Moshe Shmuel Shapiro

Who was Moshe Shmuel Shapiro?

Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Shapiro was a Rosh Yeshiva and important rabbinic figure in Israel. His father, Rabbi Aryeh Shapiro, was the son of Rabbi Refael Shapiro of Volozhin and grandson of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin His mother was a descendant of Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman Heilpern of Bialystock, a descendant of Rabbi Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller. Even though his father was the Dayan of Białystok, Poland, Rav Moshe Shmuel was born in the city of Minsk, Belarus while his family was escaping the horrors of World War I.

After the war, the Shapiro family returned to Białystok where Moshe Shmuel studied in the local Yeshiva. Rabbi Chaim Brisker, Moshe Shmuel's uncle, frequented the Shapiro residence. In 1933, Moshe Shmuel left home to study in the Yeshiva in Baranovich under the tutelage of Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman. Rabbi Shmuel Berenbaum, the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Mir attests to the special relationship which existed between Moshe Shmuel and Rav Elchonon. Even after Moshe Shmuel left Baranovichi, he continued corresponding with Rav Elchonon.