Rabbi Baruch HaLevi Epstein was born in Babruysk on 5 Shevat 5620 (1860), the son of Rabbi Yechiel Michel HaLevi Epstein, author of the Aruch HaShulchan, and Michla, sister of the Netziv of Volozhin. He grew up in Novardok, where his father was rabbi. At thirteen he entered the Volozhin yeshiva, studying there five years and regarded as a prodigy; he was ordained by his uncle the Netziv, by the Beit HaLevi and by other great rabbis.

He married the daughter of Rabbi Elazar Moshe HaLevi Horowitz, rabbi of Pinsk, in whose home he studied Torah and the sciences. After studies at the commercial academy in Vienna he became chief accountant and then manager of a bank in Pinsk until the First World War, devoting all his free time to learning and writing. He was never a rabbi, judge or communal leader. From 1923 to 1926 he lived in the United States, where he was the first director of Ezras Torah.

His great commentary on the Chumash, Torah Temimah, gathers for each verse the related teachings of the Talmud and Midrashim, with explanatory notes; it is found in countless homes. He also wrote Mekor Baruch, memoirs of the great figures of his generation.

He died in Pinsk early in the Second World War, around 1941-1942.