Moses Sofer (Schreiber) | |
|---|---|
 Sofer inc. 1830 | |
| Title | Chasam Sofer |
| Personal life | |
| Born | (1762-09-24)September 24, 1762 (7Tishrei 5523Anno Mundi) Frankfurt, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | October 3, 1839(1839-10-03) (aged 77) (25Tishrei 5600Anno Mundi) Pressburg, Hungary |
| Buried | Chatam Sofer Memorial, Bratislava, Slovakia |
| Spouse | Sarah Malka Jerwitz Sofer (1st); Sorel (Sarah) Eiger Sofer (2nd) |
| Children | Abraham Samuel Benjamin Sofer;Shimon Sofer;Joseph Sofer; Akiva Sofer Reimann;Yitzchok Leib; additional eight daughters |
| Occupation | Rabbi |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Judaism |
Moses Schreiber (September 24, 1762 – October 3, 1839), known to his own community and Jewish posterity in the Hebrew translation asMoshe Sofer,[a] was an Austro-Hungarian rabbi. He was one of the leadingOrthodox rabbis of EuropeanJewry in the first half of the 19th century.
He was a teacher to thousands and a powerful opponent of theReform movement in Judaism, which was attracting many Jews in theAustrian Empire, and beyond. AsRav of the city of Pressburg (nowBratislava, Slovakia), he advocated for strong communal life, first-class education, and uncompromising opposition to Reform and radical change.[1]
Sofer established ayeshiva in Pozsony/Pressburg (Bratislava), thePressburg Yeshiva, which became the most influential yeshiva in Central Europe,[2] producing hundreds of future leaders of Hungarian Jewry.[citation needed] This yeshiva continued to function untilWorld War II; afterward, it was relocated toJerusalem, under the leadership of the Chasam Sofer's great-grandson, Rabbi Akiva Sofer (theDaas Sofer).
Sofer published very little during his lifetime; however, his posthumously published works include more than a thousandresponsa,novellae on theTalmud, sermons, biblical and liturgical commentaries, and religious poetry. He is an authority who is quoted extensively in Orthodox Jewish scholarship. Many of his responsa are required reading forsemicha (rabbinic ordination) candidates. Hischiddushim (original Torah insights) sparked a new style inrabbinic commentary, and some editions of the Talmud contain his emendations and additions.
Moshe Sofer was born inFrankfurt to Shmuel and Reizel[3] in the year 5563 AM. His ancestors wereritual scribes, and from this profession the family name was derived. On his father's side he was a descendant of the Yalkut Shimoni and a descendant ofRashi, likewise he was the great-grandson of Rabbi Shmuel Shattin Katz, called the Maharshal"kh of Frankfurt.[4] At the age of six he was already learning Torah with Rabbi Meshulam Zalman Hasid, and at the age of seven it is already known to us that he innovated Torah novellae of his own.[5] When he was nine he studied in the yeshiva of Rabbi Natan Adler in Frankfurt – a rabbi considered his primary rabbi,[6] and even served him as a substitute for a father – and at the age of thirteen he was already preaching on matters ofHalakha. Likewise he also studied with RabbiPinchas Horowitz author of the book Hafla’ah and with Rabbi David Tebli Shayar inMainz and additional rabbis.[7] Besides his Torah studies he also studiedmathematics,astronomy and general history, with Rabbi Tebli.
In the year 1806[8] he was appointed rabbi in Pressburg (todayBratislava the capital ofSlovakia), which was the large and important community inHungary, there he continued to disseminate Torah in thePressburg Yeshiva to which came students from many countries whose number reached up to 500. He served as rabbi of the district and as head of the yeshiva about 33 years – until the day of his death, and in parallel also served as amohel.[9]
In the year 1812, five years after he arrived in Pressburg, his first wife died, and he married Sherl, the widow of R' Avraham Moshe Kalischer and the daughter of RabbiAkiva Eiger. From this wife were born all his children, four sons (Avraham-Shmuel, Shimon, Yozfa, and Yitzchak Leib), and seven daughters (Hindel, Gitl, Yentl, Simcha, Reichel, Reizel and Esther). In the year 1832 Sherl died, and after some years Rabbi Moshe Sofer married Chaya, the widow of Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Heller fromAltenburg inHungary.
His disciples established yeshivas throughout all of Hungary and served in the rabbinate in various communities. Not only his disciples revered him and magnified his name, also well-known Torah scholars such as RabbiMordecai Benet, Rabbi Akiva Eiger, RabbiEphraim Zalman Margolioth, Rabbi Moshe Mintz, and many others revered him, honored him, and granted him a special halakhic status. Jews from many communities inCentral Europe (Austria,Hungary, theCzech Republic andSlovakia of today) turned to him with questions regarding the laws of prohibition and permission and other matters. He was considered the lastposek upon whom one could rely and conduct according to his rulings, and his rulings were accepted without any objection in the communities of Hungary in particular, and the communities of Israel in general. The name of the Chatam Sofer went out to renown in all Jewish communities, and even non-Jewish judges sent to him questions pertaining to Jewish law.
He died on the 25th of Tishrei 5600 AM inBratislava. On his grave in the Jewish cemetery an "ohel" (mausoleum) was erected, which constitutes a pilgrimage site. DuringWorld War II, when the Nazis began to destroy the cemetery, Moshe Aryeh Leib Wottitz, a merchant and Torah scholar, risked himself and conducted negotiations with the Nazis. He succeeded in bribing them with a large quantity of gold, to prevent the continuation of the destruction and to save the rabbinic section in which the Chatam Sofer is buried. Adjacent to the tomb of the Chatam Sofer there is now placed a plaque commemorating his deed:
"In thisholy place will be engraved forever his good memory and the memory of his righteousness and his mighty deeds, of this precious man, first and foremost in every matter of holiness, Rabbi Moshe Aryeh Leib, may God avenge his blood… Wottitz, one of the honored of the Pressburg community before the destruction, who in the years of wrath gave his life… and invested all his wealth and strength to save the holy tomb and resting place of our master and teacher the Chatam Sofer, may the memory of the righteous and holy be a blessing, and with him also the rest of the holy ones who are in the land, who are buried in this section, from the impure hands of the accursed evildoers, may God erase their name."
When, due to the building of a tunnel for a road under the fortress, most of the bones were transferred from the old cemetery to a mass grave in the new cemetery, the tomb was left in its place with a small number of other graves, among them the graves of Rabbi Akiva Eger the first – the grandfather of his father-in-law, and his disciple Rabbi Daniel Prostits. For the sake of the paving they raised the road so that the tomb is now located in an underground site designed as a memorial to the entire Jewish community.
The Chatam Sofer had a special attitude toward theLand of Israel, toward living in it and settling it. He saw in the Land of Israel the source of spirituality and the essence of the holiness of the world,[10] and believed that the primary existence of the Torah and the commandments is specifically in the Land of Israel,[11] and that in exile not only is it impossible to fulfill all the commandments, but the Torah in its general wholeness dwells in darkness,[12] and the small amount of spirituality that exists in exile — it too has its source in the Land of Israel. He saw the inhabitants of the land as the most important among the people of the world, and compared the obligation of settling the land to the obligation oflaying tefillin:
”As if one would say, I will not lay tefillin because I am engaged in Torah study, so too one should not say, I will not gather my grain because of being engaged in Torah study.[13]
In his sermons he writes: "for the soil of the Land of Israel is more holy than the heavens of the diaspora".[14] He harshly denounced the exile and likened it to a grave, and argued that Israel went into exile because they offended the honor of the Land of Israel and blasphemed it in saying ‘a land that eats up its inhabitants’.[15] The expression ‘the land of the living’ referring to the Land of Israel he explained in its literal sense, that only in this land the people of Israel are considered alive, whereas outside the land the Jews are considered dead, since the exile endangers the existence of the Jewish people. The mishnah "better one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world than all the life of theWorld to Come" he explained as referring specifically to the Holy Land, that only there life can be superior even to the life of the World to Come.
He held that the bond between the people of Israel and its land was never severed, and therefore the people of Israel wherever they are found are still the children of the Land of Israel, and therefore even at this time there exists a commandment at all timesto ascend on pilgrimage to Jerusalem,[16] and even that it is permitted to offer thePassover sacrifice.[17] In his sermons he writes to the broader public: “...and do not be among the haters of Zion who do not want to return and choose to dwell under the kingdoms from our redemption and the salvation of our souls...”.[18] The prohibition to turn to gentile courts exists only in the Land of Israel, and not in the diaspora. And even in the Land of Israel he ruled that it is permitted in an exceptional manner to turn to them if it is the only way to save the land of a Jew.[19] He acted for the settlement of theLand of Israel, and even encouragedagriculture and theHebrew language. He supported the program of RabbiZvi Hirsch Kalischer for the renewal of settlement by means of wide settlement, and although he held that the ultimate fulfillment of complete redemption depends on a divine act, nevertheless one must take hold of all natural means for its realization. He believed that even the nations of the world, when they recognize the important role that the Land of Israel fulfills in the existence of Judaism, will not resent the prayers for return to Zion and will not see in them an unpatriotic act.[20]
The Chatam Sofer encouraged in this matter also his disciples.[21] Several of his disciples ascended to the Land of Israel and established the Kolel Bnei Hungaria inJerusalem. One of his distinguished disciples who ascended to the Land of Israel by his command was Rabbi Yitzchak Prager Oflatka, who also served as the head of thekolel. The members of the kolel were among the founders ofPetah Tikva and among them were also the famous opponents ofZionism (for example – Rabbi Avraham Shag-Zwebner). The Chatam Sofer ruled that supporting the poor in the Land of Israel is more important than building a synagogue in Jerusalem.[22]
The days of the Chatam Sofer were the days of the beginning ofJewish emancipation inWestern Europe. Following the granting ofrights to the Jews, the walls separating Jews from their surroundings were broken. These also led to the process ofenlightenment,secularization and thebeginning of the Reform movement. The Chatam Sofer not only did not rejoice in the emancipation, but saw in it a great harm and a temptation that would lead to non-observance of commandments and to assimilation:
"The trouble is the opposite, that the government gives freedom to Israel and elevates them and brings them closer, and it is a greater trouble than the first, that due to our many sins all the aim of Israel then is to draw close to the ministers of kingdom and to go in their statutes and to abandon Torah and commandments of their own will. And this is called enslavement and not servitude. For they are free men from servitude, but the impurity of the land rules over them."[23]
In theReform movement the Chatam Sofer saw a great danger, and therefore became one of its leading opponents, when he coined the slogan "Chadash asur min haTorah" ("innovation is forbidden by the Torah"). In origin this phrase is said regarding the prohibition of eating from the new grain (called "chadash") before the waving of theOmer in theTemple in Jerusalem. The Chatam Sofer gave this mishnah a new meaning — that any change in the commandments and customs of Israel is forbidden, solely because it is a novelty, even if it does not contradict theTalmud and thedecisors. He emphasized that changes in religion, even the smallest ones, can undermine the power of Judaism. According to his view, for this reason any innovation in Jewish life is forbidden by the Torah, and every custom that Israel has practiced is considered like a "vow made in public," whose violation entails the prohibition of "he shall not profane his word".[24]
In 1811, the Chatam Sofer acted successfully to prevent the opening of a school inPressburg in which they planned to teach also secular studies. Later the Maskilim conducted a campaign to close the Pressburg Yeshiva and failed after a determined struggle by him. In the year 1819 he supported the Hamburg Rabbinical Court in their stance against the establishment of a Reform synagogue in their city ("the Temple dispute") in which the parts in the prayer dealing with the coming of the redeemer were canceled and others were said in German, all accompanied by organ music. He defined these changes as a deviation from the tradition of Israel.[25]
Historical research sees in the Chatam Sofer the first rabbi who can be defined asorthodox; while many of his contemporaries, such as theNoda biYehuda, still related to the early Maskilim and Reformers as isolated phenomena requiring local treatment, he formulated a comprehensive and wide response and championed an uncompromising confrontation with them, out of an understanding that his powers asMara d'Atra were being eroded by the great changes in Jewish society. If previously the community had legal authorities to enforce the halakha on its members, these were increasingly restricted by the government. The growing integration into the environment made the acceptance of religious law more and more a matter of personal choice.[26] When he was asked regarding the rabbis who supported the position of the builders of the Reform temple, he responded on 25 January 1819[27] — that if the matter were in his hands he would remove them entirely from the community of Israel:
"If their judgment were handed over into our hands, my opinion would be to separate them from our borders. None of our daughters shall be given to their sons, nor from their sons to our daughters, so that they should not come to be drawn after them. And their community shall be like the community ofTzadok andBaytos —Anan and Saul. They by themselves and we by ourselves. All this appears to me as the halakha but not for actual implementation without the permission of theking, may his majesty be exalted. And without this my words should be null and considered as nothing."
Despite his opposition to change in the order of prayer and in traditional dress, the Chatam Sofer held that one may also study general studies on condition that they come after Torah study. His main concern was that enlightenment would serve as a gateway toassimilation, when it is not accompanied by proper Jewish consciousness, and therefore he was reserved about it in several places.[28] The blessing "who has given us the Torah of truth, and planted eternal life within us" he interpreted: "Torah of truth" is the Torah, and "eternal life" is sciences and worldly manners of this world. First Torah and afterward science.[29] He saw the wisdoms as assisting the understanding of the Torah. In his sermon in Pressburg in 1811 he said: "for all the wisdoms are spices for the Torah, and they are gates and entrances to it."
Especially in history he held that one cannot approach a new problem without examining the past, because the power of reality as it has been revealed in history is stronger than theoretical claims. He instructed his disciples to study among other things the book ofJosippon. The Chatam Sofer himself made a personal contribution to local history, and wrote the "Sefer HaZikaron" in which he recounts various events that occurred in his time.
The Chatam Sofer himself studied with Rabbi Tebli Shayar inMainz, alsomathematics,astronomy andhistory, and he had broad knowledge inphilosophy,anatomy and languages such asGerman andFrench. He praised the program of David Fraenhayzen, in his book "Mosdot Tevel", to establish a rabbinical seminary in which Torah would be studied alongside general sciences. In his eulogy for his friend, RabbiDavid Sinzheim, he mentioned that he acquired general education alongside broad Torah education, and therefore had great influence in circles of the French government. When the community ofFürth was deliberating among several rabbis for the position in the community, he sided with Rabbi Yehoshua ofRawicz who, in addition to his scholarship and fear of Heaven, "was also fluent in Ashkenazic (German) and would stand before kings." He also approved the establishment of a school for young Jews to study secular languages,manual labor andagriculture.[30]
The Chatam Sofer opposed thepilpul method and supported the study ofpeshat and proficiency, which in his view leads to truth. Thus he wrote to one of his disciples: "the fingernail of the early ones is better, and let him leave the books of the later ones and the deep pilpulim and investigations".[31] He ruled that it is forbidden to use pilpul to decide halakha, since the tendency toward pilpul can divert the student from the main matter.
He also criticized the method of derash when it opposes the simple meaning of Scripture:
"many more distant homiletical interpretations are said in the translations and midrashim, but on condition that they leave the verse on its simple and true meaning and not say that the derash is the simple one… for truth is beloved above all, especially that which pertains to practical halakha."[32]
In his ethical will he recommends to his descendants to study and teach the sonsTanakh with the commentary ofRashi, and Torah with the commentary ofNahmanides — "for he is the head of faithful belief, and by him you will become wise."
He held that one must learn in order to reach halakhic conclusions, and not for the sake of studying the Talmudic "give-and-take for its own sake". The Chatam Sofer adopted thephilological-critical method of study similar to the method of theVilna Gaon. In his possession were many manuscripts, and he labored to clarify the correct text in the Talmud and the halakhic decisors, because in his opinion the pilpul method arose due to corrupted textual variants.[33] In his study he also made use of adapting the scientific methods of examining parallel sources in a historical,philological, and experimental manner. He held that many of the problems and confusions in theBabylonian Talmud were due to attributing the opinion of one sage to another sage. He used experiments in order to clarify measurement quantities that appear in halakha, and in laws of kashrut to clarify theanatomy of animals.
Even though the Chatam Sofer supported the study ofAggadah andKabbalah, and used their sources in sermons and even in halakhic rulings, he opposed ruling halakha according to Aggadah or Kabbalah: "whoever mixes words of Kabbalah with the halakhot is liable because of sowingkilayim".[34]
The family of the Chatam Sofer branched into many lines. Dozens of his descendants served as rabbis, heads of yeshivot and leaders of communities in the states of theAustro-Hungarian Empire in Central Europe. His place in the rabbinate of Pressburg and the headship of the yeshiva was filled by his son RabbiAvraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer ("Ktav Sofer"), and after him the family's descendants Rabbi Simcha Bunim Sofer ("Shevet Sofer"), Rabbi Akiva Sofer ("Da'at Sofer"), Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer ("Cheshav Sofer"), and currently Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer.
His children:
Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer ("Ktav Sofer"), filled his place in the rabbinate of Pressburg and the headship of the yeshiva. The son of the "Ktav Sofer" is Rabbi Shimon Sofer, who served as rabbi of the city of Erlau (Eger) in Hungary and stood at the head of its yeshiva. After the Holocaust, his grandson, RabbiYochanan Sofer, the Rebbe of Erlau, established the Erlau Yeshiva inKatamon in Jerusalem and headed an institute for distributing the books of the Chatam Sofer.
Shimon Sofer ("Michtav Sofer"), was the head of the rabbinical court of the Jewish community of the city ofKraków. In Galicia
Hindel, married Rabbi David Zvi Arnfeld, who was the father of Rabbi Shmuel Arnfeld ("Chatan Sofer") and the father-in-law of Rabbi Avraham Glasner. The son of Rabbi Avraham Glasner is RabbiMoshe Shmuel Glasner.
Gitl, married Rabbi Eliyahu Kornitzer who died at the age of 27, and remarried Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Spitzer, rabbi of the Shifshol community inVienna. Her son Rabbi Akiva Kornitzer was rabbi ofKraków, and after him his son Rabbi Yosef Nehemiah Kornitzer served there.
Simcha (1822–1911), married Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lehman.
Hundreds of his pupils became the rabbis of Hungarian Jewry. Among them were:
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Sofer's most notable student, RabbiMoshe Schick, together with Sofer's sons, the rabbisShmuel Binyamin andShimon, took an active role in arguing against the Reform movement. They showed relative tolerance for heterogeneity within the Orthodox camp. Others, such as the more zealous RabbiHillel Lichtenstein, supported a more stringent position in orthodoxy.
In 1877, Rabbi Moshe Schick demonstrated support for the separatist policies of RabbiSamson Raphael Hirsch in Germany. His son studied at theHildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary, which taught secular studies and was headed byAzriel Hildesheimer. Hirsch, however, did not reciprocate. He was surprised at what he described as Schick'shalakhic contortions in condemning even those "status quo" communities that clearly adhered to halakhah.[37] Hillel Lichtenstein opposed Hildesheimer and his son Hirsh in their speaking German to give sermons and their tending toward ModernZionism.[38]
In 1871, Shimon Sofer, Chief Rabbi ofKraków, founded the Machzikei Hadas organisation with theHasidic RabbiYehoshua Rokeach of Belz. This was the first effort ofHaredi Jews in Europe to create a political party; it was part of the developing identification of the traditional Orthodoxy as a self-defined group. Rabbi Shimon was nominated as a candidate to the Polish Regional Parliament, under the Austrian emperorFranz Joseph. He was elected to the "Polish Club", in which he took an active part until his death.
Another notable group isSatmar, which was founded by RabbiMoshe Teitelbaum, who was a Hasid who paid homage to the Chasam Sofer and had similar views to that of Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein. His descendant RabbiJoel Teitelbaum headed theEdah HaChareidis for many years, living in Israel and later in the United States, where he influenced Orthodox Jewry.
Starting in 1830, about twenty disciples of Sofer settled inOttoman Palestine, almost all of them in Jerusalem. They joined theOld Yishuv, which comprised theMusta'arabim,Sephardim, andAshkenazim. They also settled inSafed,Tiberias, andHebron. Together with thePerushim and Hasidim, they formed an approach to Judaism reflecting those of their European counterparts.
Notable disciples of the Pressburg Yeshiva who had major influence on mainstream Orthodoxy in Palestine were RabbiYosef Chaim Sonnenfeld (student ofKtav Sofer) and Rabbi Yitzchok Yerucham Diskin (son of RabbiYehoshua Leib Diskin, fromBrisk,Lithuania), who, together, in 1919, founded theEdah HaChareidis in then-Mandatory Palestine.
In 1932, Sonnenfeld was succeeded by RabbiYosef Tzvi Dushinsky, a disciple of the Shevet Sofer, one of Sofer's grandchildren. Dushinsky founded theDushinsky Hasidic dynasty in Israel, based on Sofer's teachings.
TheUniversal Israelite Congress of 1868-69 inPest was influential in affecting the direction of Judaism in Europe. To try to unify all streams of Judaism under one constitution, the Orthodox offered theShulchan Aruch and surrounding codes as the ruling code of law and observance. The reformists dismissed this notation and in response, many Orthodox rabbis resigned from the Congress to form their own social and political groups. Hungarian Jewry split into two major institutionally sectarian groups, Orthodox andNeolog. Some communities refused to join either of the groups and called themselvesStatus Quo.
Manysynagogues and yeshivas worldwide bear the name and follow the legacy of the Chatam Sofer.
Communities of the Chug Chatam Sofer preserve his heritage. The "Da'at Sofer" Institute publishes his books and his Torah.
Streets named after him in the cities: Jerusalem,Tel Aviv,Haifa,Beersheba, Petah Tikva,Bnei Brak,Holon,Ashkelon,Modi'in Illit,Beitar Illit,Safed andImmanuel.
In June 2012, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the birth of the Chatam Sofer, the National Bank ofSlovakia issued a commemorative coin bearing the image of the Chatam Sofer. The value of the coin is 10 euros.
The most notable recent living descendant and heir to the Sofer legacy was RabbiYochanan Sofer. Yochanan was a direct descendant and fifth generation to the Chatam Sofer. He was the leader of theErlau movement, whose progenitor was his grandfather, RabbiShimon Sofer of Erlau, a grandson of the Chatam Sofer, and son of theKtav Sofer.
Yochanan's father, RabbiMoshe Sofer (II) (Dayan of Erlau), and grandfather, Rabbi Shimon (Av Beth Din of Erlau), perished in theHolocaust, together with most of their families. After the Holocaust, Rabbi Yochanan re-founded the Chasam Sofer Yeshiva in Pest, together with Rabbi Moshe Stern (the Debretziner Rav) and his brother, Avraham Shmuel Binyamin (II). He then returned toEger (Erlau) to re-establish his grandfather's Yeshiva.
In 1950, he immigrated to Israel, together with his students, and, for a short while, merged his yeshiva with thePressburg Yeshiva of Rabbi Akiva Sofer (Daas Sofer). In 1953, he founded his own Yeshiva inKatamon, Jerusalem, as well as theInstitute for Research of the Teachings of the Chasam Sofer. The Institute researches and deciphers hand-written documents penned by the Chasam Sofer, his pupils, and descendants, and has printed hundreds ofsefarim.
Over the years, Rabbi Yochanan founded many synagogues,chederim, andkollelim, which he named after his ancestors. TheEzrat Torah Campus in Jerusalem is namedBeth Chasam Sofer, as is the Erlau Synagogue in Haifa. The chederim are namedTalmud Torah Ksav Sofer, after the Chasam Sofer's son; the kollelim and synagogues are namedYad Sofer, after Rabbi Yochanan's father; and the main yeshiva campus in Katamon is namedOhel Shimon MiErlau, after his grandfather. He has authored numerous Torah commentary works, naming themImrei Sofer.
The Erlau community is considered Hasidic style, though strictly followsAshkenaz customs, as did the Chasam Sofer. It has branches inJerusalem,Bnei Brak,Beitar Illit,El'ad,Haifa,Ashdod, andBoro Park (New York).
The Pressburg Yeshiva of Jerusalem (Hebrew:ישיבת פרשבורג) is a leadingyeshiva located in theGivat Shaul neighborhood ofJerusalem,Israel.[39] It was founded in 1950 by Rabbi Akiva Sofer (known as theDaas Sofer), a great-grandson of Rabbi Moses Sofer (theChasam Sofer), who established the originalPressburg Yeshiva in theAustrian-Hungarian Empire in 1807. As of 2009[update], the rosh yeshiva is Rabbi Simcha Bunim Sofer.
The yeshiva building includes aYeshiva Ketana,Yeshiva Gedolah, andkollel.
The mainbeis medrash doubles as asynagogue where some neighborhood residents also pray onShabbat. The complex also includes a general neighborhood synagogue which functions as Givat Shaul's mainnusach Ashkenaz synagogue.
The Chassan Sofer Yeshiva in New York is considered the American yeshiva of the Chasam Sofer legacy. It was founded by RabbiShmuel Ehrenfeld, who was born and raised inMattersdorf, Austria. His father, Simcha Bunim Ehrenfeld, the rabbi of Mattersdorf, whose father, Rabbi Shmuel Ehrenfeld (the Chasan Sofer), was a grandson of the Chasam Sofer.
Rabbi Shmuel was rabbi of Mattersdorf from 1926 until 1938, when the congregation was dispersed by the Nazis. He escaped to America, and immediately re-established the Chasan Sofer Yeshiva on theLower East Side, from where it was later relocated toBoro Park. After his death, he was succeeded by his son, Rabbi Simcha Bunim Ehrenfeld.
The yeshiva currently enrolls over 400 students in kindergarten through twelfth grade, and operates aHead Start Program and rabbinical seminary.
During the 1950s and 1960s, many synagogues in Israel were built by Hungarian Jewry, and named Chug Chasam Sofer. This network of synagogues were founded inTel Aviv,Bnei Brak,Jerusalem,Petach Tikva,Haifa, andNetanya. These synagogues still operate, but have been integrated into the larger community, with no distinct character of their own, besides for that of Bnei Brak, founded by Rabbi Yitzchak Shlomo Ungar, and that of Petach Tikva, founded by Rabbi Shmaryahu Deutch.
Rabbi Ungar, a descendant of the Chasam Sofer, founded a yeshiva named Machneh Avraham, and akashrut organization named Chug Chasam Sofer, which are both very active and well known. After Rabbi Ungar's passing in 1994, the yeshiva appointed Rabbi Altman as rabbi and rosh yeshiva, with Rabbi Shmuel Eliezer Stern remaining the head of the kashrut organization.[40]
The Pressburg institutions inLondon, England, are headed by a descendant of the Chasam Sofer, Rabbi Shmuel Ludmir (who has published some of his work).[41]
The Dushinsky community considers itself a continuation of the Chasam Sofer dynasty – not by genealogy, but, rather, by school of thought.
The founder of the Dushinsky dynasty was Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky (1865–1948), who was a disciple of Rabbi Simcha Bunim Sofer (theShevet Sofer), the son of the Ksav Sofer at thePressburg Yeshiva. The Dushinsky dynasty has been more integrated into the Hasidic community, with many of their customs derived fromNusach Sefard, but still remains true to the teachings of the Chasam Sofer. This is mainly due to Rabbi Yosef Tzvi's appointment as Chief Rabbi of theEdah HaChareidis, and the Dushinsky alignment with the teachings of RabbiJoel Teitelbaum of Satmar.
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{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help) This 32-volume collection of transcribed genealogical records of the Jewish community of Frankfurt, covering the years 1241 to 1824 is available at theLeo Baeck Institute. Additional details about the work can be seen in theDecember 1996 issue (no. 11) ofStammbaum, the newsletter of German-Jewish Genealogical ResearchPressburg Yeshiva Jerusalem.
