Ezra HaSofer

Ezra the Scribe; a great leader of the Jewish People at the time of the building of the “Second Temple,” in approximately year 516 B.C.E. He made many decrees preserving the way of life of the Torah among the Jewish People. He mounted a strong campaign against intermarriage among those who returned with him from Exile in Babylonia. In his greatness, he is compared to Moshe.

A Book of the Bible bears his name, and gives an historical account of his time. The word “Sofer,” meaning “Scribe,” actually meant more than the current meaning of the term “Sofer.” It was the name given to the Scholarly Leaders of the People at that time in history.