ר׳ שלמה גאנצפריד

ר׳ שלמה בן ר׳ יוסף גאנצפריד (1804–1886), universally associated with קיצור שולחן ערוך, was a Hungarian Orthodox rabbi, dayan, posek and exceptionally influential author of practical halakhah. Born in Ungvár—today Uzhhorod, Ukraine—he was orphaned at eight and raised under the guardianship of ר׳ צבי הירש הלר, the city’s rabbi and rosh yeshiva. At about fifteen he followed his teacher to Bonyhád and studied there for nearly a decade before ordination and marriage. He briefly attempted commerce, including the wine trade, but in 1830 accepted the rabbinate of Brezovica. In 1849 he returned to Ungvár as a dayan, serving alongside ר׳ מאיר אייזנשטטר (מהר״ם אַ״ש) and remaining on the rabbinical court until his death. Confronted by the religious transformations and Orthodox–Neolog conflicts of nineteenth-century Hungary, he concluded that ordinary Jews needed a lucid, usable command of daily law. His קיצור שולחן ערוך, first printed at Ungvár in 1864, distilled practical rulings concerning prayer, blessings, food, Shabbat, festivals, business, marriage, mourning and other areas into concise Hebrew. It spread rapidly through Hebrew, Yiddish and many translations and became a formative household and school manual for Ashkenazi Jewry. Earlier, his קסת הסופר had systematized the laws of writing Torah scrolls, tefillin and mezuzot and received the endorsement of ר׳ משה סופר. His other books addressed Talmud, shechita, family purity, divorce documents and biblical interpretation. At the 1869 Jewish Congress in Budapest he became a prominent spokesman for Hungarian Orthodoxy. He died in Ungvár on 30 July 1886.