A Certificate Signed by the Kesav Sofer of Pressburg – Erev Pesach 1862
A government marriage certificate signed in Hungarian by the Rabbi of Pressburg, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer, the Kesav Sofer.
The son and successor of the holy Chassam Sofer.
The date of the certificate is 14 April 1862, which on that year was erev Pesach.
The document was given for the groom Bernard Baer from Warsaw and the bride Paulina Taub from Pest, and it was signed on April 14, 1862, the 14th day of Nisan Erev Pesach.
The document was signed by the ‘Ksav Sofer’: "
Sh. W. Schreiber Oberbiner"
The Gaon Rabbi Abraham Samuel Binyamin Sofer, Chief Rabbi of Pressburg, author of Ktav Sofer, Zi”a (1815-1873)
In the final days of the Chatam Sofer, when his illness worsened, he placed his hands on the head of his son, the Ktav Sofer, and blessed him on accepting the rabbinate in Pressburg, saying: "Your grandfather Rabbi Akiva is on your right, your grandfather Maharshach is on your left, and a certain angel is above your head, and I too will come after you and fulfill your words." The Ktav Sofer recounted that the Chatam Sofer’s hands were on his head at that time, like a blazing fire.
At just 24 years old, he sat on the great chair of his father in the Pressburg rabbinate and leadership of the exalted yeshiva. From the very beginning of his leadership, everyone saw that he was worthy to sit on his father’s chair. During his time, the yeshiva grew, and he merited to raise thousands of Talmidim, to the extent that it can be said that most of the rabbis of Hungary in the following generation were counted among those who attended his study hall.
His brother, the Genius Rabbi Shimon Sofer, Chief Rabbi of Krakow and author of the Responsa Michtav Sofer, writes about him in his introduction to the Responsa Ktav Sofer: "He filled our father’s place completely, and did not deviate at all from his path… His radiance hovered over him all day, his holy spirit was within him, and the hand of God was known in all his deeds, for Moses had laid his hands upon him, and all his qualities were from the contributions of our father’s qualities, his Torah, his righteousness, his humility, and his manner of leadership."
Pressburg 1862. Size: 21.5X34 cm. Tears and adhesions. Stains and fold marks.
