ר׳ יחיאל מיכל הלוי אפשטיין

ר׳ יחיאל מיכל הלוי אפשטיין (1829–1908), known as the Aruch HaShulchan, was one of the leading halakhic authorities of nineteenth-century Eastern Europe. Born in Bobruisk, he studied briefly at Volozhin and was guided and ordained by ר׳ אליהו גולדברג. He married Michlah Berlin, sister of ר׳ נפתלי צבי יהודה ברלין. After work in commerce and on the Bobruisk rabbinical court, he accepted his first communal rabbinate in Novozybkov, whose mixed Hasidic and non-Hasidic population broadened his practical experience. In 1874 he became rabbi of Novogrudok and remained there until his death. His Aruch HaShulchan systematically explains and rules on the four divisions of the Shulchan Aruch, giving unusual weight to the Jerusalem Talmud, Maimonides, established custom and the conditions of lived communal law. He also wrote Aruch HaShulchan HeAtid on laws not then practiced, Or LaYesharim and Leil Shimurim.