Born in Ungvar and orphaned at an early age, the young Shlomo was recognized as an “ilui” (child prodigy) and he was eventually fostered by the city’s chief rabbi.
Life in the 19th century Kingdom of Hungary was relatively peaceful and there were close to one million Jews living in its lands. Ungvar was an important Jewish community of around 5000 people, which at that time was a very large number. Today Ungvar is called Uzhhorod, part of modern day Ukraine, bordering Slovakia.
After getting married, Rabbi Ganzfried tried his luck in the wine business and shortly thereafter was offered a position as a Rabbi of a small village called Brezovica in 1830, but the pay was low and he was looking for ways to supplement his income. He started to write summary works in specialty fields such as Safrut and Shchita, proving to be specially talented at summarizing difficult topics in a easy to read fashion.
Rabbi Ganzfried brought the manuscript of his Keset Hasofer (which means "A Scribe's Inkwell" and is taken from Ezekiel 9:2) to the Rabbi Moshe Schreiber / Hatam Sofer, who also lived in Hungary and was in his later years, widely acclaimed as the greatest sage of his generation. The Hatam Sofer gave him a glaring Haskama and his full backing for the adoption of the Keset by all scribes, which in the subsequent edition got a similar endorsement by the foremost Hasidic leader of that time, the Divrei Chaim of Zanz.
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| My 1902 edition of the Keset |
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| This is an edition published and stamped by his son, Yosef Ganzfried |
Unlike Shechita and Rabbanut, the field of Safrut up to that time had no established framework of study and the Hatam Sofer sensed the opportunity to use the Keset Hasofer as the mandatory “bar” for all new and existing Sofrim. These are his words:
I order all my students who are required to obey me, that from the moment of printing of this book, they will not allow or provide any certificate of approval to any scribe unless he masters this book and knows it well ... and a scribe who does not master this book will be deposed from his profession. (tranl. by Prof Marienberg)
This was an interesting new development in the scribal field, and a good hand no longer guaranteed a scribe’s success - now the scribe needed to be an expert of the Halachic side of Safrut in order to sell a Mezuza, Torah or Tefillin.
The Halachot of Safrut are complex and can change over time, and scribes looking for practical guidance couldn't rely on the classic compendiums like Shulchan Aruch but had to look for scattered references in different works like the more ancient Kiryat Sefer, from the Meiri, and others. For instance, the Ashkenazi scribes in Europe don't use reeds, which are not commonly found in Europe but feathers and that is actually subject to Halachic debate. The Keset goes through these issues, noting the prevaling customs and, when necessary, justifying them Halachically in the notes. In fact, while the original edition featured only the basic handbook, in subsequent editions Rabbi Ganzfried added notes and extra information about open/closed parshiot and spellings (based on the Rama and the Minchat Shai, which were Masora experts and the major deciders of our Torah text version - we explored this topic in this post last month).
Up to this day, anyone wishing to become a Sofer must first be tested in his proficiency in the Keset Hasofer, either by a tutor, a local Rabbi or one of the specialized institutions in the Israel and US - just like the Hatam Sofer intended 200 years ago.
It was surprising to see these Gedolim not only endorsing but requiring all scribes to purchase a sefer of a small town Rabbi who didn’t come from a prestigious Rabbinic family, had no political connections and wasn't even a scribe, and this early success gave Rabbi Ganzfried a first breakthrough in the Rabbinic world. A few years later, he got a prestigious position as a Dayan in his hometown Ungvar, which allowed his family to live in better conditions and allowed him to put to use his mastery of Halacha in this important city.
Rabbi Ganzfried’s work as a Dayan seems to have brought him in the fore of the lives of his constituents, and in time he realized there was a need for a everyday Halachic work targeted for the general Jewish population, who were by and large not capable of learning the Shulchan Aruch and its lengthy commentaries.
Rabbi Ganzfried selected the most relevant everyday Halachot, and omitted a large part of the Shulchan Aruch, which is long, detailed and include many subjects not commonly studied by the laymen. He called it "Kitzur Shulchan Aruch", which is actually not at all a summary of the Shulchan Aruch but a standalone handbook of the most vital everyday Halachot - similar in style to his Keset Hasofer for scribes.
As he had shown in his previous works targeted at Halachic niches, this “populist” sefer was easy to understand and became an instant classic, being printed 14 times in the author’s lifetime - a feat difficult to match.
While other similar works appeared around the same time, such as the Chaye Adam (who as the joke goes chose this name to preempt anyone trying to make a summary of his work, because no one will name it Kitzur Chaye Adam - it would mean “shorten a person’s life”), the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch proved to be more user friendly and had the perfect combination of length, depth and relevancy - perfect for brief study groups in the Shtetl synagogues, where the Kitzur quickly became the standard best seller.
Many editions expanded and added notes to the Kitzur, most notably the Misgeret Hashulchan edition and the Chazon Ish's appendix that include the Mitzvot relevant for those living in Israel (these were altogether ommited by Rabbi Ganzfried).
There's even a Daf Yomi style daily schedule for a year-long cycle I used in my high-school years. In fact, the Kitzur was the very first Sefer I picked up to learn by myself, when I was 13 years old and didn't know much Hebrew.
A steadfast traditionalist, Rabbi Ganzfried was an opponent of the Hungarian Neolog movement and even criticized the German model of orthodoxy headed by Hildesheimer’s Seminary in Berlin, which combined Jewish and secular studies. I’ve heard that his son eventually did attend this very institution but I believe the reference is to his grandson Chaim (Henrik) Brody, who was also born in Ungvar and ordained at the seminary, before becoming the Chief Rabbi of Prague and one of the leaders of the Mizrachi movement.
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| Rabbi Chaim Brody |
Rabbi Ganzfried’s early success with his Keset Hasofer was the stepping stone which gave him financial independence and, in his capacity as a Posek in Ungvar, a chance to write what is likely the most reprinted Halachic handbook of all time, the "Kitzur".
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