Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld

Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, also spelled Zonnenfeld (1 December 1848 – 26 February 1932), was the rabbi and co-founder of the Edah HaChareidis, a Haredi Jewish community in Jerusalem, during the years of the British Mandate of Palestine. He was noted for his vehement opposition to Zionism. Sonnenfeld was born in Verbó in the Austrian Empire. His father, Rabbi Avraham Shlomo Zonnenfeld, died when Chaim was five years old.

Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld
זאננענפעלד יוסף חיים
Born	1 December 1848 Vrbové (Piešťany District, Nyitra County, Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire)
Died	26 February 1932 Jerusalem (Mandatory Palestine, British Empire)
Burial place	Mount of Olives
Occupation(s)	Rabbi, Rabbinic Judge
Organization	Edah HaChareidis
Title	Grand Patriarch of the Court of Jerusalem, Master of the Land of Israel
Successor	Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky
Movement	Anti-Zionist
Signature

Sonnenfeld was a student of Samuel Benjamin Sofer (the Ksav Sofer).

Sonnenfeld was the right-hand man of Yehoshua Leib Diskin and assisted the latter in communal activities, such as the founding of schools and the Diskin Orphanage, and fighting against secularism and zionism.

Sonnenfeld often referred to the Zionists as "evil men and ruffians" and claimed that "Hell had entered the Land of Israel with Herzl."^[1]

Sonnenfeld and Abraham Isaac Kook were vigorous opponents in many areas. However, notwithstanding their disagreements, the two rabbis enjoyed a relationship of mutual respect and friendship.^[2]

Works

Sonnenfeld wrote scholarly commentaries on the Torah, Talmud, and Shulchan Aruch. His responsa are collected in the work Salmas Chaim.

References

• Sonnenfeld, Shlomo Zalman. 1983. Guardian of Jerusalem: The Life and Times of Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld (Artscroll History Series). Adapted from Ha-Ish Al Ha-Homah (3 vols.), by Hillel Danzinger. Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah Publications. ISBN 0-89906-458-2
• Sonnenfeld, Shlomo Zalman, ed. 2002. Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld on the Parashah. Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah Publications, 2002. ISBN 1-57819-723-6

Gallery

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  1
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  2 - 1920
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  3 - 1927
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  4 - 1930s
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  Sonnenfeld grave at the Mount of Olives Cemetery

1. Yoseph Chaïm Sonnenfeld during the years of the British mandate.
2. British High Commissioner's reception at Government House, Jerusalem, with texts of the Proclamation, 1920. L-R: Rabbis Moshe Leib Bernstein, Yosef Chaïm Sonnenfeld, Yerucham Diskin, and Baruch Reuven Jungreis.
3. Yoseph Chaïm Sonnenfeld receives Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, President of Czechoslovakia, during the latter's visit to Jerusalem, 1927.^[3]
4. Yosef Chaïm Sonnenfeld (left) with Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, 1930s.