[Avodah] The Ksav Sofer's Encounter with R. Yisroel Salanter

[Prof. Levine]

 From the Mussar Movement, Volume 1, part 1, footnote 5 pages 199 - 200.

5. See the eulogy in the collection of Responsa, 
Sefat HaYam; also Sha'are Zion, ibid., p. 23, 
which contains an interesting account of an 
encounter between R. Israel, and R. Abraham 
Benjamin Sofer, author of the Ketav Sofer, and 
rabbi of Pressburg: Once when R. Abraham Sofer 
returned home from one of the European spas, the 
leaders of the community went out to greet him. 
They noticed that he was crestfallen, his eyes 
moist with tears. Without saying a word to anyone 
he went to bed. Only some days later, when he had 
recovered, did he disclose what had happened. 
Stopping at a wayside inn, he was asked to decide 
an halachic question. He gave his ruling as he 
saw fit. Among the guests was a Lithuanian Jew, 
whose clothing did not bespeak any Torah scholar, 
and he made some comment. The rabbi, his keen 
mind at work, was able to give an immediate 
answer. But the Lithuanian Jew adduced support 
for his comment and a sharp debate ensued. The 
Ketav Sofer was completely taken aback and shaken 
by the acuteness and erudition of his 
interlocutor. So dejected did he become that he 
took ill. Later it transpired that this 
Lithuanian Jew was none other than R. Israel. (As 
told by R. Zvi Pesach Frank, Rabbi of Jerusalem, 
who, heard it from a Hungarian rabbi).

Some add that R. Abraham Sofer was later offered 
the rabbinate of Brest-Litovsk (Brisk), but he 
refused, his reason being that he was afraid of 
the Lithuanian Jewish layman. See also, R. Jacob 
Glicksberg , Haderashah BeYisrael, (Tel-Aviv, 
1940), p. 463 for the evidence of one who 
actually heard R. Joshua Isaac Shapiro of Slonim, 
called "R. Eisel Chorif" and known for his 
tendency to denigrate all the Torah scholars of 
the time on account of his own mental acuity, 
say: "I consider myself a lamdan until I enter R. 
Israel of Salant's door. The minute I just stand 
before him, I feel effaced in the presence of his 
Torah." R. Joseph Baer Soloveitchik of 
Brest-Litovsk (Brisk) is also reputed to have 
said that R. Israel was "the craftsman and smith" 
(cf. Jer. 24.1. — Rashi, ibid.).



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