“May Hashem strengthen his pure body that he may raise the flag of Torah” – a letter of thanks and blessings with mention of the printing of Shut Chatam Sofer and the Hitorerut Tshuva, by Rabbi Moshe Sofer of Erlau, addressed to Rabbi Chaim Brody, the Av Beit Din of Prague.
The letter thanks the recipient for sending payment for a copy of the Shut Chatam Sofer and Hitorerut Tshuva, and blesses him: “In this I wish to bless him wholeheartedly that Hashem strengthen his pure body that he may raise the flag of Torah and see and build a fence and stand in the brink until 120 years with nachat and harchava”.
Rabbi Moshe Sofer (1885-1944) was the son of Rabbi Shimon Sofer, Ga’avad of Erlau, author of the Hitorerut Tshuva, and the fourth-generation descendant of the Chatam Sofer. He studied at the yeshiva of Rabbi Akiva Sofer, where he became known as a genius and Rabbi Mordechai Winkler (author of the Levushei Mordechai) testified that “he is proficient in the Talmud Bavli, Yerushalmi, and books of the Rishonim and Achronim.” He served as dayan in Erlau under his father until the start of the Shoah, when he was murdered with his family and community. Two sons survived—Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer and the Admor Yochanan Sofer, Ga’avad of Erlau for more than 50 years.
