eSefarad Noticias del Mundo Sefaradi
An old image of the town of Eppstein, Germany.
At first glance, Epstein would seem to be related to the many Yiddish-German “stein” names that have little historical significance other than their pretty sound, such as Goldstein (“gold stone”), Silberstein (“silver stone”), Perlstein (“pearl stone”), et. al.
However, while these names are less than 250 years old, the Epsteins take their family name fromthe town of Eppstein in central Germany, where they lived as far back as the 16th century.
Many people with this name, including many great Ashkenazi rabbis, tend to be Levites, tracingtheir lineage back to Levi, son of Jacob. It appears that these Epsteins, then using the familyname Benveniste, came to the town from Spain, whence they fled from the Inquisition.
Some prominent members of this clan include:
- Rabbi Isaac Halevi Epstein of Homel (1780–1857), a noted Chabad chassid
- Rabbi Kaolnymus Kalman Halevi Epstein of Krakow (1753–1825), chassidic scholar,author of the Maor Vashemesh
- Rabbi Yechiel Michel Halevi Epstein (1829–1908), author of the Aruch Hashulchan, aclassic work on Jewish law.
By Menachem Posner
Source: chabad.org
