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Moses ben Samuel Sofer (or Schreiber), known to Jews as the Hatam Sofer, or the Ch'sam Soifer, (after his main work "שו"ת חתם סופר" - "Responsa 'Hatam Sofer", lit. "Seal of the Writer"), was one of the leading rabbis of European Judaism in the 1800s. His German name was Moses Schreiber. Rabbi (Classical Hebrew רִבִּי ribbÄ«;; modern Ashkenazi and Israeli רַבִּי rabbÄ«) in Judaism, means teacher, or more literally great one. The word Rabbi is derived from the Hebrew root-word RaV, which in biblical Hebrew means great or distinguished, (in knowledge). In the ancient Judean schools the sages were addressed as רִבִּי (Ribbi...
// Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. ...
Image File history File links Chasamsofer. ...
Image File history File links Chasamsofer. ...
Early years
Sofer was born in Germany at Frankfort-on-the-Main 14 September 1763; he died at Pressburg (now Bratislava) 3 October 1839. (?) [ˈfraŋkfʊrt] is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany. ...
September 14 is the 257th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (258th in leap years). ...
1763 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...
Bratislava (until 1919: Prešporok in Slovak, Pressburg in German and English; Pozsony in Hungarian) is the capital of Slovakia and the countrys largest city, with a population of some 450,000. ...
October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in Leap years). ...
1839 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...
His mother's name was Reisil. At the age of nine he entered the yeshiva of Rabbi Nathan Adler at Frankfort, and when only thirteen years old he delivered public lectures. So great was the Sofer's fame that Rabbi Phinehas Horowitz (Hurwitz), author of "Sefer Hafla'ah" and then rabbi of Frankfort, invited him to become his pupil. Schreiber consented, but remained under Horowitz for one year only, when he left for the yeshivah of Rabbi Tebele Scheuer in the neighboring city of Mayence, who gladly welcomed Sofer. Yeshiva or yeshivah (Hebrew: ישיבה pl. ...
Mainz (French: Mayence) is a city in Germany and the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. ...
Sofer devoted himself to the study of Torah and Talmud. Many prominent residents of Mayence took an interest in his welfare and facilitated the progress of his studies. Torah (תורה) is a Hebrew word meaning teaching, instruction, or law. ...
The Talmud (תלמוד) is a record of rabbinic discussions on Jewish law, Jewish ethics, customs, legends and stories, which Jewish tradition considers authoritative. ...
Education Schreiber succeeded in acquiring a knowledge of secular sciences, becoming proficient in astronomy, geometry, and general history. His teacher then gave him semicha, rabbinical ordination, authorizing him to render decisions on questions of Jewish law. Yielding to the entreaties of his former teachers in Frankfort, Schreiber returned to his native city. Astrology: the study of the positions of the celestial objects relative to the Earth and how these positions affect happenings on the lives of cultures, nations and the natural environment. ...
Geometry (Greek γεωμετÏία; geo = earth, metria = measure) arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. ...
Semicha (סמיכה) (meaning leaning [of the hands]) is a Hebrew word referring to what may be roughly translated as the ordination (in Hebrew: semichut סמיכות) of a rabbi within Judaism. ...
Halakha (Hebrew: הלכה; also transliterated as Halakhah, Halacha, Halachah) is the collective corpus of Jewish rabbinic law, custom and tradition. ...
Boskowitz and Mattersdorf In 1782 Nathan Adler was called to the rabbinate of Boskowitz (Boskovice), and Schreiber followed him. Schreiber went, at Adler's advice, to Prossnitz (Prostejov), where he married Sarah, the widowed daughter of Rabbi Moses Jerwitz. Boskovice (-Czech, German: Boskowitz) is a town in the Czech Republic. ...
. Prostějov (Prossnitz in German) is town in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. ...
Schreiber became head of the yeshivah at Prossnitz, and later accepted his first official position, becoming rabbi of Dresnitz, after he had procured the sanction of the government to settle in that town. In 1798 he resigned the rabbinate, and moved to Mattersdorf (currently known as Mattersburg and located in Austria). There he established a yeshivah, and pupils flocked to him. About this time he declined many other offers of rabbinates, but in 1803 accepted a call to Pressburg. Here also he established a yeshivah, which was attended by about 500 pupils, many of whom became famous rabbis. Mattersburg (former Mattersdorf, Hungarian: Nagymarton) is a town in Burgenland, Austria in the rural vineyard region of the country. ...
In 1812, Sofer's wife died. After the lapse of some time he married Sarah, the daughter of Rabbi Akiba Eger. Rabbi Akiva Eiger or Eger (1761-1837) was a Jewish scholar and influential halakhic decisor (posek). ...
Fight against changes in Judaism In 1819 an early form of Reform Judaism developed in Hamburg. Schreiber declared open war against the reformers, and attacked them in his speeches and writings with all the force at his command. In the same spirit he fought also the founders of the Reformschule in Pressburg, which was established in the year 1827. Reform Judaism can refer to (1) the largest denomination of Judaism in America and its sibling movements in other countries, (2) a branch of Judaism in the United Kingdom, and (3) the historical predecessor of the American movement that originated in 19th Century Germany. ...
In response to those who stated that Judaism could change or evolve, Sofer created the motto Hadash asur min ha-Torah (חדש אסור מן התורה), "Anything new is forbidden by the Torah", and used this view to effectively ban any change at all in Judaism. For Sofer, the Judaism previously practiced was the only form of Judaism acceptable; in his view, Judaism never changed, and would never change. This became the defining idea behind the opponents of Reform, and it possibly carried over into the Orthodox response to other innovations.
Influence He is one of the most important figures in the development of Haredi Judaism, and the patriarch of the Sofer family of rabbis. His son Abraham Samuel Benjamin (the Ktav Sofer) succeeded him as rabbi of Pressburg, and his son Simon Sofer became rabbi of Kraków. Haredi or Charedi Judaism, often also called ultra-Orthodox Judaism, is the most theologically conservative form of Orthodox Judaism. ...
Motto: none Voivodship Lesser Poland Municipal government Rada miasta Kraków Mayor Jacek Majchrowski Area 326,8 km² Population - city - urban - density 757,500 (2004 est. ...
In the Orthodox world, he is an often-quoted authority. Many of his responsa are required reading for semicha (rabbinic ordination), his novellae on the Torah sparked a new style in Torah commentary, and some tractates of the Talmud contain emendations and additions of his hand. Note: This is based on an entry from the 1906 public domain Jewish Encyclopedia The responsa literature, known in Hebrew as Sheelot U-teshuvot (questions and answers), is the body of written decisions and rulings given by rabbis to questions addressed to them. ...
Semicha (סמיכה) (meaning leaning [of the hands]) is a Hebrew word referring to what may be roughly translated as the ordination (in Hebrew: semichut סמיכות) of a rabbi within Judaism. ...
Torah (תורה) is a Hebrew word meaning teaching, instruction, or law. ...
Meforshim is a Hebrew word meaning commentators (or roughly meaning exegetes), and is used as a substitute for the correct word perushim which means commentaries. In Judaism this term refers to commentaries by the commentators on the Torah (five books of Moses), Hebrew Bible, the Mishnah, the Talmud, responsa, even...
The Talmud (תלמוד) is a record of rabbinic discussions on Jewish law, Jewish ethics, customs, legends and stories, which Jewish tradition considers authoritative. ...
A tram stop in Bratislava is named after him. A modern tram in the Töölö district of Helsinki, Finland Volkswagen Cargo-Tram in Dresden. ...
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