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| Chatam Sofer |
Chatam Sofer was one of the leading Orthodox rabbis of the European Jews in
the first half of the nineteenth century. He was a teacher to thousands and a
powerful opponent to the Reform movement in Judaism, which was attracting many
people from Jewish communities in the Austrian Empire and beyond. As Rav of the
city of Pressburg, he maintained a strong Orthodox Jewish perspective through
communal life, first-class education, and uncompromising opposition to Reform
and radical change.
According to the Jewish calendar, he was born on 7th Tishrei 5523 and died
on the 25th of the same month in 5600. That is, on the 24th of Septmber 1762 and the 3rd of October 1839. He was born as Moses ben Shmuel
Schreiber to a very pious and learned Jewish family in Frankfurt am Main. His
father was a rabbi and a sofer (hence the surname) and his great-grandfather
was the Gaon of Frankfurt, Rabbi Shmuel Schotten. Schotten was known as the
Marsheishoch, one of the leading religious authorities of the town in the 18th
Century and its chief rabbi.
Though Moses Sofer used his civic name when communicating with the outside
world, in the world of the Torah, he is known by his Jewish acronym, Chatam
Sofer. The name Chatam, which he chose himself, is itself an acronym of Chidushet
Torah Moshe, that is, “Moshe’s innovation of the Torah“. His surname Sofer
means scribe, after the German word “Schreiber“.
Sofer established a yeshiva in Bratislava (Pressburg in German), the
Pressburg Yeshiva. It became the most influential yeshiva in Central Europe,
producing hundreds of future leaders for Hungarian Jews. It was considered the
largest Yeshiva since the time of the Babylonian Talmud.
This yeshiva continued to function until World War II. Afterwards, it was
relocated to Jerusalem under the leadership of the Chatam Sofer's
great-grandson, Rabbi Akiva Sofer and is active until this very day. But during
his early career, he was active in various cities in Germany, Czech Republic,
Austria, Hungary and Slovakia.
Chatam Sofer lived in the spiritual world of the Torah, its study,
explanation and practice. This did not exempt him from the turbulent outside
world of the 18th and 19th centuries. He has also had conflicts with his own
father and later with his mother too. But he reconciliated with them eventually
. He lived through the death of his wife and child, but was blessed enough to
be able to raise his sons and help cultivate their spiritual lives.
When he was a four-year-old pupil in a cheder, he questioned the melamed's
interpretation of a portion in the Torah. Soon he became a personal pupil and
protegé of Rabbi Nathan Adler. His reputation as a child prodigy quickly
spread. When he was 10, he openly disagreed with the views of the rabbinical
authorities in Frankfurt. This case brought his father to trouble and in front
of the local beth din. He then moved to his teacher and later left for a
yeshiva in Mainz.
After graduating, he briefly returned home, only to leave in 1781 and to
follow rabbi Adler to his new post in Moravia. Chatam Sofer was then employed
as a Torah teacher in Prostějov. He married Sarah Yerwitz, the daughter of the local
rabbi. She died in the year 1812 after a quarter-century long and childless
marriage. A year later, he married Seril, the widow of rabbi Akiva Eger. In
1825, as a 73-year-old, he married--for the third time--the widow of Zvi Hirsch
Heller, a Talmudic scholar.
From 1794 to 1798 he was a rabbi in Strážnice, then left for Mattersburg.
Later, the community offered him the post of chief rabbi in nearby Bratislava.
He remained in office from 1806 until his death. He taught at the local yeshiva,
which he also founded. Unlike Yeshivas in Czarist Russia which were forced to
operate in secret, the Pressburg Yeshiva was recognized by the Austro-Hungarian
Empire. Emperor Franz Joseph I had sympathized
and respected the Jews and their leader Rabbi Sofer.
The Yeshiva was licensed by the Minister of Education of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. Under the law, the school required the four upper
grades to study secular studies. These secular studies were not taught in the
yeshiva, but students attended and took exams at another Jewish school in
Pressburg run by the orthodox Jewish community. All of the yeshiva's students
were exempted from military service. Most of the military rabbis who served in
the Austro-Hungarian Army were graduates of the Pressburg Yeshiva and held
officers’ ranks.
Nobody questioned Sofer's authority on halacha in the Community. But rabbis
from far and near--practically from all corners of Europe--would consult
different legal matters with him and his responsa throughout from the years contributed
a great deal of his legacy.
At the end of the 18th century, however, the effects of Haskala, the Jewish
enlightenment, had taken root among the Jews of Bratislava. A conflict between
the two camps in the community broke out when there was an attempt to establish
a secular school where profane subjects would also be taught.
Chatam Sofer resolutely opposed that, as he valued only religious life
according to the Torah and mitzvot. He believed that any secular teachings was
a step towards assimilation and the abandonment of the Torah. For Sofer,
Judaism as previously practiced was the only form of Judaism acceptable. In his
view, the rules and tenets of Judaism had never changed — and cannot ever
change.
This became the defining idea for the opponents to Reform. It has also continued to influence the Orthodox response
to innovation in Jewish doctrine and practice.
Sofer applied a
pun to the Talmudic term “chadash asur min ha Torah“, "new is forbidden by
the Torah" (referring literally to eating chadash, "new grain",
before the Omer offering is given). He used this as a slogan for his opposition
to any philosophical, social or practical change to Orthodox practice. He did
not allow the addition of any secular studies to the curriculum of his
Pressburg Yeshiva.
Sofer published
very little during his lifetime. His posthumously published works include more
than a thousand responsa, novellae on the Talmud, sermons, biblical and
liturgical commentaries, and religious poetry. He is an oft-quoted authority in
Orthodox Jewish scholarship. Many of his responsa are required reading for
semicha (rabbinic ordination) candidates. His Torah chiddushim (original Torah
insights) sparked a new style in rabbinic commentary, and some editions of the
Talmud contain his corrections and additions.
The five-volume
work of Sha'elot Vetešuvot Ha-Chatam Sofer (Respond to Chatam Sofer), as well
as comments to the Torah (Chidushe Torah Moshe) and to the Talmud, were only
published after his death. Besides religious issues, he also dealt with poetry,
inspired mainly by Jewish holidays. It was published by the name Shirat Moshe
(Song of Moshe).
At the time of
the Napoleonic siege of Bratislava, Chatam Sofer, pressured by his community,
left for Sväty Jur, a little village in the Slovakian Hills. The synagogue
there was the only one where he was active. The result of his stay is, among
other things, his only autobiographical work, named Sefer Hazikaron (Book of
Remembrance).
Chatam Sofer died
in 1839 and was buried at the Old Jewish Cemetery of Bratislava – now known as
the Chatam Sofer Memorial – on one of the boards of his yeshiva table. Chatam
Sofer was such an influential and important figure for the town of Bratislava
and its non-Jewish population. that not only the cemetery is named, but also the
entire area of that city, including a nearby train and bus stop. Chatam Sofer
is often regarded as one of the top ten most influential people in Slovak
history.
If you are taking
a kosher cruise along the Danube river, chances are that one of your stops will
be in Bratislava. It would be a good idea to take this as an opportunity for a
pilgrimage to his grave and pay his respects!
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