SOFER, MOSHEH (1762–1839), a Jewish religious leader, was known as the Ḥatam Sofer (Ḥasam Soyfer in Ashkenazic pronunciation) and as Moses Schreiber in governmental documents. Born in Frankfurt, Mosheh Sofer studied there under the chief rabbi, Pinḥas Horovitz, and under Natan Adler, a qabbalist known for his strict and unusual ritual practices. When in 1782 Adler became the rabbi of Boskowitz, Moravia (now in the Czech Republic), Sofer left with him. He married in Prossnitz, Moravia, in 1787 and later served as rabbi of Dresnitz, Moravia (1794–1798), and of Mattersdorf, Hungary (1798–1806). From 1806 until his death he was the chief rabbi of Pressburg (now Bratislava, Slovakia), then one of the chief cities of Hungary, where he established a large and influential yeshivah (Talmudic academy). After the death of his first wife he married the daughter of ʿAqivaʾ Eger, one of the leading Talmudists of the age. His descendants (all by...