Early life

The chassid Yoel Krakower -Sofer was born in Mattersdorf, one of the 'seven communities', in the year 5607 which is 1846-47 as the third child to his father who was then the City's rabbi and head of the yeshiva, rabbi Shimon (who later became the Rav of Krakow), son of the holy Chasam sofer.

When Yoel turned sixteen he married Chawa the daughter of the nicknamed 'Jewish king' and 'Rothchild of Poland' -the wealthy Yehuda Leib Kuzmerik from Rzeczyca a village near Gostynin where Yehuda Leib had had a large estate with forests called Belno in which he lived.

R' Yoel lived first in Belno where his father-in-law provided for him, and afterwards settled in Kutno. When the first world war started and Jews were being slaughtered for libelous claims and as R' Yoel was a Austrian citizen, his danger was much bigger, so he and his family left all their belongings behind and fled to Krakow which was a big city and the danger of a pogrom seemed further away, he later moved to Warsaw.

Personality and Deeds

The name Chassid was nor just a title of R' Yoel it was his whole being. He was a humble and pious person, and balanced with the sharp mind that was inherent in the Sofer family, he was considered one of the greats by all those who knew him, so even that when a grandchild died he had written on his tombstone that "he was a grandchild of R' Yoel" without mentioning his Great and renowned forefathers. While strictly carrying his forefathers legacy and customs, R' Yoel was great in his own right. R' Yoel went in the ways of his father and collected money for the needy and poor, R' Yoel supported a few hundred families in a hidden way as not to embarress them. He was considered the 'lion of the group' wherever he went. The Lev Simcha Admur of Gur once said of him "He had a Rabbinic language and he used to give lots of blessings".

The Chassid

R' Yoel was a close student of R. Yechiel Meir Lipshitz of Gostynin 1816-1887. When R' Yoel's Rebbe passed away, his followers requested of R' Yoel to fill his place, and lead the community, but R' Yoel due to his deep humility and his never having thought that he is worthy of the mantle, refused despite their pleading for him to accept. To end their pleas R' Yoel argued that since the Rebbe left children to continue his dynasty, a 'foreign' person shouldn't assume the position. Much could be written about this great man.

After travelling a few times to [Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam, [Shinever] (ch#4)] R' Yoel started travelling to Gur to [Rebbe Yehudah (Aryeh) Leib Alter, Sfas Emes, 2nd Admor of Ger] where he found his aspirations.

When He first came to Gur, the rebbe was told that R' Yoel, grandchild of the Chasam sofer and son of the Krakower Rav arrived, the Rebbe took a strong liking to him and he became one of his closest people.

After the Rabbe passed away R' Yoel kept his chassidic ways in the court of the Rebbe's son and successor [R' Avraham Mordechai Alter, 3rd Admur Ger] with whom he until then had already built a strong friendship with. And while R' Yoel saw himself as 'cleaving himself to the dust beneath the feet of the Tzadik', the Rebbe saw him as a friend and confidant as he once expressed himself when reading the mishna in tractate Avot-Avos 'one should buy oneself a (close) friend', the rebbe added 'like R' yoel and myself'.

R' yoel was called , of the most outstanding in his generation in a letter co-signed by his Rebbe the Imrei Emes.

R' Yoel was strict about never going two consecutive weeks to his Rebbe, and went only every second week so as 'not do be a chassid out of habit only out of pure thirst and clear direction' and used to say "habit becomes nature, is also said by these type of things".

Children

1.Yuta wife of Moshe Efrayim Meislish.

2.Moshe husband of Chayah Rosenberg.

3.Golda wife of Shmuel Rossbach.

4.Chaya wife of moshe Langerak.

5.Tzipora wife of Tzvi Baumgold and after his passing she married Chanoch Henich Weinberg.

6.Gittel wife of Yehuda Leib Parnas and after his premature passing she married Yitzchak Meir Morgenstern

7.Esther wife of Dovid Graf

8.Shimon Mordechai died in childhood.

9.Akiva Dov husband of Sara Chaya Preiss descendant of the Chasam sofer.

10.Shimon Yehuda husband of RIvka Perelberger.

11.Yechiel Meir husband of Perel Timberg.

12.Hinda wife of Chaim Finkelstein.

Passing

Even after seeing signs that his end in this world is near, R' Yoel exclaimed "lets not make a fuss, lets dance together". And so by R' Yoel, the Psalms "Yaalzi chassidim bechavod yeranenu al mishkevosom" , was fulfilled to mean that even when one is on one's deathbed one should still rejoice. When the Imrei Emes visited the mourning family he blessed them that their father should be a good counsel for them in the world of truth. On the day of R' Yoel's passing, the Beis Yisrael, son of the Imrei Emes was visiting in Berlin, and when a grandchild of R' Yoel named Avraham that had arrived from Vienne that day (and hadn't yet heard that his grandfather had passed away) wished to visit the Beis Yisrael, the future Rebbe's hosts told him that the Beis Yisrael locked himself in his room for a few hours and nobody knows why. After a long wait The Beis yisrael emerged and upon seeing Avraham told him visibly sad "I locked myself to be alone as your grandfather passed away in Warsaw". It was a wonder in the eyes of the grandchild how the Beis Yisrael knew from faraway Berlin what had happened in Warsaw.

R' Yoel Sofer-Schreiber returned his pure soul to his maker on the 5th of Elul 5685 which is 25 Aug 1925, and was buried in the Warsaw cemetery.

From the book אפריון לרבי שמעון (Hebrew) on Rabbi Shimon Simcha Schreiber-Sofer.

32 14 58 M Sofer Schreiber Yoel Shimon 8/25/1925 ojciec: rabin z Krakowa, przodkowie: Akiwa Eiger i "Chatam Sofer" (Mosze Sofer z Bratysławy)

https://cemetery.jewish.org.pl/list/c_1

Picture colorized using myheritage colorizer.

Jetta Roza SCHREIBER Joel KUSMIRAK Ewa Leib born in Belna Warsaw, Joel b.1844 Vatersdorf, son of Szymon

מגדולי חסידי הרב הקדוש רבי יחיאל מאיר מגסטנין. אחרי פטירת רבו זה, סירב לבקשת החסידים להכתירו כממלא מקומו. מאז קיבל לרבי את הגאון הקדוש בעל ה"שפת אמת" מגור

אגודת משפחת אגר 1913-1990 - אילן ז.