Schlomo Hofmeister

Schlomo Hofmeister was born into a family of doctors.[6] After completing his secondary education, he studied at various yeshivos in England and Israel, studied social sciences, history and politics at Munich's Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) and the University of British Columbia (UBC), and completed his university studies at the end of 2002 with a Master of Science (MSc) degree from the London School of Economics (LSE). In 2004, he moved from London to Jerusalem to continue his rabbinical studies at Rabbi Moshe Halberstam's Rabbinical Seminary Toras Shlomo. Rabbi Hofmeister received semichos in various areas of Jewish law from, among others, Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, Chairman of the Orthodox Rabbinical Court and Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. When he received his first rabbinical ordination in 2005, he was the first rabbi in 69 years to be born and raised in Germany and the first German rabbi since his two mentors, Munich Chief Rabbi Pinchas Paul Biberfeld and London Chief Rabbi Josef Zwi HaLevi Dunner, received their ordinations from the Hildesheim Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin in 1936/37.[7]

Since 2008, Schlomo Hofmeister has been the Community Rabbi of Vienna, where his ancestors had already resided for several generations after their expulsion from Spain.[8]

Since 2012, he has been a permanent member of the Standing Committee of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER).[9] In 2019, Schlomo Hofmeister has been appointed special envoy of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) against right-wing extremism.[10][11][12]

From 2011 to 2022 he was Secretary General of the European Beth Din (EBD) under Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu,[13][14] and since 2017, in his capacity as Vienna’s Community Rabbi, he has been Secretary General of the Vienna Rabbinical Court (Beth Din).[15]

Since 2013, Schlomo Hofmeister has served as president of the Union of Mohalim in Europe (UME).[16][17]

Plaque at the entrance to the "Landesrabbinat" housed in the Wertheimer mansion in Eisenstadt

Since 2016, he holds the position of Landesrabbiner (district Chief Rabbi) of Lower Austria, Burgenland, Styria and Carinthia as well as Chief Rabbi of the cities Eisenstadt, Graz and Baden bei Wien.[18] The history of the Landesrabbinat in Eisenstadt goes back to the foundation of the Landesrabbinat of Hungary and Bohemia in 1693, whose first Landesrabbiner was the famous Viennese Chief Rabbi, Shtadlan and court Jew Samson Wertheimer.[19][20] Just like his illustrious predecessor, Hofmeister also exercises his rabbinical functions primarily from Vienna.[21] In 2017, Hofmeister was appointed the first Chief Rabbi of the Austrian Armed Forces in 99 years and as such has since also been responsible for the Jewish military chaplaincy in Austria,[22][23] which had played a significant role in the monarchy but had been dissolved in 1918.[24]

• סידור תפילת ישורון — Siddur Tefilas Yeshurun, Jeschurun Publishers, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-9502627-0-4
• Reise nach Jerusalem — Ein Imam und ein Rabbiner unterwegs, Amalthea Signum Verlag, Vienna, 2016, ISBN 978-3-99050-043-9
• סידור תפילת ישורון — Siddur Tefilas Yeshurun (Hrsg.), 2nd revised edition, Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-9502627-1-1
• סדר זמירות ישורון — Siddur Zemiros Yeshurun (Hrsg.), Jeschurun Publishers, Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-9502627-3-5
• ספר דרך החיים והזכרת נשמות — Gebete und Traditionen auf dem letzten Weg und im Andenken an unsere Verstorbenen, Jeschurun Publishers, Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-9502627-4-2