If I asked people to tell me who they think has had the greatest impact on modern-day Orthodox Jewish life and culture, I bet I could guess the answers. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks would probably be the two most popular answers. Both of these great rabbis played a tremendous role in showing people the beauty of Judaism and leading them to embrace an observant life. Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz, the founder of ArtScroll, might also be a popular answer.— he revolutionized the average person’s access to so many important seforim.These are great people who have had a tremendous impact that continues to reverberate even today. But if I had to choose the person who has made the biggest impact, I would choose someone else. I would say that it was Rabbi Meir Shapiro.
In 1923, at the Great Congress of European Rabbis, Rabbi Shapiro presented his vision for the Jewish future. His vision included two major ideas. One was his vision of a yeshiva and the other was his vision of daily learning.
His vision of a yeshiva was to create an institution that would not only excel in its scholarship, but would also support the talmidim while they were there. The model at the time was that those who went to learn in a yeshiva would have to find their own food and board. Oftentimes the boys in yeshiva would have to find odd places to sleep, typically without a bed, and meals would be where they could find them.
His vision was that the yeshiva would include those basic necessities. The idea came from watching his friends struggle to find places to sleep while he stayed at a relative’s house which ultimately resulted in cutting their time in yeshiva. Ultimately, he was able to establish Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin. Now we take it for granted that a yeshiva will have these essential requirements, but it is largely thanks to the vision and innovation of Rabbi Shapiro that we do.
His other idea of daily learning was what he called Daf Yomi. The idea was to have Jews throughout the world learning the same page of Gemara on the same day. At first his idea was met with a lot of resistance. People were hesitant to embrace the idea. However, he did not give up. He inaugurated Daf Yomi on Rosh Hashanah of 1923, and the first Siyum HaShas was celebrated in February 1931.
This too has shaped the way we learn. Not only because Daf Yomi is a thriving program that is alive in every community all over the world, but also because we have applied the idea of Yomi to so many other seforim. There are people learning Mishna Yomi, Kitzur Shulchan Aruch Yomi, Mishnah Berurah Yomi, Mishneh Torah Yomi. There is a large wealth of Torah being learned every day in systemized and organized ways, all thanks to the vision that Rabbi Shapiro had.
And where did Rabbi Shapiro’s motivation come from? What made him so passionate about Torah and Torah education? In the words of Rabbi Shapiro himself (cited in “Eim B’Yisrael, Sefer Zikaron LeSarah Schenirer”), it was an experience he had when he was 7 years old. Right before Pesach, his mother had hired a melamed, a tutor, who was going to teach Torah to young Meir Shapiro. However, after Pesach the melamed did not show up. He came home one day to find his mother acting very concerned and nervous. She explained how she had hired the man, but he had not yet shown up. Her concern, she expressed to him, was that every day he did not learn with the melamed was a lost opportunity that he would never get back.
It was later that day that the melamed arrived and they learned together for the next six years. But the tears that his mother had shed on that day made a lasting impression on him. Rabbi Shapiro said that he often quoted his mother when he was soliciting donations for Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin or when he was promoting Daf Yomi: A day that passes without learning Torah will never return.
Rabbi Meir Shapiro absolutely revolutionized the way our yeshivas operate and the way we learn Torah on a daily basis. His influence has lasted over 100 years, directly impacting modern-day Orthodox Jewish life and culture. His story teaches us about vision and persistence. It teaches us about drive and passion. Also, it teaches us about the impact a parent’s actions can have on their children.
Rabbi Noah Whittenburg is the Assistant Rabbi of Congregation Ahavas Achim in Highland Park. Previously he served as the assistant rabbi at Beth Jacob Congregation in San Diego, CA and as a rebbe at the Southern California Yeshiva High School. He was a Kollel Fellow in the Torah Mitzion Kollel at Yeshiva University, a Middle School Rebbe at the Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva in Edison, and a rabbinic intern at Congregation Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park in West Hempstead and the Roslyn Synagogue in Roslyn.
