The Mashgiach was born on Erev Rosh Chodesh Tammuz 5668
(1908) in the town of Skydl, located in Lithuania near
Grodno, to HaRav Yitzchok Aryeh, a talmid chochom and
merchant, and his mother Chasha Yehudis. Before he was born
his parents had lost eight children during childbirth and in
infancy. Only one girl survived and when his mother traveled
to the city of Oshmina to the renowned tzaddik, HaRav
Mordechai Weitzel, known as Rebbe Mordechai Slonimer, he
blessed her that the child would survive and merit long life,
but set certain conditions. One was that until the age of
three she dress the child in white linen that resembled
tachrichin (burial shrouds) and that until he was
married that the appellation "Zeidel" be appended to his
name.
HaRav Nochum Abba Grossbard zt"l would recall hearing
Rav Epstein's mother say that although she had yearned for a
son, in her prayers she said she wanted a son only if he
became a talmid chochom who was loyal to Hashem and
His Torah.
During his childhood, due to the pogroms Zeidel's parents
fled the town with their family, miraculously escaping death
on several occasions. Eventually they arrived in Grodno, an
outlying town where numerous refugees from the surrounding
area had gathered. When word spread that a yeshiva was being
set up in the town, though he was only eight years old Zeidel
joined the group of bochurim which later became
Yeshivas Shaar HaTorah of Grodno.
At first the roshei yeshiva were HaRav Alter
Shmuelevitz zt"l (the father of HaRav Chaim) and HaRav
Yosef Leib Nendik Hy"d (later the mashgiach of
Kletzk). A year later HaRav Shimon Shkop was asked to serve
as rosh yeshiva, but one year later World War I broke out and
most of the yeshiva members fled, scattering in all
directions. Zeidel, then 12, was one of a small group of
Grodno residents who remained.
He also became one of a select few who had the merit of
learning bechavrusa with HaRav Shimon Shkop. Later he
would often recall that those chosen were astonished to merit
such an opportunity, for R' Shimon's reputation as a
gaon extended to the ends of the earth and here he was
sitting and teaching a couple of twelve-year-olds with
tremendous patience and astounding explanation.
During this period his father traveled far away on business
and, due to the war, was unable to return. He had to flee to
Germany and later sailed to the US, where Zeidel's mother
managed to join him a few years later. Of course his mother
very much wanted Zeidel to come with her and continue his
studies in the US, particularly since he was their only son
and had been born following numerous hardships, but Zeidel
would not hear of leaving the holy yeshiva, especially since
he was aware that at the time the US was no place for a
ben Torah. In fact when someone moved to the US it was
common to sit Shiva for him.
After his parents had been living in the US for a few years,
his mother traveled to Lithuania, pleading with Zeidel to
come with her to the US. But with the backing of his rabbonim
he stood firm. When she kept pressing him, one night he ran
off to Yeshivas Mir, leaving an emotionally-charged letter on
the table in his grandmother's home saying that he couldn't
bear her pleas, but that he was certain going to America
would be spiritually disastrous therefore he had to go away.
Eventually his mother went to Yeshivas Mir and, following a
long talk with the Mashgiach, HaRav Yeruchom Levovitz and a
promise she would see nachas, she agreed to let him
stay at the yeshiva. His conviction made the local papers and
was a great kiddush Hashem at a time when most
European Jews dreamed of moving to the US.
At the yeshiva he became renowned as a great shakdan.
Throughout the years his main two chavrusas were HaRav
Yisroel Zeev Gustman zt"l and ylct"a HaRav
Yitzchok Koppelman, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Lucerne.
On Fridays he would spend all day learning Ketzos
Hachoshen with HaRav Koppelman. They would prepare for
Shabbos in advance so they could study without
distraction.
One winter, while the yeshiva was learning Yevomos,
because he had already learned the masechta a
number of times, besides his morning chavrusa with
HaRav Gustman he arranged an afternoon chavrusa with
one of the leading bochurim. The two drew up a written
agreement stipulating that they would learn six blat a
day be'iyun. One Shabbos night, as they were plowing
through difficult material, the last of the paraffin stoves
flickered out before they had met their quota. They tried
learning in the moonlight in the biting cold of a Polish
winter night, but soon realized that they couldn't continue
that way. Eventually they decided to knock on the door of a
well-known talmid chochom where the lights burned all
night, and he ushered them in gladly.
HaRav Epstein was spared the horrors of the war through
amazing miracles. When the Mashgiach's wife, Rebbetzin Frida
Harcaby Hy"d began to sense the war coming, she urged
him to travel to his parents in the US, but he refused to go
and HaRav Shimon and HaRav Yeruchom agreed with him.
Nonetheless the Rebbetzin kept applying pressure on the Rosh
Yeshiva and the Mashgiach until they agreed to instruct him
to go. The journey was already impossible by that time (late
Av 5699, early August 1939) for groups were no longer
traveling from Poland to Western Europe, but through a
miraculous chain of events he secured passage on a cargo ship
carrying only cattle, docking in the US at the beginning of
Elul 5699 on the very day that the war broke out in
Poland.
Soon afterwards, when a select group of talmidim went
to speak with HaRav Shkop about how to face the situation
— whether to stay or flee — he began by noting
how HaRav Zeidel had managed to escape at the last moment,
saying, "Der tzaddik hat gehalten di milchomoh tzvei
vochen" ("This tzaddik delayed the war by two weeks
[until he left].")
In the US he was hired as a ram at yeshivas Torah
Vodaas and was asked by HaRav Shlomo Heiman to serve in the
rabbinate of Elizabeth, New Jersey. That same winter a
proposal was made for him to marry Rebbetzin Lesha
o"h, the daughter of HaRav Yehoshua Shlomo Landi, a
descendent of the Vilna Gaon.
A few years later HaRav Shraga Feivel Mendelowitz, the rosh
yeshiva of Torah Vodaas, decided to send HaRav Epstein and
another ram from Yeshivas Torah Vodaas to strengthen
Yeshivas Mesivta Rabbenu Yaakov Yosef (RJJ), which was the
oldest yeshiva in the country. The students there were not
continuing their studies in yeshivos gedolos. HaRav
Epstein succeeded in shifting the tone of the yeshiva, which
went on to produce many of the US gedolei Torah and
roshei yeshivos. When HaRav Aharon Kotler zt"l
opened Yeshivas Lakewood he brought the core students from
HaRav Epstein's shiur.
He served as one of the roshei yeshiva of Yeshivas
Rabbenu Yaakov Yosef for nearly 40 years and played an
important role in setting up girls' schools by assisting
Rebbetzin Vichne Kaplan and Rebbetzin Chavoh Pinkus when they
set up Bais Yaakov in Williamsburg.
Over the years he received numerous offers to serve as
ram or mashgiach at various yeshivas, but he
always refused, feeling that his place was at RJJ. Even the
rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Ponovezh, HaRav Yosef Shlomo
Kehaneman zt"l, tried to bring him to Eretz Yisroel.
One year HaRav Yechezkel Levenstein sent him a letter urging
him to come to Eretz Yisroel and eventually he did arrive for
the first time, but after consulting with HaRav Chatzkel and
two other gedolei hador they decided he should remain
in the US.
Only when the yeshiva closed temporarily in 5737 (1977) did
he decide to move to Eretz Yisroel. When HaRav Yisroel Yaakov
Ruderman, the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Ner Israel of
Baltimore, heard the news he sent a shaliach to ask
HaRav Epstein to serve at his yeshiva. He declined,
determined to move to Eretz Yisroel and planning to become an
avreich in one of the botei medrash of
Yerushalayim.
Upon arriving in Eretz Yisroel several yeshivas asked him to
join them, but he refused. Only when HaRav Chaim Pinchos
Scheinberg asked him to learn at Yeshivas Torah Ohr and give
regular talks did he acquiesce. He spent the next 25 years
giving talks at the yeshiva and at other yeshivas as well,
especially Beis Medrash Govoha leTorah, a kollel in
Romema headed by HaRav Chaim Zelig Cantor.
Ever since joining Yeshivas Torah Ohr he would attend the
sedorim just like all the other avreichim,
sometimes even coming for Seder Shlishi. It was a
sight to behold to see him preparing for the Rosh Yeshiva's
shiur along with the rest of the talmidim and
participating in reviews of the shiur with the leading
avreichim, sometimes ardently debating what HaRav
Scheinberg's exact intention was, though HaRav Epstein was
several years older.
Several of HaRav Epstein's books were published in recent
years, starting with two volumes of Maamorei Shlomo,
based on the teachings of his rov, HaRav S. Harcaby,
Hy"d, the mashgiach of Yeshivas Grodno. Later
He'oros was published, a five-volume compilation of
his talks on the Torah, along with Afikei Ayal, his
chidushim on the Shas, which contains numerous
exchanges he had with his rov.
