VNTS - Chatam Sofer

“Bratislava was for many years a centre of European Judaism. The Jewish culture spread from here to the rest of the world even before the Second World War. Here, in the Chatam Sofer Mausoleum, is the place to look for its roots. It is for this reason Jews from all corners of the world make their pilgrimages here.”

Chatam Sofer was born Moses Schreiber on September 24, 1762 in Frankfurt am Main. He was exceptionally gifted as a child. He started school as a three year old and he knew Talmud by the age of seven. As a ten year old he publicly disputed opinions of the authorities. After completing his study of Hebrew, Torah and Talmud he practiced in many places in Central Europe. He became famous everywhere for his knowledge and wisdom. He chose position of a Rabbi in Bratislava, an important cosmopolitan city of that time, in preference to many other offers. He became a Chief Rabbi there in 1806 and remained so for the next 33 years.

Chatam Sofer was a Rabbi in Bratislava for 33 years. He was the Head of the Jewish School, where he educated more than 120 students. It is thank to him that Bratislava's Synagogue, founded in 13th Century became the most important centre of Jewish learning in the 19th century. After the outset of the Second World War and closure of the school in 1940 it continued uninterrupted in Israel under the name of Pressburger Synagogue in Jerusalem. The best evidence of the real importance of the synagogue and, by implication, on the Slovak Jewish education is the fact that most important Rabbis of the 19th Century in Jerusalem, Hungary, Great Brittain and its Empire, Budapest, Berlin, Frankfurt, Vienna, London, New York and many other cities all came from Slovakia.

Teh name of Chatam Sofer is a pseudonym. Chatam is a shortened version of the name of his main work, the foundation pillar of orthodox Judaism - Chiduse Torah Mose - the interpretation of Torah, the five books of Moses, and then current explanation of Talmud. Sofer is a translation into Hebrew of his German name Schreiber (Writer) that describes him perfectly. He was an excellent storyteller and author - he published more than ninety works and over a thousand papers. He was interested not only in religion but also in linguistics, astronomy and history. Under the name Religious Songs he published a series of hymns.

Chatam Sofer was bal din the Highest Judge of the Orthodox branch of Judaism in the entire world. People of other cultures and religions, even monarchs, respected his advice. He is considered to this day the highest authority in the orthodox world. It is said that he could forecast catastrophes and had magic powers that remained even after his death. They called him Achron Sebe Achron - The brightest star of the Jewish community and , as humor would have it, this resulted in his red hair and beard...

Chatam Sofer died in Bratislava on October 3, 1839. According to several testimonies he was buried on the top taken from his desk and the funeral was attended by 300 of his students. Fifty carried his manuscripts of comments on teaching during the procession. His work was adopted by a string of rabbis that continues to this day.

The grave of Chatam Sofer, one of the greatest men of the Jewish Orthodox religion, survived both the anti-Semitism of the fascist regime during the Second World War and the dictatorship of the communist regime on the later half of the 20th Century.

Under the supervision of Jewish institutions the site was completely reconstructed at the end of the 20th Century. There are seven rows of seven glass prisms bringing light through the ceiling of the new mausoleum directly to Sofer's name.

His tomb in Bratislava, as well as the graves of all others, is left untouched in spite of its location within the development plans of previous regime, insensitive to the historical heritage of these tombs. There also lies the graves of the ancestors of both Heinrich Heine and Karl Marx.

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Chatam Sofer

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