Baruch Epstein


Baruch Epstein or Baruch ha-Levi Epstein was a Lithuanian Jewish rabbi, best known for his Torah Temimah commentary on the Torah. He was the son of Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein, rabbi of Novarodok and author of the work Arukh HaShulkhan.

Biography

Epstein grew up in Novarodok, where his father was the communal rabbi, but moved to the city of Pinsk after his marriage and lived there until his death, apart from a period from 1923 to 1926, which he spent in the United States of America looking for a rabbinic position. During this period he served as the first menahel of Ezras Torah from around 1924 until he was succeeded by Rav Henkin around the year 1925.
Although Epstein was a bookkeeper by profession, he had been a student at the Volozhin Yeshiva under his uncle Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin. Epstein authored a number of popular and scholarly works which are still used widely.
During the Nazi occupation of Pinsk, the Jewish hospital, where Rabbi Epstein was a patient was burned down, and he perished in the fire.

Works