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“The Holy One rejoices in pilpul”: A Letter of Torah Chiddushim from the Daas Sofer, Rosh Yeshiva of Pressburg – 1905 * A lengthy and rare handwritten and autographed letter spanning 6 pages, by Rabbi Akiva Sofer, author of Daas Sofer, Av Beis Din, and Rosh Yeshiva of the illustrious Pressburg Yeshiva. The letter addresses the sugya of a bathhouse and the prohibition on placing a stumbling block before the public. At the beginning of the letter, he cites the words of “Maran, my revered grandfather, the Chasam Sofer, of blessed memory, on how greatly a person must distance himself from anything unbecoming and from anything resembling it, especially in these times, when the masses scrutinize Torah scholars and are quick to find fault with them.” He then begins his pilpul, writing: “The Holy One, blessed be He, rejoices in pilpul!” Among his remarks, he notes: “I raised this very difficulty, and afterward I found in the Chasam Sofer on the sugyos of the Gemara that he had already brought this question in the name of Mishnas Rabbi Akiva. Blessed is He Who guided me to arrive at the same understanding as his great mind.” (As is known, the children of the Chasam Sofer were born from his second wife, the daughter of Rabbi Akiva Eiger, grandson of the author of Mishnas DeR’Akiva, thus making the Mishnas DeR’Akiva an ancestor of the Daas Sofer.) Rabbi Akiva Sofer (1877-1959), author of Daas Sofer, served as Av Beis Din of Pressburg, continuing the illustrious rabbinic dynasty of his forefathers — the Chasam Sofer, the Ksav Sofer, and his father the Shevet Sofer — as Rav of Pressburg and Rosh Yeshivah of its famous yeshiva. At a young age, he began delivering regular shiurim in the yeshiva, and from 1907, he succeeded his father as Rav of Pressburg. In 1940, he immigrated to Jerusalem, where he reestablished the yeshiva. His works include Shu”t Daas Sofer on the Shulchan Aruch, and Daas Sofer on the Torah and festivals. Pressburg, 1905. Six pages in the handwriting of the Daas Sofer. Page size: 14.5×22.5 cm. Condition : Good; the third leaf is not attached to the first two. Printed during the lifetime of the author, with slight variations, in the journal HaMaayan, published by the students of the Pressburg Yeshiva, Year 2, Issue 4, Tyrnau 1935, pp. 140–142.