BEYNISH EPSHTEYN

BEYNISH EPSHTEYN (1896-March 26, 1981)

            He was born in Tavrig (Tauragė), Lithuania, into a distinguished rabbinical family.  He attended the Slobodka and Volozhin yeshivas.  He studied law in Dorpat (Yuryev) and Berlin Universities.  From his student years, he was active in the Zionist movement.  He was a member of the editorial board of “Ḥorev” publishers in Berlin (1923), and in 1926 he came to the United States.  He was a leading member in the new Zionist organization “Brit ḥerut-hatsahar” (Revisionist Zionism) in America, a member of the Zionist action committee, and a contributor to the Revisionist press in Yiddish and Hebrew.  He wrote journalistic articles and special columns for: Unzer shtime (Our voice) and served as its editor, Bafrayung (Liberation), Unzer veg (Our way) and was for a time its co-editor, Tog (Day), Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal), and Tog-morgn-zhurnal (Day-morning journal), among others—in New York; Der idisher zhurnal (The Jewish journal) in Toronto; Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; Idisher kuryer (Jewish courier) in Chicago; Moment (Moment), Unzer veg, and Rak kakh (Only thus) in Warsaw; and Hamashkif (The spectator) and Ḥazit haam (People’s front) in Tel Aviv; among others.  He was the editor of the Revisionist Zionist English-language monthly News Letter in New York.  He played an important role in influencing the Republican Party in favor of a stance of behalf of Zionism and the state of Israel.  He died in New York.

Sources: Dr. A. Mukdoni, in Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (April 9, 1940); Moshe Giloni, in Ḥazit haoved (Tel Aviv) (Adar 9 [= March 1], 1966); Suvenir-zhurnal (New York) (May 5, 1963).

Khayim Leyb Fuks