Naftoli Shapiro

Who was Naftoli Shapiro?

Rabbi Naftoli Shapiro was an Orthodox Talmudic scholar and rosh yeshiva in Glasgow for 40 years.

Born in 1906 in the town of Mir, Poland, Rabbi Shapiro studied at the prestigious Mir yeshiva from the age of twelve. He also learned at the Raduń Yeshiva, and was a pupil of the Chofetz Chaim. Rabbi Shapiro studied at the Łomża yeshiva, where he was appointed teacher to senior students preparing for semicha. He studied in the Łomża Kollel under the renowned Gaon Rabbi Aaron Yosef Bakst, and received semicha at the age of 23 from Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor.

Due to a directive from Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman for a permanent yeshiva with a head to be set up in Glasgow, a "call" was sent to Rabbi Shapiro, who arrived to lead the fledgling institution in 1936, three years after its founding.

Rabbi Shapiro went on to lead the yeshiva for forty years until 1976. During this period, he married a daughter of Rev. Dr. Israel W. Slotki of Manchester and founded the Glasgow Vaad Hayeshivos, the Tiferes Bochurim youth movement and the Sabbath Observance Organisation. He also obtained an MA from the University of Glasgow. In 1956, he was appointed rabbi of the newly amalgamated Great Central Synagogue, Glasgow, and later became vice-president of the Glasgow Association of Rabbis.