Early Life
Yochanan Sofer was born to Rabbi Moses Sofer in the town of Erlau in 1923. He received his rabbinical education from his father. He studied at the yeshiva of Rabbi Yosef Asher Pollack (1888–1944) (author of Shearis Yosef Usher) in the neighbouring town of Verpelét. He also studied for three years at the yeshiva of Rabbi Chaim Aharon David Deutsch (1898-1944) (author of Tvuas Goren) in Balassagyarmat.
While his father and grandfather were murdered at Auschwitz, the young Yochanan survived the war and returned to Erlau to lead the survivors, who constituted barely a minyan. In 1946 he was asked to serve as rosh yeshiva of the year-old Yeshivas Chasam Sofer, the only yeshiva in Hungary at that time, which had been established by Rabbi Shmuel Binyanim Frey for 30 orphaned young men in Budapest. The first rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Eliyahu Katz, son of the Nitra Rav, had returned to his community in Nitra, Slovakia, and the directors sought a descendant of the Chasam Sofer as their next rosh yeshiva. Sofer was willing to lead the yeshiva, but unwilling to leave his community in Erlau. The directors next approached Rabbi Moshe Stern, the Debrecener Rav, another descendant of the Chasam Sofer, but he was also unwilling to abandon his community. The yeshiva directors came up with the solution of appointing both rabbis as rosh yeshiva, with Sofer serving as rosh yeshiva in the first part of the week (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday) and Stern serving for the second half of the week, and serving their respective communities the rest of the time. Sofer slept in the dormitory with the students and refused to accept a salary. He continued in this arrangement for a year and a half, after which he opened a yeshiva in Erlau. After the Budapest yeshiva closed, the rest of the students moved to Erlau.
In 1947, Rabbi Yochanan re-established the yeshiva in Erlau with a small group of boys and adolescents (mostly orphans). He married and was appointed rabbi of the fledgling Orthodox Jewish community there.
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