Moshe Shmuel Shapiro

Moshe Shmuel Shapiro was born in 1917 in Minsk

Shapiro was born in Minsk in 1917. His father, Rabbi Aryeh Shapiro, served as a rabbi in Bialystok and was a great-grandson's line of the Netziv. During World War I the family moved from Bialystok to Minsk and later returned.

He began yeshiva study in Bialystok. In 1933 he went to study with Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman in Baranovichi, and in 1936 he moved to the Mir yeshiva in Poland. When he reached draft age he fled Poland.

In the Land of Israel he studied at the Lomza yeshiva in Petah Tikva. In 1944 he studied in Jerusalem with his cousin, the Brisker Rav. He married Chaya Feiga Tzipora Weinstein, lived in Bnei Brak and taught at the Kol Torah yeshiva.

In 1949 he was appointed head of the Be'er Yaakov yeshiva and led it until his death. He published his lectures in books such as Sha'arei Shmuot. In 1988 Rabbi Shach called him to the Council of Torah Sages of Degel HaTorah.

He died in 2006 and was buried in Bnei Brak near Rabbi Shach. His son Rabbi David Yitzhak Shapiro succeeded him as head of the yeshiva. In 2010 a yeshiva named for his book was founded in Beit Hilkia.