Rabbi Yonasan Steif ( yi, יונתן שטייף; August 12, 1877 – August 25, 1958) was a senior dayan of Budapest, Hungary, before the Second World War, a man whom Rabbis Moshe Feinstein and Joel Teitelbaum referred to as the ''gadol hador'' (spiritual leader of the generation). He was a world-renowned posek and halachic authority.
He served as senior dayan together with Rabbi
Israel Welcz
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. The
Rosh Beth Din
The ''av beit din'' ( ''ʾabh bêth dîn'', "chief of the court" or "chief justice"), also spelled ''av beis din'' or ''abh beth din'' and abbreviated ABD (), was the second-highest-ranking member of the Sanhedrin during the Second Temple period, ...
was Rabbi Efraim Fishel Zussman Sofer. While Rabbi Steif may have assumed the role of rosh beth din as the year 1944 approached, he was not such for most of his tenure.
Biography
Rabbi Steif was rescued from death in the Holocaust in 1944 as a result of a deal between Rudolph Kastner, and a deputy of
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
Moshe Stern Rabbi Moshe Stern (1914-1997) was a prominent Orthodox Jewish (Charedi) Rabbi in the 20th century. He was Dayan of Debrecen, Hungary and author of a halachic responsa sefer named ''Be'er Moshe''. He survived Bergen Belsen during the Holocaust and ...
; Adolph Deutsch, head of the Budapest branch of Agudath Israel; and many "ordinary" Jews.
He and his wife Bluma had 2 children; a son named Tzvi Yehuda and a daughter named Esther Shulamis. His son was murdered in the Holocaust together with his young son Aron while trying to escape the Nazis. The rest of his family, including his wife, his daughter-in-law Breindel with her two other sons Sholom Yosef and Michoel, and his daughter Esther with her 2 young sons, were rescued with Rabbi Steif, on the Kastner train. His son-in-law Aron Bleier (Esther's husband) was in the concentration camps at the time but miraculously survived and was re-united with the family after the war. A third son was born to them in 1950.
He resettled and was appointed as rabbi of ''
Kehal Adas Yereim
Vien () is an American Haredi Kehilla (community) originating in present-day Vienna. The name of their congregation is ''"Kehal Adas Yereim Vien"'' () (translation: Congregation of the Reverent, Vienna).
History
Kehal Adas Yereim Vien was form ...
'' in
Williamsburg
Williamsburg may refer to:
Places
*Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia
*Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City
*Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California
*Williams ...
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, which had been founded by Orthodox Jews who came from Vienna living in New York, and he was known as the ''Wiener Rov'' (rabbi of Vienna). He was a major Posek, he wrote halachic
responsa
''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars i ...
, works on the Talmud and two works setting forth the obligations of gentiles, one called ''Sefer Mitsvos Ha-Shem'', "The Book of God's Commandments".A number of other works were published later, and are still being worked on today.
He died at Montefiore Hospital in The Bronx, New York on August 25, 1958.