15 Kislev · Yahrzeit
Rabbi Simcha Bunim Sofer - the "Shevet Sofer"
Rabbi Simcha Bunim ben Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer - the "Shevet Sofer" (1843-1906)
Yahrzeit - 15 Kislev
Resting place - Pressburg
He was born on Chanukah and was the third son of Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer (the Ktav Sofer) and a grandson of the Chatam Sofer.
He studied in his father's yeshiva and was known for his diligence and humility. He studied together with Rabbi Akiva Yosef Schlesinger. Rabbi Shmuel Rosenberg (the Unsdorfer Rav), who taught in the yeshiva, said of him that he could master six pages of Talmud in a single hour.
He married Rachel, daughter of one of the wealthy Jews of Vienna, a gentleman named "Peretz Neiman."
His father-in-law supported him generously so that he could continue his studies. He studied in the yeshiva and helped his father run it. Three years later he moved to Vienna, where he ran his father-in-law's business. Even while working, he never stopped studying Torah and maintained correspondence with the great Torah scholars of his generation. Many synagogues wished to appoint him as their rabbi, but he declined. He was his father's third son, not the firstborn - yet his father effectively chose him as his successor.
On December 31, 1871, Rabbi Simcha Bunim assumed both positions: rabbi of Pressburg and Rosh Yeshiva, which at the time had about 400 students. He is known as the "Shevet Sofer" after the title of his book on the Shulchan Aruch and tractates of the Babylonian Talmud. During his tenure as rabbi, the Jewish community of Pressburg split.
May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael!