Refael Shapiro

Rabbi Refael Shapiro (1837–1921) was the famed Rosh Yeshiva of the Volozhin yeshiva located in the town of Volozhin, Russia, (now Valozhyn, Belarus) and the Rabbi of the city.

He was born in 1837, in Smorgon, to Rabbi Aryeh Leib Shapira, the rabbi of Kovna. In 1852, at the age of fifteen, he was chosen by Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin as a groom for his daughter Sarah Rasha.¹ In1870, he was appointed as the deputy head of Volozhin Yeshiva alongside his father-in-law the Netziv, and began delivering lectures at the yeshiva three times a week. In1881, he relinquished his position in favor of his son-in-law Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk, and went to serve as rabbi of the community of Novo-Alexandrovsk in Lithuania.²

In 1886, he moved to serve as rabbi of the community of Bobruisk in White Russia, present-day Belarus. In the year 1899, with the reopening of Volozhin Yeshiva through the efforts of the yeshiva's trustees in Vilna and Minsk and with the agreement of the leaders of Volozhin, R' Raphael was invited to serve as rabbi and head of Volozhin Yeshiva. Like all heads of Volozhin Yeshiva, R' Raphael added a special closing alongside his signature: "One who labors in the service of Torah in Volozhin."

Rabbi Shapiro ordained Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman (who would eventually become one of Israel's chief rabbis) who studied in the Kollel of the Volozhin yeshiva before opening his own yeshiva in the neighboring town of Vishnyeva (Vishnevo, Belarus). Additionally, Rabbi Shapiro gave Semicha (rabbinical ordination) to Rabbi Moshe Shatzkes, known as the , and Rabbi Meir Joshua Rosenberg.

In the year 1915, close to the outbreak of World War I, the yeshiva disbanded and R' Raphael relocated to Minsk, where he passed away on the March 2, 1921.

Torat Raphael - Novellae on Halacha and Explanations of the Words of the Talmud and the Halachic Decisors, 2 parts on the section Orach Chaim, and a 3rd part: a collection of responsa and compilations, Jerusalem 1943.

• Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman, the Chief Rabbi of Israel.
• Rabbi Moshe Shatzkes, the Łomża Rov,
• Rabbi Aryeh Levin, the prisoners' rabbi.
• Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Rif (his grandson).
• Rabbi Meir Chaim Dolinko, rabbi of Motele.
• Rabbi Yehuda Leib Avida (Zlatnik), writer and researcher.
• Prof. Pinkhos Churgin, founder and president of Bar-Ilan University.