matching suits; and he ordered them
not to eat, smoke, or swear on stage and to bow to the audience
after each number. After getting rejected by all the major British
record companies, Epstein landed the Beatles a recording
contract in June 1962 with EMI’s smallest labels, Parlophone,
headed by Sir George Martin. Drummer Pete Best was fired
and replaced by Ringo Starr, and the elements for success were
now in place. Indeed, in little more than a year under Epstein’s
direction, the Beatles began enjoying the greatest success that
any popular artists had ever achieved.
Epstein’s homosexuality, and his alleged infatuation with
Lennon, were the subject of many articles and books. It was
extensively rumored that in the Beatles’ song “Baby You’re A
Rich Man,” Lennon sang “Baby you’re a rich fag Jew” as a slur
against Epstein. The audible ambiguity of the recording fueled
the rumor into a worldwide urban legend, though it was
never authoritatively confirmed.
Epstein died of a drug overdose, likely from some sort
of sleeping pills, at age 32. Once he died the Beatles became
embroiled in a tangle of conflicts, money squabbles, and personal
jealousies, and their business affairs began to unravel.
Within three more years the group disbanded.
In addition to managing the Beatles, Epstein also managed
Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas,
The Fourmost, and Cilla Black. He wrote an autobiography, A
Cellarful of Noise (1964).
[Elli Wohlgelernter (2nd ed.)]
EPSTEIN, CHAIM FISCHEL (1874–1942), Orthodox rabbi.
Born in Taurogen, Lithuania, Epstein was recognized for his
brilliance at an early age. After studying Talmud at the famed
Telshe Yeshiva, Epstein wrote his first book, Ḥinukh le-Na’ar
(a commentary on Aaron Ha-Levi’s Sefer ha-Ḥinukh), at age
16. That same year, he entered the Volozhin yeshivah, studying
under its famed leaders, Rabbi Naphtali Ẓevi Judah *Berlin
and Rabbi Ḥayyim *Soloveitchik. At only 18 years of age,
Epstein was ordained as a rabbi by Rabbi Soloveitchik and
Rabbi Shelomo Cohen of Vilna.
Notably, Epstein also studied secular subjects, which
many other Orthodox rabbis of his time did not, earning the
equivalent of a high school diploma at a gymnasium in Shedlitz.
Epstein also displayed an energetic interest in the fledgling
Zionist movement. He wrote poetry about the Land of
Israel, was affiliated with the *Ḥibbat Zion movement, and
attended a Zionist conference in Minsk in 1902. Eventually,
he became a founder of the Mizrachi movement of religious
Zionists, and continued to endorse Zionism after immigrating
to the U.S.
At age 24 Epstein began a series of rabbinical positions,
including Grosowa (near Minsk) and Sainee, where he remained
until the outbreak of World War I. Toward the end of
the war, Epstein was named chief rabbi of an Estonian Jewish
region. During this time, Epstein completed a Ph.D. degree
and taught Jewish philosophy at the local university.
Epstein declined invitations to serve congregations in
London and Liverpool, instead immigrating to the U.S. in 1923.
He served many communities, including in Bayonne, New
Jersey; Cleveland; Cincinnati; and Brooklyn. Like many of
his colleagues from Eastern Europe, he faced resistance from
more liberal lay leaders and congregants regarding standards
of Jewish practice, particularly kashrut. Yet Epstein’s reputation
as a scholar assured that many rabbinical colleagues and
lay leaders came to him to adjudicate matters of Jewish law.
468 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6