Shaul Brach

Born in Nyitra, Austria-Hungary (today Nitra, Slovakia), Shaul (Solomon) Brach studied at the Khust yeshiva under Rav Moshe Schick and then at the Mattersdorf yeshiva under Samuel Ehrenfeld, better known as the Ḥatan Sofer. In 1893, Brach became chief rabbi of Mogendorf, in 1907 of Kroli (Nagykároly), and in 1923 of Kashoi (Košice). Brach was a vociferously ultra-Orthodox figure who not only categorically opposed Zionism and other Jewish modernist movements but also rejected all forms of Jewish cultural adaptation framed by the Enlightenment and Emancipation. He even rejected the Orthodox political party Agudat Israel/Agudas Yisroel and similar Orthodox political efforts as accommodations to an unholy secular modernity. In addition to running yeshivas and serving on Hungarian Orthodox councils, he published ten books and wrote numerous manuscripts on Jewish law and interpretations of Jewish sources.