Shmuel Ehrenfeld

Shmuel Ehrenfeld (, 1891–1980), known as the Mattersdorfer Rav, was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi in pre-war Austria and later in post-war America. He established Yeshivas Ch'san Sofer in New York City and taught thousands of students who went on to become leaders of American Torah Jewry. He also founded the neighborhood of Kiryat Mattersdorf in Jerusalem, where his son and grandson became prominent Torah educators.

In addition to founding the Sofer-Ehrenfeld family line, the Chasam Sofer set the precedent for his family members to serve as rav of the Austrian town of Mattersdorf and head the yeshiva there. Mattersdorf had a Jewish presence going back to the eleventh century. The Chasam Sofer became rav of the town in 1798. When he left to become rav of Pressburg in 1807, he was succeeded in Mattersdorf by his uncle, Rabbi Bunim Eger (brother of Rabbi Akiva Eger), and then by his son, Rabbi Shimon Sofer (the Michtav Sofer). When Rabbi Shimon Sofer left to become rav in Kraków, the Chasam Sofer's eldest grandson, Rabbi Shmuel Ehrenfeld (the Chasan Sofer (, an acronym for חידושי תורה נכד סופר, Chidushei Torah Neched Sofer, "Torah Insights of the Grandson of Sofer"), became rav of Mattersdorf. After Rabbi Shmuel's death on 4 August 1883 (1 Av, 5643), he was succeeded by his son, Rabbi Simcha Bunim Ehrenfeld (the Maaneh Simcha). When the latter died on 18 July 1926 (7 Av, 5686), he was succeeded by his son, Rabbi Shmuel Ehrenfeld. On Saturday, 12 March 1938, German soldiers raided the Mattersdorf synagogue during services and ripped the prayer shawls off the worshippers. Commandant Koch warned Ehrenfeld that unless all 4,000 Jews in the district left immediately, they would all be killed. After making many efforts to help relocate community members to safer shores, Ehrenfeld escaped with his family to America, where he arrived on 13 September 1938. and operates a Head Start Program and rabbinical seminary. Ehrenfeld appointed his son-in-law, Rabbi Shmuel Binyomin Fisher, as yeshiva administrator in 1942. Another son-in-law, Rabbi Binyomin Paler, became a maggid shiur and eventually rosh yeshiva in the yeshiva, until he left to form his own yeshiva in 1965.

Ehrenfeld also served as Rav in three Lower East Side synagogues, Anshei Marmarosh, Chevrah Eitz Chaim, and the Stropkover Chevrah. He appointed his son, Rabbi Akiva Ehrenfeld (1923–2012), as his representative to supervise the construction and sale of apartments, but declined to serve as the new neighborhood's Rav. Instead, his son Akiva became president of the Chasan Sofer Institutions in Israel while his grandson, Rabbi Yitzchok Yechiel Ehrenfeld, became Rav of Kiryat Mattersdorf. The outermost street in the neighborhood is named Maaneh Simcha after his father's Torah work. Akiva Ehrenfeld moved to Kiryat Mattersdorf in the early 1990s and served as president of all these institutions. Akiva Ehrenfeld also founded Yeshivas Beis Shmuel, named for his father, in the mid-1980s.