Mohel Ledger - Rabbi Moshe Sofer, son of the Ktav Sofer - Documentation of the Circumcision of Converts in the ...

Mohel Ledger - Rabbi Moshe Sofer, son of the Ktav Sofer - Documentation of the Circumcision of Converts in the Bözödújfalu Village
Sod Hashem, laws, customs and prayers for circumcisions. Vienna, 1837. With signatures and stamps: R. "Moshe Sofer", "Moshe Sofer son of R. Shimon Sofer". Bound with a handwritten ledger (Pinkas Mohel), with documentation of approximately 450 circumcisions performed by R. Moshe Sofer during 1865-1919. Almost all the records begin with flowery language and gematriyot of the number recording the circumcision and additional details of the circumcisions he performed in the surrounding communities and for his descendants and family members. At the end of the ledger is a record of the circumcisions he performed in the Sabbatarian village Bözödújfalu (see page 79).
R. Moshe Sofer (1841-1927), son of R. Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer, author of Ktav Sofer was the first grandson to be named after his illustrious grandfather, R. Moshe Sofer, author of the Chatam Sofer. He was an outstanding Torah scholar and tsaddik who resided in Szeplak (Berettyószéplak) and later moved to Vamos-Udvarhely in Southern-Transylvania. He founded and presided over the Machzikei Hadas society in Siebenbürgen (Transylvania). He cherished the mitzvoth and was an expert mohel who circumcised hundreds of Jewish babies. During 1868-1874, he converted and circumcised converts of the Sabbatarian village Bözödújfalu. He would call the converts which he himself circumcised "souls which he made" and would name them after his father the Ktav Sofer or after his grandfather the Chatam Sofer.
Some of the circumcisions were carried out with self-sacrifice, travelling to faraway remote places. His family recounts the time Eliyahu the Malach HaBrit accompanied their grandfather Rabbi Moshe, lost and wandering in the forest near Hidalmás (Hida), on his way to circumcise his grandson Yitzchak Leib son of his son R. Shlomo in 1895 (this circumcision is recorded in this ledger, Entry no. 295: "…the son of my son Shlomo…10th of Tevet 1894 and I named him Yitzchak Leib after his two grandfathers, paternal and maternal… Hidalmás").
Entry 15 records the circumcision of his son R. Shlomo Sofer in 1870, named after his great-uncle R. Shlomo Eiger. Especially interesting are the entries of children who were named after his father, Entries no. 22-23 of circumcision which took place in the winter of 1872 in Pressburg after the death of his father, author of the Ktav Sofer: "…The child Shmuel Wolf son of R. Avraham Feldman on Shabbat Va'era 1872…during the sheloshim of the G-dly man, my father and teacher…as a segula for his pure soul…I was mohel of Shmuel Wolf son of Matityahu Beck on Wednesday Parshat Beshalach 1872 on the lap of my brother, his successor…". In Entry 63, he joyously and lengthily reports the circumcision of his son Shmuel Wolf, named after his father "the true gaon" on Zot Chanuka 1875. In Entry 104, he tells of the circumcision of his son Yitzchak Yehuda in the month of Shevat 1878. Entries 109 and 110 are circumcisions of twin boys. In several places, he tells of circumcisions of babies who were born partly circumcised. On leaf 63/v, is a special index of such cases of half-circumcisions and on the last page is a short index of circumcisions arranged in chronological order.
36 (printed) leaves; [1], 44 handwritten leaves; 45-61 blank leaves; 62-63, [1] handwritten leaves. 15 cm. Fair condition. Stains and wear, detached leaves, worming. Open tears to last two leaves. Torn and damaged decorated leather binding.