THE BOLDNESS OF A HALAKHIST An Analysis of the Writings of Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Halevi Epstein The Arukh Hashulhan JUDAISM AND JEWISH LIFE Editorial board Geoffrey Alderman (University of Buckingham, Great Britain) Herbert Basser (Queens University, Canada) Donatella Ester Di Cesare (Università “La Sapienza,” Italy) Roberta Rosenberg Farber (Yeshiva University, New York), Series Editor Associate Simcha Fishbane (Touro College, New York), Series Editor Meir Bar Ilan (Bar Ilan University, Israel) Andreas Nachama (Touro College, Berlin) Ira Robinson (Concordia University, Montreal) Nissan Rubin (Bar Ilan University, Israel) Susan Starr Sered (Suffolk University, Boston) Reeva Spector Simon (Yeshiva University, New York) THE BOLDNESS OF A HALAKHIST An Analysis of the Writings of Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Halevi Epstein The Arukh Hashulhan SIMCHA FISHBANE A collection of social-anthropological essays Boston 2009 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fishbane, Simcha The boldness of a halakhist : an analysis of the writings of Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Halevi Epstein the Arukh Hashulhan : a collection of social-anthropological essays / Simcha Fishbane. p. cm.—(Judaism and Jewish life) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-934843-03-1 1. Epstein, Yechiel Mechel Halevi, 1829–1908—Teachings. 2. Jewish law. I. Title. BM755.E76F57 2008 296.1’8092—dc22 2008006146 Copyright © 2008 Academic Studies Press All rights reserved Book design by Yuri Alexandrov Published by Academic Studies Press in 2008 28 Montfern Avenue Brighton, MA 02135, USA [email protected] www.academicstudiespress.com Dedicated to the memory of TAMARA ERLICH הכרבל הנורכז by her family and three children CHANA, AVRAHAM, AND RIVKA Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Introduction by Ira Robinson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii 1. Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Halevi Epstein: His Life and Works . . . . . . . . 1 2. “Long Live the Tsar”: Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Epstein and the Russian Political System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 3. “Today Not Yesteryear”: Rabbi Y.M. Epstein’s Adjudicative Process as Expressed in the Arukh Hashulhan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 4. “In Any Case There Are No Sinful Thoughts”: The Role and Status of Women in Jewish Law as Expressed in the Arukh Hashulhan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 5. The Courage of a Religious Adjudicator: Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Epstein and Modernity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 6. “Mercy is Vouchsafed From Heaven”: Halakhah’s Response to Violence as Expressed in the Arukh Hashulhan Orakh Hayyim—Sections 560 and 576–8 . . . . . 89 7. “Secular Studies are the Supplement of Torah Studies”: Kol Ben Levi—The Homilies of Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Halevi Epstein—The First Sermon . . . . . . . . . . . 109 8. Recurrent Themes in the Homilies of Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Halevi Epstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 9. Social Reality or the Written Word: Minhag as Expressed in the Arukh Hashulhan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Appendix: A Graphologist’s Report by Graphologist Batya Cohen . . . . . . . . . 165 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Preface Following the completion of my book, The Method and Meaning of the Mishnah Berurah, a study of Rabbi Israel Meir Hacohen Kagan’s of Radin (The Hafetz Hayyim, 1838–1933) Mishnah Berurah, I decided to examine the work of another leading halakhic rabbinical authority of nineteenth- century Eastern Europe, the Arukh Hashulhan. This compendium of Jewish law was written by Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Halevi Epstein (1829–1908) while serving as Rabbi of Novogrudok, Russia. An examination and analysis of his code of laws was accompanied by research into available biographical, oral and written data and sources. In Chapter 1, a short biography of Rabbi Epstein is followed by a discussion of his writings. An introductory essay in Chapter 2 serves to acquaint the reader with Rabbi Epstein’s worldview, including his attitude toward the Russian government during the second half of the nineteenth century, and includes a translation of the preface to the Arukh Hashulhan entitled “Kvod Hamelekh.” Chapter 3 contains an essay devoted to Rabbi Epstein’s innovative and scholarly approach to Jewish law. Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 9 deal with additional topics from the Arukh Hashulhan such as women, modernity, violence and custom. In 1991 I had the privilege of discovering and publishing missing sections from the Arukh Hashulhan. During a stay in Israel, I contacted Dr. Meir Bar Ilan, the great-grandson of Rabbi Epstein. Even though he was departing the following day for a year-long sabbatical in the U.S., he was kind enough to bring me to his parents’ house to examine the documents of Rabbi Epstein they still possessed. It was there that I found two handwritten workbooks from the pen of Rabbi Epstein. The fi rst was a volume of Rabbi Epstein’s Arukh Hashulhan Leatid published by the Mosad Harav Kook. Though the second workbook was lacking a cover page, after close examination I was able to identify it as the missing section from Arukh Hashulhan on Yoreh Deah concerned with the laws of vows. The family generously allowed me to photocopy this material, and granted permission for publication. An analysis of this section of the volume, concerning ritual customs, forms Chapter 9 of my study. After receiving the manuscript from Meir, I contacted his brother, Rabbi Naftali Berlin and his scholarly son Shaul. They gave me free access to a collection of Rabbi Epstein’s homilies which they owned, as ix THE BOLDNESS OF A HALAKHIST well as permission to publish it. A comparison of this manuscript with other documents from the hand of Rabbi Epstein thus ascertained that he was indeed the author. An analysis of these homilies is included in this volume in two essays in Chapters 7 and 8. During the course of my research I encountered a professional gra- phologist, Ms. Batya Cohen, and gave her for examination one randomly chosen photocopied page of the manuscript in Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Epstein’s handwriting. She had no prior information regarding the author or the time and place of writing; having no background in rabbinic literature, she was not familiar with the genre of halakhah. Her results are presented in Appendix. Additional research was conducted in the archives of Hebrew Univer- sity and Shoken Library, both in Jerusalem, Most of these documents have only been recently published by Rabbi Horovitz in a volume entitled Kitvei HaArukh Hashulhan, and the author acknowledges my contribution. An important aspect of my methodological approach to the analysis of the writings of Rabbi Epstein is that of comparison, whenever possible, of the Arukh Hashulhan to Rabbi Israel Meir Hacohen Kagan’s Mishnah Berurah. Both Rabbis were prominent leaders and adjudicators of Jewish law. They lived in the same geographical area. Rabbi Kagan served as a head of the Rabbinical Academy in Radin, while Rabbi Epstein was a pulpit Rabbi and Rabbinical judge in Navordock. A comparative cont- rast of the two legal decision-makers reveals an ideological approach to Jewish law, and therefore to Jewish life. The Hafetz Hayyim viewed the law through the lens of earlier rabbinic authorities. Even when using the terminology “in our times,” he would generally quote an earlier source from generations past. Rabbi Epstein, clearly, was looking out the window. His consideration was the reality of his time, not of the past. These different approaches highlighted an additional difference between the two Rabbis. Rabbi Kagan is stringent in his rulings, while Rabbi Ep stein is considered to be a lenient adjudicator. Moreover, in analyzing Rabbi Epstein’s writings my theoretical framework was anthropological, focus- ing on the theories of Emile Durkheim and Mary Douglas to under stand the hierarchal and legal cosmology of the society of interest to Rabbi Ep- stein. In studying Jewish ritual of concern to Rabbi Epstein, the works of Fred Bird and Catherine Bell on ritual studies have served as guidelines. During the preparation of the various essays in this collection a number of scholars and friends have been of great assistance. They were always there to listen, encourage and help, sharing their knowledge and x