Rabbi Moshe Charif of Pressburg

Rabbi Moshe ben Meir Charif of Lemberg - Av Beit Din of Kremenets, Lvov and Lemberg, founder of the Charif family, descended from the holy Rashi.

Yahrzeit - 3 Elul

Burial place - the "Chatam Sofer Memorial", Bratislava, Slovakia   Rabbi Moshe Charif served as the Rabbi of Pressburg for three decades. After about 25 years of serving as rabbi, when his health began to decline, the community leaders decided that it would be desirable to bring a young and energetic rabbi to the city who would become the successor to the esteemed Rabbi. One of the city's benefactors recommended bringing his young relative, Rav Akiva Eiger, to the city. When Rav Akiva arrived in the city of Pressburg, all the members of the community joyfully welcomed him, saying that from now on the community would return to its glorious days under the leadership of the old rabbi with his new right-hand man. For four years, Rabbi Akiva served under Rav Moshe Charif. Rav Akiva continued to run the yeshiva founded by Rabbi Moshe and to strengthen communal life in the city. When the community leaders saw that the elderly Rabbi was growing weaker and rarely left his home, they asked Rabbi Akiva to begin delivering sermons regularly. Rabbi Akiva accepted the proposal, thinking that everything had been arranged with the old rabbi. But in fact, this had been done entirely without his knowledge. One Shabbat, the elderly rabbi was sitting in his home and heard noise in the street near his house. When he asked what it was, he was told that it was the sound of people heading to the synagogue for the sermon of the new rabbi. The Rabbi fell silent, stunned. A few days later, on Wednesday, 3 Elul, the elderly rabbi passed away. Before the community could recover from the blow, on 14 Elul, at the age of 39, Rav Akiva also ascended to the Heavenly Yeshiva. The Pressburg community was struck twice over when, at the eulogy, the verse was quoted: "Eleven days of destruction," alluding to the 11 days that passed between the destruction of the First Temple (the death of Rabbi Moshe Charif) and the destruction of the Second Temple (the death of his successor, Rabbi Akiva Eiger). Several years later, the daughter of Rabbi Akiva Eiger of Pressburg gave birth to a son, whom they named Akiva in honor of the elder. Later, he even changed his surname from Guens to Eiger in honor of his illustrious ancestor, known as "Rabbi Akiva Eiger the First," Rabbi of Pressburg. And he illuminated Israel with his genius and his great books. About 60 years after this event, the Chatam Sofer, from the family of Rabbi Moshe Charif, married the daughter of Rabbi Akiva Eiger of Posen, great-granddaughter of Rabbi Akiva Eiger the First, and thus the two rabbis became related to one another. And when Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Binyamin "Ktav Sofer" was accepted as the Rabbi of Pressburg, the elders of the community said: "And the fourth generation shall return here."   (https://hm-news.co.il/90993/)