Elimelech Szapira

Who was Elimelech Szapira?

Rabbi Elimelech Szapira of Grodzhisk was the leading Hasidic rebbe of his time in Poland. He was a chosid of the Rizhiner Rebbe. After the death of his father, the Sorof of Mogelnica, he assumed leadership of the chasidim, who eventually numbered ten thousand.

His sons-in-law were the Kozhnitser Rebbe and Rebbe Osher the Second of Stolin-Karlin.

When he died, his surviving sons were aged two and three, the sons from his first marriage having predeceased him. Some of the chasidim waited for the sons to grow up; one eventually became the Piasetzner Rov. Other chasidim chose a grandson, Rabbi Yisroel Shapira as their next leader. A third group, including many learned rabbis, followed the scholarly Ostrovtser Rov.