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Doing the Impossible: The Inspiring Life Story of One of the Greatest Rabbis of the 20th Century
Rabbi Meir Shapiro in the Yeshiva Library, which he built. Photo: provided.
Rabbi Yehuda Meir Shapiro was born in Shatz, Poland, on March 3, 1887. He was a descendant of renowned Chassidic Rebbes on both sides of his family. Although he initially had difficulty learning to read, he began to excel once he was taught to read words rather than letters. With his incredible memory and depth of understanding, he was soon renowned for his genius.
His mother, Rebbetzin Margulya, devoted herself to helping her son become a Torah scholar. Every single day, she would remind him that a day without learning Torah is a day that is lacking. Rabbi Shapiro described that shortly before they moved to a new city, his mother was concerned that her son would be unable to learn Torah on the day of the move.
Despite the natural stresses involved in moving, his Torah learning remained a priority. She decided to contact the teacher in the new city to ask him to meet them at the city entrance and learn Torah with her son as soon as they arrived. However, upon their arrival, he was nowhere to be found. Rebbetzin Margulya sat down near their wagon and cried. Her son tried to calm her down and said, “Mommy, don’t cry – I’ll learn tomorrow!” His mother responded, “Meir’el, you don’t yet realize what it means to miss a day of studying Torah!”
Those words, coming from the depths of his mother’s heart, would resonate for Rabbi Shapiro throughout his life and may have inspired the Daf Yomi movement he created.
Recognizing His Role
In 1906, when he was 19, Rabbi Shapiro married the daughter of Yaakov Dovid Brightman, a wealthy Jew from Tarnopol, which was a center of Torah learning in Galicia. Upon his arrival in Tarnopol, Rabbi Shapiro became a close follower of Rav Yisroel of Chortkov and remained a Chortkover Chassid all his life.
In fact, the Chortkover Rebbe helped create the mechanech and gadol Rabbi Shapiro would eventually become. Rabbi Shapiro once asked his teacher if he should become a chazzan since he had a beautiful voice. Recognizing Rabbi Shapiro’s greatness, the Chorkover Rebbe told Rabbi Shapiro that his mission was to teach and spread Torah by educating the next generation of the Jewish people.
Rabbi Shapiro’s father-in-law had committed to providing financial support so his son-in-law could study Torah for his entire life. Yet, Rabbi Shapiro decided to study full-time only until he felt ready to become a community rabbi.
At the age of 23, Rabbi Shapiro became the rabbi of a city called Galina. His mother-in-law was devastated and felt his greatness would now be compromised. She brought 20,000 gold coins to him and placed them before him, saying, “This is yours. You don’t need to go.” He responded gently, “If 20,000 gold coins would change my mind, then you are right. I should not go into the Rabbinate.” But it didn’t change his mind, and he would soon make his mark in Poland’s Jewish community, and eventually on the entire world.
A Member of the Polish Parliament
In 1922, elections were held for the Polish Parliament, the Sejm — and 35 Jews were elected, making them over 10% of the Polish Parliament. Out of the 35 elected, six were members of Agudas Yisroel, including Rabbi Meir Shapiro.
He was one of the youngest members of Parliament, yet he took on the role of defender of the Jewish people in the face of open antisemitism.
Rabbi Shapiro was renowned as a gifted speaker, although he was initially limited by his lack of fluency in Polish. Within a short time, he mastered that and was so eloquent that even his enemies would come to listen to him speak.
A member of the Sejm, intending to insult the Jews, commented that a sign in a park in Silesia prohibited Jews and dogs from entering it. Rabbi Shapiro responded with his sharp wit, “Then neither one of us can enter that park.” Rabbi Shapiro’s political career continued until 1928, when he left politics to have more time to focus on the Jewish community.
Daf Yomi
At the age of 36, Rabbi Shapiro introduced his idea for Daf Yomi at the First Knessiah Gedolah of Agudas Yisroel in Vienna on August 16, 1923. There was overwhelming approval for this idea, and the first cycle of Daf Yomi commenced on the first day of Rosh Hashanah in 1923.
The Gerrer Rebbe, who had the largest Chassidus in Poland at that time, helped give Daf Yomi a strong start by publicly studying the first page of Daf Yomi with his Chassidim following the Rosh Hashana davening.
The first Siyum Hashas was celebrated in 1931 in Lublin, with Rabbi Shapiro in attendance.
Poland’s Yeshiva: Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin
A second significant accomplishment of Rabbi Shapiro was the creation of a new model for yeshivas with the founding of Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin in 1930.
He felt that it was crucial to emphasize the importance of Torah study by establishing an institution with a respectable building, regular meals, a dorm, and a high level of study.
Until this point, yeshiva bachurim would often sleep in shuls and receive meals by eating in community members’ houses on a rotation basis. Rabbi Shapiro had shared the idea for this yeshiva at the same Knessiah Gedolah at which he had initiated Daf Yomi. He suggested that Jews set aside a small coin every time they studied the Daf, and in this way, every Jew could have a portion in “their Yeshiva.”
He named the yeshiva “Chachmei Lublin” after the “wise men of Lublin” who had lived in generations past, including Rabbi Shlomo Shachna, the Maharam of Lublin, the Rema, the Maharshal, and the Chozeh of Lublin.
Rabbi Shapiro built a magnificent building on a piece of land generously donated by a wealthy Jew in Lublin, Rabbi Shmuel Eichenbaum. The impressive structure was built with funds raised worldwide and still stands today. It was taken over during the Nazi occupation and then was used by the Medical University of Lublin for many years after the Holocaust. In 2003, it was finally returned to the Jewish community of Lublin.
The opening of the yeshiva in June of 1930 was celebrated with nearly 100,000 Jews arriving from all over to participate. In addition to a dining room and dormitory, the building housed a magnificent library with over 30,000 volumes
Rabbi Shapiro also commissioned Rabbi Chanoch Weintraub to create a breathtaking and detailed replica model of the Bais Hamikdash (Temple in Jerusalem) housed in a special room in the yeshiva.
Applying to the yeshiva was challenging, to say the least. To even be considered for acceptance, one had to know at least 200 pages of Gemara by heart. The yeshiva’s learning was on a very high level, and the students it produced were tremendous talmidei chachamim.
“Never Laugh at a Child’s Dream”
Rabbi Shapiro once was traveling and met a man who introduced himself as Rabbi Yaakov Halberstam. He explained that he was a son-in-law of the Shatzer Rebbe, a rabbi in Rabbi Shapiro’s hometown of Shatz. After greeting him, Rabbi Shapiro asked Rabbi Halberstam if his wife had accompanied him on the trip. Surprised, Rabbi Halberstam answered in the affirmative. Rabbi Shapiro asked to speak to her.
When the rebbetzin came over, Rabbi Shapiro asked if she remembered them playing together as young children, and the rebbetzin said she did. Rabbi Shapiro then said, “You might also remember that I was enamored with the idea of creating a program through which Jews all over the world would learn the same page of Gemara every day … and maybe you also remember how the children would make fun of me and my dream?”
The rebbetzin nodded.
“I want you to know,” Rabbi Shapiro continued, “that the laughter almost dissuaded me from bringing this idea to reality, but I decided to try to do it anyway. Always remember,” he concluded, “Never laugh at a child’s dream.”
Final Days
Rabbi Shapiro died suddenly after a short illness when he was only 46. His death was a severe blow to Polish Jewry, for whom he was both a caring leader and an inspiring visionary.
My late grandmother, who lived in Poland then, told me, “When Rabbi Shapiro passed away, all of Poland went into mourning.”
He was buried in Lublin, and his was the only grave remaining when the Holocaust ended. In 1958, under the guidance of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudas Yisroel, his body was reinterred in Jerusalem in the Har Hamenuchot cemetery.
Although he had no children, his legacy would be his “son,” Daf Yomi, and his “daughter,” Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin.
A Final Story – The Eternal Jewish People
With over three million Yiddish-speaking Jews in Poland before the Holocaust, there were various publications to cater to its populace. The two most well-known newspapers were Heint and Moment, both of which were secular. At the time, frum Jews printed their own newspaper called Der Yid (the Jew).
Rabbi Shapiro once passed a newsstand and asked to purchase a copy of Der Yid. The storekeeper nonchalantly asked him why he would buy Der Yid, instead of the more sophisticated Heint or Moment, pointing out that Der Yid was on the bottom of the pile.
Rabbi Shapiro responded with a smile. “Heint means today, and Moment means a minute. Both will soon disappear. I am choosing Der Yid, because even if he is downtrodden, a Yid is a Jew, and a Jew is eternal.”
Rabbi Menachem Levine is the CEO of JDBY-YTT, the largest Jewish school in the Midwest. He served as Rabbi of Congregation Am Echad in San Jose, CA, from 2007 to 2020. He is a popular speaker and writes for numerous publications on Torah, Jewish History, and Contemporary Jewish Topics. Rabbi Levine’s personal website is https://thinktorah.org A version of this article was originally published in Hamodia’s Inyan Magazine.
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France 24, Mother Jones Receive UN Award for Work Built on Word of Discredited Ex-Contractor Who Lied About Israel
Anthony Aguilar, a former contractor for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) who previously served as a US Army Green Beret. Photo: Screenshot
The UN press corps on Friday gave an award to news outlets France 24 and Mother Jones for their reporting based on the testimony of Anthony Aguilar, a US Army veteran and former contractor for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) who has made discredited claims against Israel.
France 24 and Mother Jones were awarded the Bronze medal in the Ricardo Ortega Memorial Prize category at the UN Correspondents Gala Awards, an event hosted by the UN Correspondents Association at the global body’s headquarters in New York City. The award is for broadcast coverage of the UN, its agencies, and field operations.
According to France 24, its journalists were the first to interview Aguilar on camera on the morning of July 23, 2025. Aguilar claimed he witnessed human rights abuses perpetrated by the Israeli military and others at sites run by the GHF, which until the Gaza ceasefire went into place was an Israel- and US-backed program that delivered aid directly to Palestinians, with the goal of blocking Hamas from diverting supplies for terrorist activities and selling the remainder at inflated prices.
France 24 and Mother Jones both published a story based on Aguilar’s testimony.
However, it was revealed last year that Aguilar’s most explosive claim, about the death of a Gazan boy, was false and that he was fired by the GHF for his conduct and pushing misinformation.
Aguilar claimed he witnessed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shoot a child — Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hamdene, known as Abboud — as the GHF was distributing humanitarian aid on May 28.
After Aguilar made his claim, he rapidly rose to prominence, presenting himself as a whistleblower exposing supposed Israeli war crimes. His story gained traction internationally, going viral on social media. He subsequently embarked on an extensive media tour, in which he accused Israel of indiscriminately killing Palestinian civilians as part of an attempt to “annihilate” and “disappear” the civilian population in Gaza.
However, Aguilar, who erroneously labeled the boy in question as “Amir,” gave inconsistent accounts of the alleged incident in separate interviews to different media outlets, calling into question the veracity of his narrative.
The GHF launched its own investigation at the end of July, ultimately locating Abboud alive with his mother at an aid distribution site on Aug. 23. The organization confirmed his identity using facial recognition software and biometric testing.
Abboud was escorted in disguise to an undisclosed safe location by the GHF team for his safety, according to The Daily Wire, which noted that the spreading of Aguilar’s false tale put the boy’s life in danger, as his alleged death was a powerful piece of propaganda for Hamas.
Fox News Digital reported that Abboud and his mother were safely extracted from the Gaza Strip in September.
In footage obtained by both news outlets, the boy can be seen playfully interacting with a GHF representative and appearing excited ahead of their planned extraction.
During the summer, as Aguilar’s claims were receiving widespread media attention, the GHF released a chain of text messages showing that Aguilar was terminated for his conduct. It also held a press conference to present evidence showing that Aguilar “falsified documents” and “presented misleading videos to push his false narrative.”
There was no apparent mention of the revelations about Aguilar’s narrative when the award was given out on Friday.
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University of Sydney Fires Staff Member Over Antisemitic Abuse of Students
Illustrative: An anti-Israel protest at the University of Sydney in Australia, April 26, 2024. Photo: Dean Lewins via Reuters Connect
The University of Sydney in Australia has dismissed an employee who was filmed shrieking at Jewish students over their support for Israel, a tirade in which she described them as “depraved” and inhuman.
“They’re shredding children!” staff member Rose Nakad screamed at the students in October, repeating pro-Hamas propaganda Hamas falsely accusing Israel of targeting Palestinian children in Gaza. “You are a f—king filthy Zionist. Nothing to do with being a Jew, you disgusting, depraved person.”
On Monday — just one day removed from the Bondi Beach massacre in which gunmen opened fire on Jews celebrating the start of Hanukkah in Sydney, hospitalizing dozens of people in addition to the 15 individuals who were murdered — the university denounced Nakad’s conduct as “distressing and utterly unacceptable.” It had previously suspended Nakad, signaling its appreciation of the gravity of her misconduct amid a global surge in antisemitism.
“The behavior that took place on our campus in October this year was deeply distressing and utterly unacceptable. We immediately suspended the staff member pending a formal process and have now terminated their employment on the grounds of serious misconduct,” the university said in a statement.
“This decision followed careful consideration in line with our clear expectations of behavior and our obligation to make sure our campuses are safe and welcoming for all,” the university continued. “Hate speech, antisemitism, and harassment have no place at our university and when our codes of conduct are breached, we do not hesitate to take disciplinary action.”
It added, “We continue to work on making our campus safe for all and if our codes are breached, we do not hesitate to take disciplinary action.”
In footage obtained by Sky News, Nakad approached several students celebrating the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. She asked if they were “Zionists” and continued to harass them as they asked her to leave.
“A Zionist is the lowest form of rubbish,” Nakad said to the students, according to the video. “Zionists are the most disgusting thing that has ever walked this earth.” The staff member described herself as an “indigenous Palestinian,”
Australia had seen its share of antisemitic outrages before the Bondi Beach shooting, as previously reported by The Algemeiner.
In December 2024, for example, the home of Lesli Berger, former president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, was vandalized, having been graffitied with a swastika. Next to the infamous Nazi symbol the vandal spray-painted the words “Jordan Gayter,” believed to be a misspelling of the German phrase for “Juden Gatter,” or “Jewish Gate.”
In November 2023, mere weeks after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, a Jewish man was assaulted by an anti-Israel mob because he took down an advertisement of a pro-Palestinian rally. Someone then thumped him on the back of his head, knocking him to the ground. Then three men joined in and proceeded to punch and kick him while calling him a “pro-Jew dog” among other names.
The onslaught concussed the man and, causing other injuries, fractured his spine. He reportedly spent four days in the hospital and later told a local media outlet that he is “very lucky” to be alive.
In one notorious episode in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack, hundreds of pro-Hamas protesters gathered outside the Sydney Opera House chanting “gas the Jews,” “f—k the Jews,” and other epithets.
The explosion of post-Oct. 7 hate also included vandalism and threats of gun violence. For example, a male assailant repeatedly punched a Jewish man while screaming “dirty rotten Jew c—t”; a group of young men jumped a Jewish boy, whom they called a “dirty Jew”; and pro-Hamas protesters “spat on, threatened, and kicked” an elderly Jewish woman during a demonstration held to raise awareness of antisemitism.
Anti-Israel sentiment has also led to vandalism. In June 2024, the US consulate in Sydney was vandalized and defaced by a man carrying a sledgehammer who smashed the windows and graffitied inverted red triangles on the building. The inverted red triangle has become a common symbol at pro-Hamas rallies. The Palestinian terrorist group, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, has used inverted red triangles in its propaganda videos to indicate Israeli targets about to be attacked. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “the red triangle is now used to represent Hamas itself and glorify its use of violence.”
Now, in the closing weeks of 2025, antisemitism in Australia has led to the deadliest terrorist attack in the country’s history.
Australian officials said they identified the mass shooters at Bondi Beach as Sajid Akram, 50, who was killed at the scene, and his son Naveed Akram, 24, who was in critical condition in a hospital. The younger suspect reportedly came to the attention of Australia’s domestic intelligence agency in 2019 for his ties to a Sydney-based cell of the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Tributes Pour in for Jewish Director Rob Reiner, Wife After Couple Found Dead, Son Arrested on Murder Charges
(From left) Rob Reiner, Michele Singer, Romy Reiner, Nick Reiner, Maria Gilfillan and Jake Reiner attend the Los Angeles Premiere of ”Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” at The Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, California, US, Sept. 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Aude Guerrucci
Dozens of people in Hollywood have expressed profound sadness following the news that visionary Jewish filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead in their Los Angeles home on Sunday night and that their middle son is being charged with murder.
Reiner, 78, was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1947. In the 1970s he co-starred in the sitcom “All in the Family” before becoming the famous director behind movies such as “This Is Spinal Tap,” “Stand by Me,” “The Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally…” and “A Few Good Men.” Earlier this year, Reiner released the sequel, “Spinal Tap: The End Continues.” He also directed the 2015 film called “Being Charlie,” inspired by his son Nick’s longtime battle with heroin addiction and the impact that his substance abuse had on the family.
On Sunday, Reiner and his wife, 68, were found dead by what police described as an apparent homicide at their home in Brentwood, California. Their middle son, Nick, is being held at Los Angeles’ Twin Towers Jail, having been arrested on murder charges in connection with their deaths. The 32-year-old reportedly has his bail set at $4 million. “As a result of the initial investigation, it was determined that the Reiners were the victims of homicide. The investigation further revealed that Nick Reiner, the 32-year-old son of Robert and Michele Reiner, was responsible for their deaths,” the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said in a statement on Monday.
“I saw them night before last looking healthy and happy,” Jane Fonda wrote in an Instagram post. “I am reeling with grief. Stunned.” She shared a photo of the late couple on Instagram and wrote that they were “wonderful, caring, smart, funny, generous people, always coming up with ideas for how to make the world better, kinder.”
Fonda also said the couple had recently been helping her to relaunch the Committee for the First Amendment, a group that champions freedom of expression from government censorship.
“My heart is broken,” Zooey Deschanel said in a tribute to Reiner, who played her father on the show “New Girl.” She called Reiner “the absolute warmest, funniest, most generous of spirits. A truly good human being. An incredible artist and such a playful and fun collaborator.”
“I cherish the time we spent working together and the many films he made that have shaped who I am,” she added. “Rob and his lovely wife Michele were always so kind and it brought me so much joy any time I was lucky enough to see them. I’m absolutely devastated. Sending so much love to their family and friends.”
The estate of Norman Lear, the legendary producer who created “All in the Family,” released a statement remembering the close relationship between the two men. “Norman often referred to Rob as a son,” the statement said. “The world is unmistakably darker tonight.”
Jerry Seinfeld said Reiner had one of the biggest influences on his career aside from Larry David, who co-created “Seinfeld,” and the late George Shapiro, who was Seinfeld’s manager and a producer on the renowned sitcom. Reiner also helped save “Seinfeld” from almost being canceled, Seinfeld said. He shared a photo of himself alongside Reiner and his father, the late actor Carl Reiner.
“Our show would have never happened without him. He saw something no one else could,” Seinfeld explained in an Instagram post. “When nobody at the network liked the early episodes, he saved us from cancellation. That I was working with Carl Reiner’s son, who happened to be one of the kindest people in show business, seemed unreal.”
“I was naive at the time to how much his passion for us meant,” Seinfeld added. “Rob and Michele married right as our show was starting and they became an imprint for me of how it’s supposed to work, each one broadening the other. Their death, together, is impossibly sad.”
Kathy Bates, who won an Oscar for her leading role in Reiner’s 1990 horror “Misery,” said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly that Reiner was a “brilliant and kind, a man who made films of every genre to challenge himself as an artist.”
“I’m horrified hearing this terrible news. Absolutely devastated. I loved Rob,” she added. “He changed the course of my life … My heart breaks for them both. My thoughts are with their family.” She also said the late director was someone who “fought courageously for his political beliefs” and praised his wife as a “gifted photographer.”
Novelist Stephen King, who wrote the books that inspired Reiner’s films “Stand by Me” and “Misery,” praised the late director in a post on X as a “wonderful friend, political ally, and brilliant filmmaker.”
“You always stood by me,” King added.
Paul Feig, the director of “Bridesmaids,” posted a photo of himself and Reiner at Comic-Con and wrote that the latter “was my true hero.”
“One never knows if it’s proper to post during something as tragic as this,” Feig said. “But I just want the world to know what so many of us know in the industry. Robert was the best.”
Reiner and his wife are survived by two sons Jake and Nick, and their youngest daughter Romy, who reportedly called 911 on Sunday after discovering the bodies of her parents.
Rob and Nick allegedly got into a “very loud argument” on Saturday night while attending a Christmas party hosted by former talk show host Conan O’Brien, People magazine reported, citing multiple sources. Rob and his wife were found dead at their home the next day.