Avraham Bornstein

Avraham Bornstein was a leading posek (legal decisor) in late nineteenth-century Europe and the founder and first Rebbe of the Sochatchover Chasidic dynasty. He is known as the Avnei Nezer ("Stones of the Crown") after the title of his posthumously-published set of Torah responsa, which is widely acknowledged as a halakhic classic. A child prodigy, he was a close student of the Kotzker Rebbe, and eventually became his son-in-law. After the Kotzker Rebbe's death, Bornstein became a Chasid of his uncle, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter, known as the Chiddushei HaRim of Ger. Following the latter's death in 1866, he became a Chasid of Rabbi Chanoch Henoch of Alexander. Bornstein’s main interest was his learning, and his Avnie Nezer covers all four sections of the Shulchan Arukh. His other work is Eglei Tal about the 39 categories of prohibited labor on Shabbat. Other works on the Torah have been collected and printed. His only son, Shmuel, author of Shem MiShmuel, succeeded him as rebbe.