txt/Responsa/Acharonim/Responsa Chatam Sofer/English/YU Torah miTzion Beit Midrash.txt

Responsa Chatam Sofer
שו"ת חתם סופר
YU Torah miTzion Beit Midrash
http://www.torontotorah.com

Responsa Chatam Sofer

Orach Chayim



Teshuva 1



Teshuva 2



Teshuva 3



Teshuva 4



Teshuva 5



Teshuva 6



Teshuva 7



Teshuva 8



Teshuva 9



Teshuva 10



Teshuva 11



Teshuva 12



Teshuva 13



Teshuva 14



Teshuva 15



Teshuva 16



Teshuva 17



Teshuva 18



Teshuva 19



Teshuva 20



Teshuva 21



Teshuva 22



Teshuva 23



Teshuva 24



Teshuva 25



Teshuva 26



Teshuva 27



Teshuva 28



Teshuva 29



Teshuva 30



Teshuva 31



Teshuva 32



Teshuva 33

Chatam  Sofer  discusses  Rabbi  Yehudah HaNasi’s  wish  to  eliminate  Tishah  b’Av when it occurs on Shabbat. (Megilah 5b)]


... One  should  ask: When Tishah b’Av occurs on Shabbat, the 17th of  Tammuz is also Shabbat (unless they set the calendar by seeing the moon, and they added a day to Tammuz). If so, then why did Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi not suggest regarding this fast, that once it is pushed off [from Shabbat], it should not be observed! And do not say that this is correct, and the Sages agreed with him [to eliminate the fast of] the 17th of Tammuz; that is not so, for we do not rule  thus! Rather, one must say that he did not think we should say that once  the  17th of Tammuz is pushed  off, it should not be observed. The 18th of Tammuz is also part of the period of tragedy, as opposed to the 9th of Av, where once the day has passed, there is no mourning according to the view that one mourns from  Rosh Chodesh until after the fast. (Taanit 29b) ...
And this week I developed a new explanation  for  Eichah Rabbah  4:24,   which states that Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi learned Eichah on Shabbat  which  was the 9th of Av, and when he [accidentally] banged his finger, he said of  himself, “There are many pains for the wicked. (Tehillim 32:10)” Rabbi Chiya responded, “The anointed of G-d is caught [only] due to ourcorruption.” (cf. Eichah 4:20) ... It appears to me that within our view that we push the fast to the 10th of  Av, Shabbat is not Tishah b’Av at all,  and one may learn with others,  as Magen Avraham wrote; the day  only has the status of the eve of Tishah b’Av. But if we held as Rabbi  Yehudah  HaNasi does, that once Tishah b’Av is pushed off, it should not be observed and it cannot be made up, then the observance of Tishah b’Av  actually remains in place on the proper day, on Shabbat, and it is  only that the mitzvah of Shabbat pleasure pushes off [fasting for] Tishah b’Av –but that which is private, learning with  others and the like, are  prohibited as they would be for any mourner on Shabbat. So Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi violated his own position ... And therefore he blamed banging his finger on this, and said of himself. “There are many pains,” and Rabbi Chiya responded, “We caused this, for we did not give in to you, and you did not wish to trespass the words of your colleagues.” ... 

Yoreh De'ah



Even HaEzer



Choshen Mishpat



Collected Responsa



Teshuva 1



Teshuva 2



Teshuva 3



Teshuva 4



Teshuva 5



Teshuva 6



Teshuva 7



Teshuva 8



Teshuva 9



Teshuva 10



Teshuva 11



Teshuva 12



Teshuva 13



Teshuva 14



Teshuva 15



Teshuva 16



Teshuva 17



Teshuva 18



Teshuva 19



Teshuva 20



Teshuva 21



Teshuva 22



Teshuva 23



Teshuva 24



Teshuva 25



Teshuva 26



Teshuva 27



Teshuva 28



Teshuva 29



Teshuva 30



Teshuva 31



Teshuva 32



Teshuva 33



Teshuva 34



Teshuva 35



Teshuva 36



Teshuva 37



Teshuva 38



Teshuva 39



Teshuva 40



Teshuva 41



Teshuva 42



Teshuva 43



Teshuva 44



Teshuva 45



Teshuva 46



Teshuva 47



Teshuva 48



Teshuva 49



Teshuva 50



Teshuva 51



Teshuva 52



Teshuva 53



Teshuva 54



Teshuva 55



Teshuva 56



Teshuva 57



Teshuva 58



Teshuva 59


[K]now, my son and student, that my whole life I have been  troubled by the verse, “And you shall be clean in front of G-d and  Israel,” and these two obligations we have to be clean from G-d and clean from Israel His nation are two paired riders on our  backs. But it is much easier to fulfill the first obligation, meaning, [innocence] in the eyes of G-d, much, much more than  to fulfill one’s obligation regarding people, for they think   strange thoughts [suspicions of wrongdoing], and the weavers  speak of them by moonlight. The punishment [for failure to be innocent in the eyes of  humanity] is quite severe, to no end, more than one who does not fulfill his obligation to Heaven, G-d forbid. This emerges from the Talmud at the end of  the chapter Yom  HaKippurim (Yoma Chapter  8) regarding desecrating G-d’s Name, [which  says] there is no atonement, “such as where a rabbi purchases meat but does not pay right away.” In our great   iniquity, people commonly talk about how such a studious person  did such and such. It is common in their mouths – even if  it’s  just a suspicion. And in this case, even if the studious person  acted properly in the eyes of G-d as much as possible, but not  carefully enough, such that some drunkards made a mistake about him, and wrote mocking songs about him, he has been  caught in their  trap. On this, all sufferers shall grieve, and the verse screams, “You have let men ride over us.” (Tehillim 66:12). 
And I have wondered many times if it is even possible that a person in the history of the world has fully fulfilled this verse. Perhaps this idea is included in what King Shlomo said, “There is no righteous person in the world who does only good and no  wrong” (Kohelet 7:20) - which means to say that even if his deeds were all good [in the eyes of G-d], it is impossible to not sin in the second way, regarding fulfilling the obligation [to be innocent in the eyes of] people.