Shmuel Ehrenfeld (Yiddish: שמואל עהרענפעלד, 1891–1980), known as the Mattersdorfer Rav, was a pre-eminent Orthodox Jewish rabbi in pre-war Austria and a respected Torah leader and community builder in post-war America.

He established Yeshivas Ch'san Sofer in New York City and taught thousands of students who went on to become leaders of American Torah Jewry.

[1] He also founded the neighborhood of Kiryat Mattersdorf in Jerusalem, where his son and grandson became prominent Torah educators.

His parents were Rabbi Simcha Bunim Ehrenfeld, rav of Mattersdorf, and Rebbetzin Gittel Krauss.

His opinions and halakhic rulings were widely respected, and he also served as president of the Siebengemeinden (Sheva Kehillos, or Seven Communities) of Burgenland.

[4] On Saturday, 12 March 1938, German soldiers raided the Mattersdorf synagogue during services and ripped the prayer shawls off the worshippers.

After making many efforts to help relocate community members to safer shores, Ehrenfeld escaped with his family to America, where he arrived on 13 September 1938.

[1] The yeshiva later moved to Boro Park, where it currently enrolls over 400 students in kindergarten through twelfth grade[5] and operates a Head Start Program[6] and rabbinical seminary.

The Rav explained that it was customary for visiting Torah scholars to browse through their host's bookshelves, and he did not want to impress his visitor with anything that did not belong to him personally.

[12] He appointed his son, Rabbi Akiva Ehrenfeld (1923–2012), as his representative to supervise the construction and sale of apartments, but declined to serve as the new neighborhood's Rav.

Instead, his son Akiva became president of the Chasan Sofer Institutions in Israel while his grandson, Rabbi Yitzchok Yechiel Ehrenfeld, became Rav of Kiryat Mattersdorf.