250th anniversary of the birth of Chatam Sofer

€10 silver collector coin

Chatam Sofer (24 September 1762 – 3 October 1839) was a distinguished Orthodox rabbi, teacher, judge and scholar. He acted as rabbi in several places. In 1806, he accepted position of the main rabbi of Pressburg (the then name of Bratislava), which he performed until his death. He is among the most leading authorities on the Jewish religious law and the representatives opposing the Reform movement. In this spirit, he also led the renowned yeshiva which belonged to the prominent centres of traditional rabbi education in Europe. He was also a respected rabbi judge. Chatam Sofer left a great amount of literary works. He is the author of numerous Torah and Talmud commentaries and he also wrote religious poetry. He was buried on the 17th-century Jewish cemetery of Bratislava, abolished during the 1940s, where only a few graves of the so called Rabbi section, including the Chatam Sofer’s grave, were left in their original location. In late 1990s, a monument was established at this place – The Chatam Sofer’s Memorial – where devout Jews from all around the world come to pray.