Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Solomon Schonfeld
Solomon Schonfeld (21 February 1912 – 6 February 1984) was a British rabbi who was honoured as a British Hero of the Holocaust for saving the lives of thousands of Jews.
Solomon Schonfeld was the second son of Rachel Leah and Rabbi Victor (Avigdor) Schonfeld (né Schönfeld), one of seven children. His family home was at 73 Shepherd's Hill, Highgate, London, and he was educated at Highbury County School and attended Hebrew classes. His family was originally from Hungary.
Schonfeld studied at the yeshiva in Nyitra, Austria-Hungary (now Nitra, Slovakia), for a doctorate at the University of Königsberg, East Prussia. In Nitra he became the student and lifelong friend of Rabbi Michoel Ber Weissmandl, who acted as his inspiration in his rescue work.
In 1933 he succeeded his father as the rabbi of the Adath Yisroel Synagogue in North London, and as principal of the fledgling Jewish Secondary School. He was the Presiding Rabbi of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations and president of the National Council for Jewish Religious Day Schools in Great Britain.
When the scale of rescue work needed became apparent in the 1930s, he became the executive director of the Chief Rabbi's Religious Emergency Council, formed under the auspices of his future father-in-law, Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz, in 1938. He personally rescued many thousands of Jews from Nazi forces in Central and Eastern Europe during the years 1938–1948. He felt Zionism had aided the Nazi regime's persecution of Jews.
In 1940, he married Judith Helen Hertz, daughter of the Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz. They had three sons.
Schonfeld personally rescued thousands of Jews. His rescue efforts were inspired by his teacher at the Nitra Yeshivah, Rabbi Michael Ber Weissmandl. This explains, in part, some of his daring and innovative rescue styles. His rescue activities were under auspices of the Chief Rabbi's Religious Emergency Council, which he created with approval of Chief Rabbi Hertz, his father-in-law.
In the autumn of 1938, following Kristallnacht, Julius Steinfeld, a communal leader in Austria, called Rabbi Schonfeld, pleading with him to assemble a children's transport to England for Vienna's Orthodox Jewish youth. Rabbi Schonfeld met with Yaakov Rosenheim and Harry Goodman, president and secretary of World Agudath Israel respectively, but even before they could decide on a strategy, he boarded a train to Vienna. Rabbi Schonfeld helped Steinfeld organize a Kindertransport of close to 300 Orthodox Jewish youngsters, providing the British government with his personal guarantee in order to secure their entry.
Hub AI
Solomon Schonfeld AI simulator
(@Solomon Schonfeld_simulator)
Solomon Schonfeld
Solomon Schonfeld (21 February 1912 – 6 February 1984) was a British rabbi who was honoured as a British Hero of the Holocaust for saving the lives of thousands of Jews.
Solomon Schonfeld was the second son of Rachel Leah and Rabbi Victor (Avigdor) Schonfeld (né Schönfeld), one of seven children. His family home was at 73 Shepherd's Hill, Highgate, London, and he was educated at Highbury County School and attended Hebrew classes. His family was originally from Hungary.
Schonfeld studied at the yeshiva in Nyitra, Austria-Hungary (now Nitra, Slovakia), for a doctorate at the University of Königsberg, East Prussia. In Nitra he became the student and lifelong friend of Rabbi Michoel Ber Weissmandl, who acted as his inspiration in his rescue work.
In 1933 he succeeded his father as the rabbi of the Adath Yisroel Synagogue in North London, and as principal of the fledgling Jewish Secondary School. He was the Presiding Rabbi of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations and president of the National Council for Jewish Religious Day Schools in Great Britain.
When the scale of rescue work needed became apparent in the 1930s, he became the executive director of the Chief Rabbi's Religious Emergency Council, formed under the auspices of his future father-in-law, Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz, in 1938. He personally rescued many thousands of Jews from Nazi forces in Central and Eastern Europe during the years 1938–1948. He felt Zionism had aided the Nazi regime's persecution of Jews.
In 1940, he married Judith Helen Hertz, daughter of the Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz. They had three sons.
Schonfeld personally rescued thousands of Jews. His rescue efforts were inspired by his teacher at the Nitra Yeshivah, Rabbi Michael Ber Weissmandl. This explains, in part, some of his daring and innovative rescue styles. His rescue activities were under auspices of the Chief Rabbi's Religious Emergency Council, which he created with approval of Chief Rabbi Hertz, his father-in-law.
In the autumn of 1938, following Kristallnacht, Julius Steinfeld, a communal leader in Austria, called Rabbi Schonfeld, pleading with him to assemble a children's transport to England for Vienna's Orthodox Jewish youth. Rabbi Schonfeld met with Yaakov Rosenheim and Harry Goodman, president and secretary of World Agudath Israel respectively, but even before they could decide on a strategy, he boarded a train to Vienna. Rabbi Schonfeld helped Steinfeld organize a Kindertransport of close to 300 Orthodox Jewish youngsters, providing the British government with his personal guarantee in order to secure their entry.