Shmuel Bornsztain (16 October 1855 – 10 January 1926), Hebrew calendar (4 Cheshvan 5616 – 24 Teves 5686),[1][2] also spelled Borenstein or Bernstein, was the second Rebbe of the Sochatchov Hasidic dynasty.

He was a leading Hasidic thinker in early 20th-century Europe and a Rebbe to thousands of Hasidim in the Polish cities of Sochaczew (Sochatchov) and Łódź.

[3] Bornsztain was born in the home of his maternal grandfather, the Kotzker Rebbe, in Kotzk during the time that his father was being supported by his father-in-law, as was the custom in those days.

Unlike the prevailing custom of moving in with or near his father-in-law, the newlywed Bornsztain chose to live near his father, Rabbi Avrohom, in Krośniewice, and followed him to the towns of Nasielsk and Sochaczew (Sochatchov) when the latter assumed the leadership of those communities.

This yeshiva taught hundreds of boys and operated until the outbreak of World War I. Bornsztain also labored over the compilation and publication of his father's manuscripts.

He published his father's voluminous responsa on every section of Shulchan Aruch in seven volumes, under the title Avnei Nezer ("Stones of the Crown").

In 1919, Bornsztain chose to leave the tumult of the big city, which was taking its toll on his health as well as his ability to concentrate on his holy work, and relocated to Zgierz, a small town near Łódź .