Isidore Epstein

Who was Isidore Epstein?

Rabbi Dr. Ezekiel Isidore Epstein, was an Orthodox rabbi and rabbinical scholar in England. He served as rabbi of Middlesbrough Hebrew Congregation, following which he joined the teaching staff of Jews' College, London. In 1945 he was appointed Director of Studies and subsequently principal. He retired in 1961.

Born in Kovno, Lithuania, he studied at the Pressburg Yeshiva in his youth, as well as in Paris under Rabbi Zadoc Kahn, chief rabbi of France. He received semikhah from Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, Rabbi Isaiah Silberstein of Vacz, and Rabbi Yisrael Chaim Daiches of Leeds, England.

Epstein is best known for serving as the editor of the first complete English translation of the Babylonian Talmud, by the Soncino Press. He recruited many rabbis and scholars for the massive project, personally reviewing all of the work as it was produced, and co-ordinating the many details of notation, and transliteration of Hebrew words.

Rabbi Epstein was also an editor of Joseph H. Hertz' Pentateuch and Haftorahs, and editor a collection of papers in connection with the eighth centenary of the birth of Maimonides, as well as being the author of numerous scholarly books relating to Judaism.