As a Rav and posek in several Lithuanian cities: Horodok, Ivnitz, Eyshishok (Eišišķes), Hordona (Grodno). Known as a child prodigy he was born in Lubcha (Belarus) 5586 to his father Chaim Shapira, who served as the Rav of Lubcha. He studied under his relative Rav Aryeh Leib Shapira of Kovno and under Rav Reuven HaLevi under who he earned semichah. He married the daughter of Rav Leib Zalmans of Grodno (Hordona). When the heads of the kehillah saw that their beloved Rav had grown too old to serve as Rav alone, the Rosh kehillah approached him, asking who to appoint as assistant Rav? Rav Leib Zalmans asked them to appoint his young and relatively unknown son in law, who was then serving as Rav in Eyshishok. Trusting his judgment they agreed. And so it was that he took over the position as assistant Rav in his father in law's life-time and later succeeded him.
He was known as worldly and highly respected, for example he knew the local language and was involved in world and communal affairs.
He later moved to Yerushalayim. He was laid to rest on Har HaZaisim near the Maharil Diskin.
He was a staunch anti-zionist who opposed a secular state: How can I bear that something be called 'the State of Israel' without the Torah and the commandments (heaven forbid)?"
"Let him be abstinent in the land and beware of any transgression, for if he sins there, he will be punished most severely. For Hashem watches over the land and supervises its inhabitants [see Devarim. 11:12]. He who rebels against the kingdom from within the king's palace is not the same as he who rebels outside it. This is the meaning of 'a land that consumes its inhabitants' [Bamidbar 13:32]. As for those who go there and think they can get away with levity and reckless behavior, I would invoke the verses, 'But you came and defiled My land' [Yermiah. 2:7] and 'Who asked of you to trample My courts?' [Yishayah 1:12]."
