Avraham Duber Kahana Shapiro

Rabbi Avraham Dov-Ber Kahana Shapiro (also spelled Shapira) (1870–1943) was the last Chief Rabbi of Lithuania and the author of the three-volume work entitled Devar Avraham.

Biography

He was born in 1870[1] to Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Sender, a Kohen and author of Sefer Chidushei HaGarzas on Kodshim,[2] on Motzaei Yom Kippur, in the city of Kobryn.[3] R' Avraham was a descendant of R' Chaim Volozhin.

Education

He studied in the famed Volozhin Yeshiva, and was known as the illui m'kobrin, "the genius from Kobryn." The first volume of his magnum opus, the Devar Avraham, was published in 1906 when he was thirty-five years old.[1]

Army service

When 18 year old Avraham was drafted into the Russian army and sent to Minsk, he used his limited spare time to "clandestinely enter the local Beis Midrash... The Rav of Minsk, R' Yerucham Yitzchak Perlman..." worked to obtain his release, and subsequently "took him as a son-in-law."[2]

Students

R' Avraham had many students, including R' Ephraim Oshry, author of Sheilos U'Teshuvos M'Mamakim.[4][5]

Rabbi

He received his first rabbinical position at the age of 25, upon the passing of his father-in-law,[2][6] and was named Chief Rabbi of the city of Kovno in 1923.[1] He was the last Chief Rabbi of Lithuania.

Death

R' Avraham was in Switzerland for health reasons before the war broke out. His son, who was living in the United States, sent him a telegram to join him in the U.S. until the war's completion.[1] His father, upon receiving the telegram, showed it to one of his close friends, stating emphatically, "The captain is the last to abandon his sinking ship, not the first. At this time of danger, my place is with the people of my city. I am going to Kovno."[7] He died of an illness in the Kovno Ghetto on February 27, 1943.[1] He is buried in the same cemetery as Reb Yitchok Elchonon Spector Z'l. He is buried at the end of a row, one row before the Ohel of the Slabodka Rosh Yeshiva.

gollark: For what purpose?
gollark: One of the ides is the ides of March; it is known (Spurinna, -44) that this is to be feared. This, and their use in bee colonies, means hexagons are among the most fearsome shapes.
gollark: I can start up the demo.
gollark: It's sort of functional but not publicly available.
gollark: Well, you can have a TAR of the source code or something.

References
  1. Farbstein, Esther (2007). Hidden in thunder. [S.l.]: Feldheim Pub. pp. 58–61. ISBN 978-965-7265-05-5.
  2. Zoren, Moshe (March 2011). Aleinu L'Shabeiach/Bamidbar. Artscroll. ISBN 978-1-4226-1088-6.:167–169
  3. The "Dov-Ber" part of his Hebrew name is the source for the "Duber" part of the name by which he was later known.
  4. Moshe Sherman. "Ephraim Oshry (1914-2003)" (PDF). Because of poor health, .. Shapiro requested that the Jews of Kovno address their religious questions to his student, R. Ephraim Oshry.
  5. R'Shapiro was an older "fellow" student in R'Oshry's early years in Slobodka.
  6. (1896)
  7. "Introduction". דבר אברהם חלק א - אברהם דוב בן שלמה זלמן סנדר הכהן כהנא-שפירא. p. 3. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
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