Yochanan Sofer - Move To Israel

Move To Israel

Due to the Communist grip on Hungary and oppression of Judaism there, Sofer assisted his students and members of his community to escape Hungary. In 1950, after the last Jew had left Erlau, Sofer immigrated to Israel together with his yeshiva. For a short period of time, the yeshiva merged with the Pressburg Yeshiva in Jerusalem, which was headed by Rabbi Akiva Sofer (known as the Daas Sofer), a great-grandson of the Chasam Sofer. Rabbi Yochanan served there as a maggid shiur.

During this time, Rabbi Yochanan became a close disciple of Rabbi Aharon Rokeach, the Belzer Rebbe. Although Sofer's ancestors were not Hasidic and conducted themselves as rabbis, not rebbes, Sofer was influenced by the Belzer Rebbe and the Skverer Rebbe to adopt numerous Hasidic customs.

In 1953 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. The yeshiva was named "High Yeshiva of Rabbi Akiva Eiger" after the father-in-law of the Chasam Sofer. Later this yeshiva expanded to the whole building, where Sofer founded a dormitory and orphanage for Holocaust survivors and students from needy families.

In 1961, Sofer constructed a new building in the empty lot adjacent to the yeshiva. It was named Ohel Shimon-Erlau after his grandfather, Rabbi Shimon Sofer. This new campus includes a beth midrash which serves until today as the main synagogue and study hall for the yeshiva gedola, a smaller study hall for the yeshiva ketana, dormitory, classrooms, library, kitchen and offices. In addition, Sofer opened the Institute for Research of the Teachings of the Chasam Sofer. This Institute researches and deciphers handwritten documents of the Chasam Sofer, his pupils and descendants. It has brought to light and printed hundreds of sefarim and distributed them worldwide.