Rosh Av Beis Din Yerushalayim. Son of Rav Yeshaya, Rosh Yeshiva Bialostock and Dvalkavisk. Author of Levush Yesha. Born in Greiba, Lithuania in תרמ''ז. Rav Pinchos’ father was Rosh Yeshiva of Bialostock and Dvalkavisk and author of Shu”t and Chiddushei HaShas Levush Yesha. His mother was Esther.
He was named Pinchos after Pinchos HaKohen “the Kanai” since he was born during that Parshah. At age four, his mother passed away. His father raised him and took care of all his needs. He studied Torah with his son day and night. Later, Pinchos studied in his father’s yeshivah in Dvalkavisk from .תרנ''ח-תר''ס
When Pinchos became Bar Mitzvah, his father sent him to learn in the famed Slonimer yeshivah. In תרס''ב the young student travelled to study under Rav Duvid Pianes in Knishin. He continued wandering from place to place until he joined the bachurim in Krinik under Rav Zalman Sender Kahana Shapira.
From the time of his Bar Mitzvah, he was writing and recording his chiddushim, and by age seventeen, he authored chiddushim on hilchos Bais Hamikdash. At age eighteen, he authored a commentary kuntres on Ara D’Rabbanan which he published a year later as, Oryan Tilsai. All the gedolei Lithuania praised his sefer as was testified by Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld.
When he was eighteen, he and his father moved together to Eretz Yisroel and they continued their studies together. He was nicknamed, “The Illui (genius) from Greiba”. The gedolim in Eretz Yisroel, including Rav Sonnenfeld, the Ridbaz - Rav Berlin, and Rav Yehoshua Diskin, took an immediate liking to the newcomer and greatly appreciated his accomplishments. In תרס''ח he married the daughter of Rav Shalom of Kelm who served as a Rav for 24 years in South Africa.
He began his work supporting the gedolim with his Torah and in תע''ר-תרע''א began publishing articles in Chavatzeles in support of keeping Shemita and opposing the heter mechirah.
At age twenty-six he received semicha from the Ridbaz who wrote among his praises in the kesav semicha for his talmid, that he “was a gadolbeYisroel mamash -- master of the entire Toras Sinai, uproots mountains with his sharp logic, and is a true yiras Shomayim (fearer of G-d) ...it is not easy to find a rav such as this in our generation!”
In תרפ''ו he authored Mincha Chareiva. Rav Yeshoshua Diskin also praised him greatly in a letter of haskama (approbation).
In תרפ''ט Rav Pinchos Epstein was appointed as a dayan to the Badatz. In תרצ''א Rav Chaim Sonnenfeld honored him with delivering that year’s Shabbos HaGadol derasha in Batei Machseh of the Old City in Jerusalem. After Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld’s passing, Rav Pinchos succeeded him as the Rav in Batei Machseh neighborhood.
During the years of the first world war, Rav Pinchos suffered greatly. His personal tragedies included the passing of his father and later, his wife. He suffered poverty which, in addition to privation in terms of his physical needs, resulted in a lack of seforim. Added to this, was his difficulty in raising his young orphaned children.
His greatest loss after that was his personal library. When Arab rioters overran the Old City, they destroyed Rav Pinchos’ manuscripts and valuable correspondences with gedolim such as the Chofetz Chaim, the Ohr Sameach, the Rogatshuver, the Maharsham , Rav Maharash Engel, and Rav Meir Arik. This accounted for the loss of some three thousand seforim and manuscripts. He was inconsolable over this for his entire life.
In תרע''ט , Rav Pinchos, together with Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld and Rav Yehoshua Diskin, formed a specialized Bais Din for Ashkenazim in order to prevent the Zionist influence from infiltrating from the Rabbanut. This was the founding of the Eida Charedis.
By תרצ''ב ,he assumed the head of the Eida Charedis and became the chief defender and spokesman on behalf of the chareidi agenda, against women’s vote , against national service, and any Zionist element that they felt opposed the derech haTorah. When Rav Zelig Reuven Bengis--who was Av Beis Din in Kalavira, Lithuania-- came to Eretz Yisroel, Rav Pinchos Epstein immediately demoted himself and returned to the lower station of dayan. From then, Rav Pinchos deferred authority to Rav Bengis who became Rosh Av Beis Din and to Maharitz Dushinksy who was Gaon Av Beis Din of Jerusalem. In תש''ט , the Maharitz passed away and Rav Bengis succeeded him as Gaavad. Rav Pinchos then resumed his role as Raavad.
In תשי''ג when Rav Bengis passed away, Rav Pinchos was appointed to succeed him and rose to the station of Gaavad Yerushalayim. For some twenty years, he worked together with Rav Duvid Yungreiss and Rav Reisman, serving as a dayan for forty years total in the Badatz of the Eida Chareidis. He helped found both their kashrus organization and shechitah and ran all manner of Torah affairs in the Yishuv. The greatest of the rabbonim, Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer and the Tshebiner Rav, would present their halachic queries to him. When the Satmar Rav--the Divrei Yoel-- learned that Rav Pinchos Epstein, was so poor that he wore an old, tattered garment, he sent his own peltz for the Gavaad to wear so that his clothing would better reflect his great standing.
When the Satmar Rav was confronted by the claim that he was a da’as yachid (lone opinion) with regard to his stance on Zionism, he used to return, “But there is an entire bais din with Rav Pinchos at its head that also agrees with my position!”
Recently Rav Pinchos Epstein’s Torah and chiddushim were republished in two volumes as Toraso Shel Rabbi Pinchos. He passed away 17 Teves תש''ל in Yerushalayim and was laid to rest on Har HaZeisim.
