Avraham Shapira

Avraham Shapira was born in 1910 in Jerusalem

Avraham Elkanah Shapira was born in Jerusalem to a Jerusalem family. His father was Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Shapira. As a child he lived in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.

He studied at the Etz Chaim Yeshiva and later at the Hebron Yeshiva, under Rabbis Moshe Mordechai Epstein and Yechezkel Sarna. In his youth he corresponded with rabbis such as the Chazon Ish and Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer. After his marriage, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook invited him to join Mercaz HaRav.

In 1956 he became a judge on the Jerusalem rabbinical court, and in 1971 he was named its head. He also served on and led the Supreme Rabbinic Court. In 1982 he became head of Mercaz HaRav, and in 1983 he was elected Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, serving alongside Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu.

During the Oslo Accords he ruled that handing over territory violates Jewish law. In 2005 he called on soldiers to refuse orders to remove Jewish communities in the Gaza disengagement. His works include Minchat Avraham and Morasha.

He died on 27 September 2007 and was buried on the Mount of Olives. He and his wife Penina had 4 sons. His son Rabbi Yaakov Shapira succeeded him at Mercaz HaRav.