Avraham Elkanah Kahana Shapira was a prominent rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

 in the Religious Zionist world. Shapira had been the head of the Rabbinical court

Beth din

A beth din, bet din, beit din or beis din is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel...

 of Jerusalem, and both a member and the head of the Supreme Rabbinic Court. He served as the Ashkenazi

Ashkenazi Jews

Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...

 Chief Rabbi of Israel

Chief Rabbinate of Israel

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is recognized by law as the supreme halakhic and spiritual authority for the Jewish people in Israel. The Chief Rabbinate Council assists the two chief rabbis, who alternate in its presidency. It has legal and administrative authority to organize religious...

 from 1983 to 1993. Shapira was the rosh yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...

 of Mercaz haRav

Mercaz haRav

Mercaz HaRav , more properly, Mercaz HaRav Kook ), is a national-religious yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1924 by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. It has become synonymous with his teachings....

 in Jerusalem, a position he held since Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook

Zvi Yehuda Kook

Zvi Yehuda Kook was a rabbi, leader of Religious Zionism and Rosh Yeshiva of the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva...

 died in 1982. His son, Rabbi Yaakov Shapira, became the successive rosh yeshiva.

Avraham Shapira was born to a Jerusalemite family; his father was Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Shapira. As a child, he studied at Etz Chaim Yeshiva

Etz Chaim Yeshiva

Etz Chaim Yeshiva is an orthodox yeshiva located on Jaffa Road close to the Mahane Yehuda Market in downtown Jerusalem.-History:Etz Chaim Yeshiva was originally a Talmud Torah which was established in 1841 by the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Shmuel Salant. For the first two years classes were held in...

 in Jerusalem, later moving to the Hebron Yeshiva, where he studied under Rabbis Moshe Mordechai Epstein

Moshe Mordechai Epstein

Moshe Mordechai Epstein was Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Knesseth Yisrael in Slabodka, Lithuania and is recognized as having been one of the leading Talmudists of the twentieth century.-Childhood:...

 and Yechezkel Sarna

Yechezkel Sarna

Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna was the successor to Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the Alter of Slabodka, as the spiritual mentor of that Yeshiva. He moved it from Europe to Hebron in 1925 and following the Hebron Massacre of 1929 to Jerusalem. In 1934 he assumed the position of Rosh Yeshiva...

. After his marriage, he was invited to join the Mercaz haRav yeshiva, where he has remained ever since.

Even in his youth, Shapira succeeded in establishing connections with great rabbis such as the Chazon Ish, Rabbi Zvi Pesach Frank, Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik

Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik

Yitzchok Zev Halevi Soloveitchik , also known as Velvel Soloveitchik or as the Brisker Rov Yitzchok Zev Halevi Soloveitchik (Hebrew: יצחק זאב הלוי סולובייצ'יק), also known as Velvel Soloveitchik ("Zev" means "wolf" in Hebrew, and "Velvel" is the diminutive of "wolf" in Yiddish) or as the Brisker...

 and Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer

Isser Zalman Meltzer

Isser Zalman Meltzer, , was a famous Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi, rosh yeshiva and posek. He is also known as the "Even HaEzel" - the title of his commentary on Rambam's Mishne Torah....

, with whom he corresponded for many years, later publishing the correspondences in a book, Even haEzel.

In 1956, he was appointed as a member of the Jerusalem Beth din by the chief rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog

Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog

Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog , also known as Isaac Herzog, was the first Chief Rabbi of Ireland, his term lasting from 1921 to 1936...

. In 1971 he was appointed as Av Beit Din

Av Beit Din

Av Beit Din, Av Beis Din, or Abh Beyth Diyn . was the second-highest ranking member of the Sanhedrin during the Second Commonwealth period. He presided over the Sanhedrin in the absence of the Nasi, and was the chief of the Sanhedrin when it sat as a criminal court...

, and in 1983 he became chief rabbi of Israel.

During the days of the Oslo Accords

Oslo Accords

The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles , was an attempt to resolve the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict...

, Shapira was one of the founders of an organization that declared that handing over parts of the land of Israel

Land of Israel

The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...

 to gentiles, even with a peace agreement, contradicted halacha and was therefore forbidden. In a controversial declaration, Shapira, along with Rabbis Moshe Zvi Neria and Shaul Yisraeli

Shaul Yisraeli

Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli was one of the distinuguished rabbis of religious Zionism. He served as a rabbi, as a dayan in the Supreme religious court of Israel, as a member of The Chief Rabbinate Council, as Rosh Yeshiva of Mercaz HaRav, and as President of the Eretz Hemdah Institute...

, called for soldiers to not obey orders to hand over territory. Later in the months leading up to the implementation of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan , also known as the "Disengagement plan", "Gaza expulsion plan", and "Hitnatkut", was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005, to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from...

, once again Shapira called for soldiers to refuse orders to take part in the execution of the plan that evicted Jews from their homes and gave away parts of Israel.

Shapira died on the first day of Succot of 2007. On the preceding Rosh Hashana fifteen days earlier, he had been brought to prayers in a wheelchair and within days was hospitalized and did not recover.

Tens of thousands of people took part in his funeral procession on September 28, on the eve of Shabbat

Shabbat

Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...

, which started from the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva and wound its way through the streets of Jerusalem past the original location of the yeshiva in the Geula neighbourhood until the Mount of Olives

Mount of Olives

The Mount of Olives is a mountain ridge in East Jerusalem with three peaks running from north to south. The highest, at-Tur, rises to 818 meters . It is named for the olive groves that once covered its slopes...

cemetery where Shapira was buried.

Books

• Shiurey Maran HaGra Shapira, a summary of his talmudic lectures, edited by rabbi Binyamin Rakover. Six volumes. This set won the "Jerusalem Price".

• Minchat Avraham- collection of his halachic essays, edited by his son, three volumes.

• Morasha- one volume is essays on various actual subjects, and one is on Jewish festivals.