Rabbi Yehuda Leib Schapiro
A distinguished Chabad scholar, teacher, and longtime Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva Gedolah of Miami, Florida.
His life has been deeply intertwined with the Torah and teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, whose farbrengens and sichos he had the unique privilege of experiencing firsthand throughout his formative years.
Born in France to a family that had fled Soviet Russia, Rabbi Schapiro immigrated to the United States as a young child. His family eventually settled in Cleveland, Ohio, where his father, Rabbi Lipa Schapiro, taught Chassidus and built a Chassidic environment in the community. His maternal grandfather was the renowned Chassid Reb Zalman Vilenkin, who had been the Rebbe’s childhood melamed.
As a teenager, Rabbi Schapiro came to study in Tomchei Temimim in New York, and by 5723 (1963) his class had moved permanently to 770. He would remain there through his yeshiva years, spending nearly a decade in extraordinarily close proximity to the Rebbe and participating in the farbrengens that became the center of his life.
Rabbi Schapiro became one of the chozrim, the select group of scholars entrusted with reviewing and reconstructing the Rebbe’s sichos and maamarim after they were delivered. Even as a young bochur, he trained himself to listen carefully, remember the Rebbe’s words, participate in chazara, and prepare written hanachos. Some of his early notes were later used in reconstructing maamarim for Toras Menachem. In 5726 (1966), Rabbi Schapiro and several fellow bochurim were formally asked to take a greater role in chazara, and their work eventually developed into a more organized system of preparing the Rebbe’s teachings for publication.
He was also closely involved in the preparation of Likutei Sichos, helping preserve and transmit the Rebbe’s Torah for generations to come.
Over the decades, Rabbi Schapiro has become known as an exceptional marbitz Torah, transmitting both the depth of Torah scholarship and the living world of 770 to generations of students. His classes span Gemara, Halacha, Chassidus, the Rebbe’s sichos, and a broad range of Torah subjects, combining rigorous learning with clarity and a firsthand perspective that is increasingly rare.
Rabbi Schapiro’s Shiurim was created to preserve and make accessible this extraordinary treasury of Torah—bringing decades of classes, farbrengens, recollections, and teachings together in one place for students around the world.
Thousands of shiurim, one collection
Over the course of decades, Rabbi Schapiro has delivered thousands of shiurim in Gemara, Halacha, Chassidus, and the teachings of the Rebbe. Many of the recordings in this collection come from his years teaching in the Yeshivah, his shiurim at Bais Menachem, the Dial-a-Daf program, as well as classes, lectures, farbrengens, and other recordings from over the years.
These recordings were preserved in many different formats and collections. Rabbi Schapiro’s Shiurim brings them together in one place, with the goal of preserving this extraordinary treasury of Torah and making it easily accessible to students and listeners around the world.
We are grateful to Chabad.org, Avner Schylander, and Rabbi Shmuly Schapiro for their efforts in helping digitize, preserve, organize, and maintain Rabbi Schapiro’s extensive collection of recordings.
The archive continues to grow every week, with new shiurim Rabbi Schapiro gives at Bais Menachem, over Zoom, and through other mediums, together with older recordings that continue to be located, digitized, and added to the collection.
A Life in the Sichos
Derher magazine's feature on Rabbi Schapiro’s memoirs and his role in preparing the Rebbe’s sichos and hanachos for publication.
Read the article (PDF) →