Analyses the writings of Rabbi Yechiel Mechel Halevi Epstein (1829–1908), author of the Arukh Hashulkhan, a bold and unusual approach to Jewish law. Based primarily on the original text of Rabbi Epstein's legal codes and homilies, this work covers topics such as women, modernity, customs, and secular studies. It analyses the rabbi's approach to Jewish law and Jewish life, designed to promote the spiritual welfare of Jews under the pressures of growing secularisation and Russification. Although based upon the principles of the traditional judicial process, the rabbi’s rulings demonstrate a profound understanding of the contemporary social and historical reality facing the Jews of Russia at the turn of the century.

"Professor Fishbane’s collection of studies focusing upon AHS as well as other writings of Epstein is for that reason a welcome addition to the library of research into recent halakhic literature...Those interested in the history of contemporary halakhic literature and culture owe him a debt of thanks, and all subsequent studies of Epstein and AHS will of necessity engage with this book." -- Mark Washofsky * H-NET Review *

Simcha Fishbane is an Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and Executive Assistant to the President of Touro College. His recent publications include Deviancy in Early Rabbinic Literature (Brill, 2007); Jewish Studies in Violence, edited by and introduced by Simcha Fishbane (UPA, 2006); and Voodoo or Judaism, The Ritual of Kapparot: People Medicine and Maaic in Jewish and Slavic Cultural Tradition (Moscow, 2007).