Yeshiva University High School For Boys - Elchanite Yearbook (New York, NY)

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lim ll by, glnmzph, 'yaahm In nineteen hundred and twenty three a fledgling T. A. was located on the East Side. In that year a smiling man of average height began teaching Latin in T. A. Dr. Benjamin D. Shapiro is still teaching T. A. students. Although he now confines his pedagogual efforts to the social sciences. Doc at one time taught not only Latin but also German in T. A. In the course of twenty two years he has put thousands of T. A. stu- dents through their social sciences' A B C. His students include many prominent Rabbis, members of the Institution's staffs, and a noted radio news commentator. It was Dr. Shapiro who also began, nurtur- ed and developed the Talmudical Academy Library. Indeed, if ever a histoiry of T. A. were written, Dr. Shapiro would occurtv a prominent place. Yet, few facts are known about the man Whom the students familiarly call Doc.,' It would be illuminating to discard conjecture temporarily and examine Dr. Shapiro's life and Works in an objective manner. Benjamin Shapiro traces his antecedents to Vilna Jewry. Born in a small inn on the outskirts of Vilna on April 2, 1895, Benjamin Shapiro spent his formative years in an atmosphere of economic stress. His father, a merchant, found the going tough. Mainly for this reason, the Shapirois emigrated to the United States in 1907, and settled in Utica, New York. Young Benjamin found the transition a difficult one. However, by 1915 he had so well succeeded in Americanizing himself, that he was at the head of the graduating class at the Utica Free Acad- emy. Meanwhile he found time to take in a little Judaica during a several months stay at Rabbi Jacob Joseph School. In 1919 Dr. Shap- iro graduated from Syracuse University. Here he had majored in His- tory walking off with top honors including a Phi Beta Kappa member- ship. For the next few years Dr. Shapiro divided his time between teaching fellowships and more intensive studies of history. Having received an M. A. at Syracuse and a one-year teaching fellowship at the University of Michigan, Dr. Shapiro decided to embark upon his Ph.D. thesis. He chose as his subject Congress of Paris-1856? This was the peace conference that ended the Crimean VVar. Flaunting convention, Shapiro decided to base his thesis upon a perusal of the original archives. He arrived in London, England, upon this idea of original on-the-spot research. He embarked upon his ll

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But many ages further back, When Earth was young and new, My first ancestor then was born, And grew, and split, and' grew - Until an army of my race Ruled Earth - as we've a right to do. We may have seemed to yield our throne To younger races. But we know That these new races will not last. Each one must some day go. And do you think, oh scientist, That for m-an 'twill not be so!', The human race, that man replied, 'Has more strength than all of these. Now some were killed by cold and frost, Still others, by disease. But our machines keep off these plagues. They'll not conquer us with ease! A little lump inside my head, A group of cells called 'brainf Keeps me from sharing their cruel fate, And saves me from their pain. You beasts are right. You've never lost But we shall win - we gain. We've gained this kingdom in our turn, But not merely to wait Until it is our turn to fall. VVe prepare before it's too late. We won't follow the dinosaur - WE WILL MASTER FATE!!! 'X' I 'lf A million years had passed. A man - - The last one of his race - - Sat musing on his unkind fate And on his own sad case. As he sat thus, a microbe came To that forsaken place. I know, it said, of what took place In that hall long ago, Vllhere man and microbe walked, talked And what they said you also know. I ask you now: can human pride Withstand fate's strongest blow? You are a fool, the man replied, To speak in such a way Wlhen you know what my race has done To your race in its day. We killed all those who barred our path VVhile we ALONE held sway. You must have slept through all this time Because you do not know, How in our glory, we alone lVere rulers - - all else had to go. How you survived I know not, but You are the sole remaining foe. Thus spoke the man - and with one blow He crushed that foe of men. But age had sapped his strength, and so He fell, and never rose again: But murmured this, before he died And passed beyond our mortal ken: That scientist of old was right: Man does win in the end. Wle may have fallen, like all else, But with us foe and friend Have also fallen. None remain For our throne to contend. IVe mastered Earth - - we ruled the world- And then we lost our throne. But we did not yield to some beast. IYe fell, and died, ALONE. I now die happy, knowing that Eartlfs history is forever done.

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scheme by combing the British Museum for information, pausing mean- while to attend a seminar at the University of London. From there Dr. Shapiro went to Paris hoping to examine the French archives in the Bibliotheque Nationale. To his chagrin, he was informed that the archives were not so 1 open. Hampered thus by diplo- matic protocol Dr. Shapiro remain- ed nevertheless in Paris for two months pursuing his research. The last lap of his journey took Dr. Shapiro to Berlin where after six weeks of research at the Univer- sity he found his funds exhausted. This necessitated his immediate re- . turn to the United States. Soon af- .A ter his arrival Dr. Shapiro married Ellen Friedland. The press of re- sponsibility forced him to drop the Ph.D. thesis. In that same year, 1923, Dr. Shapiro began teaching in Talmudical Academy. His first pedagogual contacts with T. A. were brief since he only taught at T. A. during two or three afternoon periods. Later Shapiro abandoned some of his teaching commitments elsewhere and spent an entire six-period afternoon in T. A. Meanwhile Dr. Shapiro was teaching in the public school system. He taught almost every subject under the sun including English, History and Languages. In 1938 Dr. Shapiro was admitted to the bar. He had studied law at New York University during his spare time. Dr. Shapiro rarely makes court appearances due to his myriad teaching tasks. Rather he does the less glamorous tasks of pre- paring the necessary briefs. Incidentally, Benjamin Shapiro owes his appellation Doctor to his J. P. degree - - Doctor of Laws. Recently Dr. Shapiro was appointed Teacher-in-charge at the Evening School P. S. 157. This promotion was in recognition of the part Dr. Shapiro played in Americanizing the foreign born through comprehensive night school curricula. Earlier, Dr. Shapiro's book, The Adult Home Study Book had caused a stir in evening school circles. Today his book is used in many of the city's evening schools. So much for a factual picture of Dr. Shapiro's life! The story of the library will require a more detailed account. The library started in 1930 with an idea. Dr. Shapiro puts it this way. The students had no place in the building where they could do SL1DDl9lT161lt.Z11'Y reading for their History classes. I decided to accumulate a small History li- brary for the students. Pooling the students' money through such ex- 15