EPPENSTEIN, SIMON

EPPENSTEIN, SIMON (1864–1920), German rabbi and scholar. Eppenstein was born in Krotoszyn, Poland, and served as rabbi at Briesen (West Prussia) 1889–1911, and thereafter was lecturer in Jewish history and Bible exegesis at the Berlin Rabbinical Seminary. As an early supporter of religious Zionism (Mizrachi), he conducted some of his lectures at the Seminary in Hebrew.

Eppenstein's main fields of study were the geonic period, on which he wrote Beitraege zur Geschichte und Literatur im geonaeischen Zeitalter (1913), and medieval Bible exegesis, such as publishing *Astruc's Midrash ha-Torah (1899), Joseph *Kara's commentaries on the Bible, as well as *Saadiah Gaon's introduction to his commentary on the Psalms (publ. in Festschrift A. Harkavy). He also made Hebrew translations of Joseph b. Judah ibn *Aknin's Marpeh Nefashot (in Festschrift N. Sokolow) and *Abraham b. Moses b. Maimon's Kifāyat al- ʿĀbidin (in Festschrift J. Lewy). Eppenstein also wrote a biography of Maimonides (for W. *Bacher's work on him), as well as one on his son Abraham (in Jahres-Bericht des Rabbiner-Seminars zu Berlin fuer 1912/13). He also edited and annotated the fourth edition of the fifth volume of *Graetz's Geschichte der Juden (1909) and the Festschrift D. Hoffmann (1914).

bibliography:

X.N. Simchoni, in: Ha-Tekufah, 9 (1921), 488–90; A.B. Posner, in: Festschrift… J. Freimann (1937), 172–9 (incl. bibl.); E. Ben-Reshef, in: S. Federbush (ed.), Ḥokhmat Yisrael be-Ma'arav Eiropah, 1 (1958), 37–39; Kressel, Leksikon, 1 (1965), 134–5.

[Akiva Posner]