Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld

A prominent student of Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer (the *Ksav Sofer*) in Pressburg, Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld immigrated to Jerusalem in 1873, becoming a central leader of the 'Old Yishuv.' He was a principal figure in the opposition to the emerging secular Zionist movement and resisted the formation of the British Mandate-sponsored Chief Rabbinate. This stance culminated in his co-founding of the Edah HaChareidis in 1919, an independent ultra-Orthodox communal body which he led as its first av beit din. His halachic rulings are documented in the responsa work *Salmas Chaim*.