Lot 330
Two Interesting Letters from Rabbi Shlomo Alexandri Sofer - Regarding the Biography of his Grandfather the Chatam Sofer - Sereth, 1914
Two letters handwritten and signed by R. Shlomo Sofer, son of R. Shimon Sofer Rabbi of Kraków, author of Michtav Sofer. Sereth, Adar-Sivan 1914.
Addressed to the historian R. Dr. Yehuda Leib (Louis) Lewin Rabbi of Kempen (Kępno), the letters contain various inquiries about the biography of his grandfather the Chatam Sofer, and his great-grandfather R. Akiva Eger, as well as questions regarding the family’s genealogy.
R. Shlomo Alexandri Sofer (Tishrei 1856-Nissan 1924), son of R. Shimon Sofer Rabbi of Kraków, and grandson of the Chatam Sofer. Son-in-law of the philanthropist R. Moshe Wachs from Sereth (Bukovina; father-in-law of the Harei Besamim and of R. Shlomo Ladier son of the Torat Chessed). An outstanding Torah scholar, he devoted his entire life to Torah study and worship of G-d, without acquiring an official position, thanks to his father-in-law’s wealth. He served as Rabbi of Sereth for short periods of time, only as an interim rabbi. A respected figure, he was amongst the prominent Jewish leaders in his country, entertaining friendly ties with members of the royal court, who held him in high esteem. Even more so was he esteemed by all ranks of Jewish society, be it rabbis and activists, maskilim or the masses. He possessed many manuscripts of his father, the Michtav Sofer, and of his grandfather the Chatam Sofer, and published them together with his son-in-law R. Yosef Naftali Stern, who toiled devotedly throughout his life to arrange and publish the writings of the Chatam Sofer and the Michtav Sofer. R. Shlomo Alexandri was also a veritable trove of numerous teachings heard from the Chatam Sofer and leading scholars of his generation (there is a well-known tradition recounting the reaction of the Chatam Sofer to the words of the Yismach Moshe, who explained the difference between the root of his soul and that of the Chatam Sofer - see Otzrot HaSofer, issue 18, p. 181).
2 postcards. 14 cm. Closely written. Good condition. Stains to one postcard.
One of these letters was printed in the book Meoran shel Yisrael - Biography of R. Akiva Eger (Brooklyn, 2011, p. 443). Several other letters from R. Shlomo Alexandri, sent to R. Dr. Yehuda Leib Lewin at that time, are printed in Meoran shel Yisrael (pp. 442-448) and in the Otzrot HaSofer anthology (issue 14, p. 37). They contain further information on the subject of these two letters.
