ר׳ ברוך הלוי אפשטיין

ר׳ ברוך הלוי אפשטיין (1860–1941) was a Lithuanian Talmudic scholar, writer, and author of תורה תמימה. Born in Bobruisk to ר׳ יחיאל מיכל הלוי אפשטיין, later author of ערוך השולחן, he grew up in Novogrudok and studied at Volozhin under his uncle ר׳ נפתלי צבי יהודה ברלין. After marrying the daughter of ר׳ אלעזר משה הורוויץ, he settled in Pinsk. Although ordained, he declined communal rabbinates and worked professionally as an accountant and banker, devoting his remaining hours to scholarship. תורה תמימה, composed in Pinsk and published in 1902, arranges rabbinic interpretations alongside biblical verses and explains their relationship; it became one of the era’s most widely used Torah commentaries. His other writings include the expansive autobiographical-historical מקור ברוך, תוספת ברכה, and ברוך שאמר. From 1923 to 1926 he lived in New York, seeking publishing and rabbinic opportunities and serving for a time as director of Ezras Torah, before returning to Pinsk. After German forces occupied Pinsk in July 1941, the elderly and ill scholar died in the Jewish hospital. Some reference works date his death to 1942, but the early-occupation account supports 1941.