JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

Epstein, Harry H.
In 1965 Epstein joined the *Rabbinical Assembly and
headed its Joint Commission on Rabbinic Placement, the very
sensitive job and highly political position of matching rabbis
with congregations, thus enabling young rabbis to advance,
successful rabbis to move to larger and ever larger congregations,
and those whose careers have been difficult to find additional
employment. It was a position that he handled with
grace and tact. His task was to deal with rabbis and congregations
in times of crisis and transition. During the years of
major growth of the Conservative movement, the job was exceedingly
demanding because there were so many positions to
fill. As the rate of expansion declined and the need for rabbis
settled down, his work became difficult in a different sense as
he had to redirect rabbis to positions where they could succeed.
He helped Wolfe *Kelman and represented the Conservative
Rabbinate in many national organizations including the
National Conference of Soviet Jewry, the New York Board of
Rabbis, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations.
[Michael Berenbaum (2nd ed.)]
EPSTEIN, HARRY H. (1903–2003), U.S. rabbi. Epstein was
born in Plunge, Lithuania, and raised in New York and especially
Chicago. He attended the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological
Seminary, where Bernard *Revel became a mentor. Epstein
continued his education at the famed Slobodka Yeshivah and
its branch in Hebron, Palestine, both of which were headed
by his uncle, Moses Mordecai *Epstein. He obtained traditional
semikhah (ordination) from three rabbis, including
Abraham Isaac *Kook, later the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of
Israel. He also obtained B.Ph. and M.A. degrees from Emory
University, a Ph.D. from the School of Law of the University
of Illinois, and a D.D. (honorus causa) from the Jewish Theological
Seminary.
Epstein’s was a surprisingly eclectic education given the
dominant influence of his traditionalist father, Ephraim, an
Orthodox rabbi who helped launch what became Chicago’s
Hebrew Theological College. The Slobodka Yeshivah was
noted for the *Musar approach, which fostered modern Jewish
character through piety and faith alongside talmudic study.
RIETS provided American Orthodox training but the remainder
of his education, including public school in Chicago, was
secular. His background prepared him well for an evolving
East European-American Judaism and rabbinical career.
After a year filling a pulpit at Tulsa’s B’nai Emunah, Revel’s
father-in-law’s congregation, where Epstein advised oilrich
members on philanthropy, in 1928 he became the rabbi
at Ahavath Achim, the more affluent of Atlanta’s four Orthodox
synagogues. Fluent in Yiddish and English, and mixing
learned Talmud classes for the old guard with early Friday
night services for their acculturating children, Epstein offered
a trans-generational, gradual accommodation to middle-class
Jewish life in America by becoming an exemplar of the Modern
Orthodoxy championed by Joseph *Lookstein and Leo
*Jung during the interwar years. Traditional observance was
coupled with modern education in a synagogue-center environment
hosting a variety of activities. Epstein, who lost a
brother in the 1929 Hebron massacre, also led his congregation
as an ardent Zionist. He headed regional Zionist efforts, participated
in national conferences during World War II to aid
European Jewry, co-chaired Atlanta Jewish Federation campaigns
with Reform Rabbi Jacob Rothschild after the war, and
served as a model for modern, traditional rabbis throughout
the South. Following national trends he drew his congregation
into the Conservative fold in 1954, something he later regretted
when his successor, Arnold Goodman, allowed women
to read from the Torah and he realized that Orthodoxy could
have survived.
Epstein wrote Judaism and Progress: Sermons and Addresses
(1934).
Bibliography: M.K. Bauman, Harry H. Epstein and the Rabbinate
as Conduit for Change (1994); K.W. Stein, A History of Ahavath
Achim Synagogue, 1887–1987 (1987).
[Mark K. Bauman (2nd ed.)]
EPSTEIN, ISAAC BEN MORDECAI (c. 1780–1857), talmudist
and kabbalist. Epstein, who had already written halakhic
works in his youth, attached himself against the will of
his grandfather to *Chabad Ḥasidism, and thenceforth devoted
himself to the study of Kabbalah and Chabad teaching,
burning his previous halakhic writings. He felt that only *Shneur
Zalman of Lyady, whose favorite pupil he became, was
capable of revealing the innermost secrets of the divine Law.
Epstein served as rabbi of Gomel. In his old age he himself
made his debut as a ẓaddik. In the handling of halakhic problems
he took pains to write in an unpretentious and clear style.
He left ten studies on Chabad teaching including Ma’amar ha-
Shiflut ve-ha-Simḥah (1864) and Ma’amar Yeẓi’at Miẓrayim
(1877); the others are in manuscript. He also wrote homilies
for the weekly portions of the Law and the festivals, some of
which were published with his Ma’amar Yeẓi’at Miẓrayim.
Bibliography: Bermann, in: Keneset ha-Gedolah, ed. by S.
Suwalski, 1 pt. 3 (1890), 18–22; I. Heilmann, Beit-Rabbi, 1 (1965, photogr.
reprint of 1902), 136, 165–6, 174–5.
[Samuel Abba Horodezky]
EPSTEIN, ISIDORE (1894–1962), English rabbi and scholar.
Epstein was born in Kovno, Lithuania, and immigrated with
his parents first to France and then in 1911 to England. He later
studied in Hungarian yeshivot, particularly at Pressburg, and
at London University until 1926. From 1921 to 1928 he served
as rabbi in Middlesborough. In 1928 Epstein began teaching
Semitics at Jews’ College where he was also librarian; in 1945
he became director of studies; and in 1948, principal. Epstein
expanded the activities of Jews’ College by introducing a
ḥazzanut department, a rabbinical diploma class, and an institute
for training teachers.
Epstein’s first publications were in history as reflected in
responsa: Responsa of Rabbi Solomon b. Adreth of Barcelona
(1235–1310) as a Source of the History of Spain (1925) and The
470 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6