As president of the Orthodox Jewish party Machzikei HaDas, Sofer was a member of the Polenklub at the Reichsrat under the Austria-Hungary monarch Franz Joseph I.

His father would seat him on his lap whilst delivering his weekly Chumash shiur at the Pressburg Yeshiva, where he expounded on Rashi and Ramban commentaries.

His favorite piyyut was Ya Ribon of Rabbi Israel ben Moses Najara, a Shabbat song which his father would not sing.

His father would affectionately call him Shimon Chassida (the pious), and at the age of 13, at his Bar Mitzva, ordained him with the Ashkenazi title “Chaver”.

During this time they completed the first volume of Chassam Sofer Responsa on Yoreh De'ah (שו"ת חת"ס חיו"ד).

He reasoned that this community had removed their Bima from the center of their Synagogue and moved the Chazzan's position to the face the congregation from a high stage.

Since the 16th century many "Torah giants" served there as Chief Rabbi, such as the Rem”a, Ba”ch, Tosfos Yom Tov and the Maginei Shlomo.

[6][7] At this time, the Haskalah movement had made an impression on the general Jewish Population of the Austria-Hungarian empire with many Jews assimilating or rejecting the traditional orthodox approach to Judaism.

[8] The Hasidim and the Austrian-Hungarian rabbis of the Sofer Dynasty made a joint effort to strengthen traditional Orthodox Judaism and opposed the Reform both socially and politically.

A major challenge for the traditional Orthodox Jews was opposing the Shomer Israel Society, a strong and influential reform group.

In 1880, Rabbi Shimon Sofer founded a Hebrew-Yiddish weekly newspaper named מחזיקי הדת (Machzikei Hadas or Maḥaziḳe ha-Dat; Zeitung fur das Wahre Orthodoxische Judentum), published in Lemberg,[1] to counter the Izraelit tabloid issued by Shomer Israel.

It could be considered the first attempt of the Orthodox Jews in Europe to unite for political action in order to foster its beliefs in the sphere of Jewish social life.

Joseph Margoshes (1866–1955), a writer for the New York Yiddish daily Morgen Journal,[10] describes Sofer in his memoir A World Apart: The Krakow Rabbi was an unusually attractive person with a handsome face and rosy cheeks.

[9] In 1880 (כ"ה אלול תר"ם), The Emperor of the Austria-Hungarian Empire Franz Joseph I made a 3-day visit to Kraków.

In a letter written the next morning (יום ה' ה' דסליחות תר"ם) to his son and daughter-in-law, Rabbi Shlomo and Hinda Sofer, he writes with great awe of his encounter with the emperor: The Jewish delegation awaited the emperor in a line under chuppa canopies with the leaders holding Torah scrolls adored with gold and silver accessories.

The Machzikei HaDas newspaper of 19 September 1880 carried a front-page report heralding the Emperor's visit to Kraków and Lwóv, comparing him to an "Angel sent by God".

My honorable father and teacher of blessed memory made great effort to supervise over them with an eye of compassion, to fulfill their needs and to fund their cure.

In return for his faithful work, His Excellency The Kaiser (Emperor Franz Joseph I) decorated him an Honorary Medal as an everlasting sign of appreciation.

[14] In a condolence letter written to his brother's family two weeks after the passing, Rabbi Shimon apologizes for not responding to the telegrams sent.

[citation needed] Therefater he sent for his son-in-law, Rabbi Akiva Kornitzer, and said to him, Understand, my son, that for many years my eyes and heart have been constantly turned toward the Holy Land.