Rav Moshe Stern, the Debrecziner Rav, author of Be’er Moshe (1914-1997). Born in Neuhaizal, Slovakia, on Hoshana Rabah, his father, Rav Avraham, was the Rav of Neuhaizal, a historian and author of the sefarim, Gapei Eish on the Shas, Shulchan Eish and Melitzei Eish. After learning with his father and grandfather, Rav Moshe left Neuhaizal to study in Yeshivas Pressburg, headed by the Chasam Sofer's great-grandson, Rav Akiva Sofer, the Daas Sofer. Rav Moshe married a daughter of Rav Mordechai Nissan HaKohen Strasser, a grandson of the Chasam Sofer. After his marriage, he moved to Debrecen, Hungary's second largest city, where Jews had been barred from living until 1840. Debrecen had served as the capital of Hungary twice, once in 1849, and a second time, in 1944. In Debrecen, he was appointed a posek and dayan. By 1941, 9,142 Jews lived in Debrecen and comprised about 7% of its population. After the war, about 4,640 Jews returned to Debrecen making it the largest Jewish community in the area. Rav Moshe restructured the kehillah. Together with the Admor of Erlau, he even founded a yeshivah in Budapest. In about 1950, Rav Moshe was invited to be the rav of Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he stayed for a year. Soon afterwards, Rav Moshe moved to New York and established his 'Kahal Yesodei HaTorah' whose congregants were mostly immigrants from Hungary. In 1969, Rav Moshe began publishing his sefer of responsa, Be'er Moshe. Another of Rav Moshe's sefarim is his "Kunterus Ha'Electric" where he discusses the dozens of shaylos involved with electricity, such as accepting testimony over the phone and setting up alarms to work on Shabbos.
