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Two part work comprised of a eulogy for R. Moses Sofer (Hatam Sofer, 1762–1839) and discourses by R. Naphtali ben Mordecai Banet (Benet). The title page describes it as being divided into mahberot (copybooks), the first mahberet being evel kaved (“grievous mourning,” Genesis 50:11) for the gaon, “the desire of Israel” (I Samuel 9:20), R. R. Moses Sofer (Hatam Sofer, 1762–1839). The second mahberet are the halakhic discourses. There is an introduction from R. Banet, followed by the text in two columns in rabbinic type. At the bottom of many pages are scholarly glosses. The volume concludes with errata. The second part of the volume, that is, the discourses, were never printed.
R. Naphtali ben Mordecai Banet (Benet), (1789–1857), Moravian rabbi and author, third son of Mordecai Banet. Banet officiated as rabbi and principal of the yeshivah in Safov (Schaffa, Moravia) from 1836 to 1857. He enjoined a fast and a penitential prayer to be recited on the 24th of Sivan in memory of the great conflagration of 1822 which almost destroyed the entire Jewish quarter of Schaffa; the custom was adhered to by the community until the Holocaust. Banet's writings include Berit Melah on melihah (salting) laws (Prague, 1816); Emunat Yisrael, a catechism of the fundamentals of Judaism for Jewish youth, in Hebrew and German (ibid., 1832); Torat Dat Moshe ve-Yisrael, on the principles of Judaism, in Hebrew and German (ibid., 1826). The latter were intended to serve as a substitute for Herz Homberg's catechism Benei Ziyyon and expressed a conservative point of view.
R. Moses Sofer (Hatam Sofer, 1762–1839) was born in Frankfurt on Main, Germany, and after studying there, settled in Prossnitz. He was rabbi in Dresnitz and from 1798, in Mattersdorf, Austria. When the rabbinate of Pressburg (Bratislava), now in Slovakia, became vacant in 1806, he was called to become chief rabbi. His renown was such that his yeshiva became the world's largest rabbinical school. Due to him, the city was a stronghold of strict Orthodoxy and he founded a dynasty of scholars. His rabbinical decisions are still regarded as relevant. R. Sofer bitterly fought Haskalah, the Reform movement and the introduction of prayers in the vernacular. His responsa were published in seven volumes under the title Hatam Sofer and he is generally known by the title of his book. |
