Distinctiveness and Diaspora in Medieval and Early Modern Jewish Thought

This chapter discusses the connection between concepts of Jewish distinctiveness and diaspora/exile in five paradigmatic medieval and early modern Jewish thinkers. The article argues that the medieval Jewish thinkers examined, Judah Halevi and Moses Maimonides, wrote primarily for a Jewish audience, and as such their conceptions of Jewish distinctiveness and diaspora were aimed at bolstering Jewish self-confidence. By contrast, the early moderns Simone Luzzatto and Menasseh ben Israel wrote primarily for Gentile audiences and articulated conceptions of Jewish distinctiveness and diaspora aimed at ameliorating Jewish political standing. A third early modern thinker, Benedict Spinoza, also discussed Jewish distinctiveness and diaspora for activist ends, but did so in a deflationary way, as his concern was not with improving the political status of Jews, but rather with promoting the general public’s freedom to philosophize.

Rabbi Yeheil Michel Epstein and his Arukh Hashulchan

Yechiel Mikhel Epstein (also Yeheil Michel Epstein, b. 1829–d. 1908) was among the most distinguished Jewish Law authorities of the last half of the 19th century. Along with Moses Maimonides, he shared the accomplishment of preparing a full restatement of all of Jewish law, which he presented in two works, the Arukh HaShulchan and the Arukh haShulchan HeAtid. These two works established Rabbi Epstein as one of the leading Jewish law authorities of all Jewish history, both past and present. Although he wrote a few other works, such as Or Li-Yesharim, Mikhal HaMayim, and Leil Shimurim, as well as a recent work collecting his many letters titled Kitvei HaArukh HaShulchan, none of them have been seen as of any great significance. Rather, Epstein’s legacy resides in his complex, nuanced, and nearly complete commentary on the full breadth of Jewish law. Epstein was born on 24 January 1829 in Bobriusk, Russia. Epstein’s father was a successful businessman and competent Jewish scholar who provided his son with a thorough rabbinic education. By many accounts, Epstein demonstrated an aptitude for Talmudic studies at a young age and thus spent his formative years studying under the direction of Rabbi Elijah Goldberg, the Chief Rabbi of Bobriusk. He also studied briefly at the famous Volozhin Yeshivah from 1842 through 1843. While Epstein briefly pursued a career in business, he was quickly appointed as a rabbinical judge and assisted his teacher, Rabbi Goldberg, in his hometown of Bobriusk. Having subsequently decided to pursue service as a community leader, Epstein received his first appointment in 1865 when he was selected to become the rabbi of Novozybkov, a Russian town in which a few thousand Jews lived. The Jewish population there included Orthodox, secular, and Hasidic Jews, as well as Jews who resisted the Hasidic movement (called Mitnagdim). At the age of thirty-five, Rabbi Epstein married Roshka Berlin, the daughter of Rabbi Jacob Berlin and sister of the famous Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, who would later become head of the Volozhin Yeshiva. The couple ultimately had five children. Notably, their daughter, Braynah Welbrinski, was twice widowed before settling into her parents’ home and managing the publication and distribution of the Arukh HaShulchan, which was edited and produced in the years following the death of Rabbi Epstein in 1908.