Kalonymus Kalman Shapira

Kalonymus Kalman Shapira was born in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Poland. His father was Elimelech Szapira of the Grodzhisk hasidic dynasty. Named after his maternal great-grandfather, known as the Maor VaShemesh, he came from a family which included Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk, the Chozeh of Lublin and the Yisroel Hopstein. He was born on the day after Lag BaOmer, 19 Iyar 5649 (May 1889)

His father died when he was three. In 1905 he married Rachel Chaya Miriam, daughter of his nephew Grand Rabbi Yerachmiel Moshe of the Kozhnitz dynasty. They had two children: a son, Elimelech Ben Zion, and a daughter, Rechil Yehudis, both of whom were also murdered in the Holocaust.

In 1909 he was appointed rabbi of Piaseczno, near Warsaw, and subsequently attracted many hasidim. He established the yeshiva Da'as Moshe in 1923, which became one of the largest Hasidic yeshivot in Warsaw between the wars.[2]^: 1–2

Rabbi Shapira's only son, his daughter-in-law, and his sister-in-law were killed during the Nazi aerial bombing of Warsaw in September 1939. After the invasion of Poland, Rabbi Shapira was interned with a few of his Hasidim in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he ran a secret synagogue. He invested enormous efforts in maintaining Jewish life in the ghetto, including arranging for mikveh immersions and kosher marriages. Rabbi Shapira was able to survive in the ghetto until its liquidation, avoiding the tragic deportations to Treblinka in the summer of 1942, because of the support of the Judenrat. Like other notables, he was given work at Schultz's shoe factory—a path to ongoing survival.[2]^: 148–9

Rabbi Shapira is especially well known because of a book he wrote while in the ghetto. The book, which is a compilation of weekly sermons to his students, contends with complex questions of faith in the face of the mounting suffering of the Jews in the ghetto. When it became apparent to Rabbi Shapira that the end of the ghetto and all its inhabitants were near, he transferred this book and other manuscripts to the Ringelblum "Oneg Shabbat" Archive. They were buried with other documents in a large milk canister which was found by a construction worker after the end of the war. The book, originally simply entitled "Torah Innovations from the years 5700-5702," was published in Israel in 1960 under the title *Esh Kodesh* ("Sacred Fire").[2]^: 1–14 Daniel Reiser republished it in a two volume critical edition, "Sermons from the Years of Rage", in 2017.[3]

After the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was crushed in 1943, Rabbi Shapira was taken to the Trawniki work camp near Lublin. Although offered the opportunity to escape from the concentration camp, he apparently refused. Following the Jewish uprising in the Treblinka death camp (August 2, 1943) and in Sobibor extermination camp (October 14, 1943), there was increasing concern among the Nazi authorities that there would be further outbreaks of violence at other concentration camps. For this reason, Aktion Erntefest (Operation Harvest Festival) was launched. During this operation, carried out on November 3, 1943, all the remaining Jews in Trawniki, including Rabbi Shapira, were shot to death.[2]^: 155[4]

• Chovas HaTalmidim (The Students' Obligation) - a collection of essays aimed at teenagers which has become a standard textbook in yeshivos. It was first published in Warsaw in 1932.
• Hachshoras HaAvreichim (Preparation of Young Men) - a work written for young married men as a sequel to Chovas HaTalmidim. It was published from a manuscript buried in the ghetto. (Jewish Spiritual Growth - a translation of Hachshoras HaAvreichim by Yaacov David Shulman)
• Mevo haSheorim - Both the continuation of Hachshoras HaAvreichim and intended to be the introduction to Chovas HaAvreichim, which was to have been the final book in the series on education and spiritual guidance. Only Mevo HaSheorim survived from this manuscript, buried in the ghetto. According to Daniel Reiser, the manuscript of Chovas HaAvreichim wasn't lost, rather Rabbi Shapira didn't have a chance to compose it before the Second World War, other than the brief section published in Derech HaMelech.
• Tzav V'Ziruz - Rabbi Shapira's personal diary, translated into English as To Heal the Soul: The Spiritual Journey of a Chasidic Rebbe. It was also published from a manuscript buried in the ghetto.
• Bnei Machshava Tova (Experiencing the Divine: A Guide to Jewish Spiritual practice and Community) was originally distributed by Rabbi Shapira to his closest Hasidim in the early 1920s as a secret handbook for the establishment of secret mystical fraternities. The book is a guide to attaining spirituality via a variety of spiritual and mystical techniques including guided imagery meditation in a group setting. Translated by Yaacov David Shulman.
• Derech HaMelech (The Way of the King --- also, idiomatically, "the high road" in modern Hebrew) - Torah discourses that were spoken on Shabbos and Yom Tov during the 1920s and 1930s. The text is based upon copies of the sermons made by Rabbi Shapira's followers. It also includes letters, documents and other writings such as the only surviving chapters from his projected work Chovas HaAvreichim and his commentary on the Zohar. It also includes a description of his original "hashkata" (mind-quieting) meditation technique.
• Aish Kodesh (Holy Fire) - his inspirational speeches given during the Holocaust period.[5] (A Critical and Annotated Edition of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira's Sermons during the Holocaust 2 Vol. 630 pp.)

Nehemia Polen: Divine Weeping. Rabbi Kalonymos Shapiro's Theology of Catastrophe in the Warsaw Ghetto, in : Modern Judaism 7 (1987) 253-269;

Nehamia Polen: The Holy Fire: The Teachings of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson Press, 1999.

Isaac Hershkowitz: Rabbi Kalonymus Kalmish Shapiro, the Piasechner Rebbe: His Holocaust and pre-Holocaust Thought, Continuity or Discontinuity?, M.A. Thesis, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel (2004).

Rabbi Shapira appears as a major character in Joseph Skibell's 2010 novel A Curable Romantic.

Moshe Weinberger; "Warmed by the Fire of the Aish Kodesh : Torah from the Hilulas of Reb Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Piaseczna", Adapted by Benjamin Wolf. Jerusalem, Feldheim Publishers, 2015.

• Video lecture on Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira by Dr. Henry Abramson
• Lectures on Chovat HaTalmidim by Rav Ari Shames at Midreshet HaRova in mp3
• Article about Grand Rabbi Shapira
• English Translation of introductory chapter of Chovat Hatalmidim - Message to Teachers and Parents
• Selections from Sefer Aish Kodesh in Hebrew - PDF file
• 'Sefer Chovas HaTalmidim in Hebrew - PDF file and Sefer Chovas HaTalmidim, edition 1975 in Yiddish - PDF file
• Aish Kodesh Shiurim - Weekly parsha classes from the Aish Kodesh taught by Rabbi Henoch Dov Hoffman [mp3 Audio files]
• Avichai Zur, "“The Lord Hides in Inner Chambers”:The Doctrine of Suffering in the Theosophy of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Piaseczno", Dapim - Studies on the Shoa, 2011 ( Vol. 25), pp. 183–237. Hebrew version.
• Zvi Leshem: "Between Messianism and Prophecy: Hasidism according to the Piaseczner Rebbe" Hebrew PhD dissertation:
• Zvi Leshem, "I Beg and Plead with Every Jew to Study my Books"
• Zvi Leshem, "Guided Imagery Techniques in the Piaseczner Rebbe and R. Menachem Ekstein"] (Hebrew)
• Zvi Leshem, "Emotional Hasidic Education as a response to Secularization in the Writings of R. K. K. Shapira of Piaseczna" (Hebrew)
• Zvi Leshem, "The Light in the Walls of the Vessels: Service through Corporality in the Thought of R. K. K. Shapira of Piaseczna" (Hebrew)
• Zvi Leshem, "Visualizing God to Achieve Intention and Cleaving during Prayer as part of the Hasidic Vision of R. K. K. Shapira of Piaseczna" (Hebrew)
• Zvi Leshem, "Pouring Out Your Heart: Rabbi Nachman's Hitbodedut And Its Piaseczner Reverberations"
• Chen Malul, "The Mystical Notebook that Teaches how to Restore Prophecy" (Hebrew)
• Daniel Reiser, "To Rend the Entire Veil": Prophecy in the Teachings of Rabbi Kalonymous Kalman Shapira of Piazecna and its Renewal in the Twentieth Century, Modern Judaism 34, 3 (2014), pp. 334–352.
• Daniel Reiser, Vision as a Mirror: Imagery Techniques in Twentieth Century Jewish Mysticism (In Hebrew), Los Angeles: Cherub-Press 2014, pp. 105–224.
• Daniel Reiser, "Historicism and/or Phenomenology in The Study Of Jewish Mysticism: Imagery Techniques in the Teachings of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira as a Case Study," Modern Judaism 36, 1 (2016), pp. 1–16
• Daniel Reiser, " Esh Kodesh: A New Evaluation in Light of a Philological Examination of the Manuscript, Yad Vashem Studies 44, 1 (2016), pp. 65–97
• Niggun (song) by 'Derech Achim' in memory of the Piaseczno Rebba