1. Yochanan Sofer was the rebbe of the Erlau dynasty.
20 Facts About Yochanan Sofer
1. 2.
Yochanan Sofer was born in Eger, Hungary, where his father and grandfather were rebbes.
3.
Shimon Yochanan Sofer led the Jewish community in Eger for some 64 years.
4.
Yochanan Sofer received his rabbinical education from his father, and at yeshivas.
5.
Yochanan Sofer slept in the dormitory with the students and refused to accept a salary.
6.
Yochanan Sofer married and was appointed rabbi of the Orthodox Jewish community there.
7.
In 1953 Yochanan Sofer founded the Erlau yeshiva and community in the Katamon neighbourhood of south-central Jerusalem, starting with the purchase of a few rooms in the building of the former Syrian Consulate on Yotam Street.
8.
In 1961, Yochanan Sofer constructed a new building in the empty lot adjacent to the yeshiva, named Ohel Shimon-Erlau after his grandfather.
9.
Yochanan Sofer set up a network of communities around Israel and abroad, including batei medrash, Talmud Torahs and kollelim.
10.
Yochanan Sofer was known to the Jewish population as the Erlauer Rebbe or Admor of Erlau.
11.
Yochanan Sofer was actively involved in all aspects of the yeshiva, giving daily shiurim to both students and elderly members of the Erlau community and surrounding neighbourhood, and prayed the daily prayers together with his pupils.
12.
Yochanan Sofer was considered a leading halakhic authority with enormous influence on the Orthodox Jewish community, as well as an expert in Israeli politics and security issues.
13.
Yochanan Sofer was often called upon to voice his opinion on global Jewish issues.
14.
Yochanan Sofer was appointed to the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel by Yisrael Alter when he was 38 years old after the protocol was amended to allow him, as the original protocol allowed only rabbis above the age of 40 to join.
15.
Yochanan Sofer was appointed a member of the administration of Mifal HaShas by its founder, Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam, the Klausenberger rebbe.
16.
Yochanan Sofer adopted an approach to Zionism similar to that of Aharon Rokeach.
17.
Yochanan Sofer maintained that as a matter of Jewish law, any territorial concession to Arabs by Israel would endanger the lives of all the Jews in the Land of Israel and was therefore forbidden.
18.
Yochanan Sofer insisted that even discussing the possibility of such concessions shows weakness and would encourage Arab attacks, and thus endanger Jewish lives.
19.
Yochanan Sofer came out publicly against the Hebron Protocol of 1997 which divided the city into H1 and H2.
20.
Yochanan Sofer was quoted as saying that if not for the existence of the Jewish community of Hebron, regular visits to the Tomb of Machpela would not be possible.