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

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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

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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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pedients as raffles, library cards and history notes fees, Dr. Shapiro slowly enlarged his History library. It was at first located in Room 417. Then members of the English and Science Departments, viewing the success of the project, requested Dr. Shapiro to broaden the History library into a Talmudical Academy Library housing books of all types. This was done. Soon the library moved into what was then the play- room. Later, in 1944, when the administration decided to institute the study hall period it turned naturally to what was now popularly refer- red to as Docfs Library. A rebuilding job involving several thousand dollars was undertaken. Completed in November 1944, the library re- opened in more spacious and commodious quarters. Today the library is financed not only hiv the one dollar library fee payed by every stu- dent but also by an annual 3500 administration subsidy. The task of adding books to the library shelves is being dilligently pursued. That it was Benjamin Shapiro's persistent initiative and hard work that brought about the Talmudical Academy no one will deny. It is a con- crete and lasting result. Everyone admires Benjamin Shapiro for it. Student opinion on Dr. Shapiro. the teacher, is more divided. This Benjamin Shapiro is a man of average height and smiling de- meanor. He is dynamic. His mind is quick and incisive. As a conse- quence his manner of speaking is uniquely his own. Few students can be neutral on the subject of Dr. Shapiro. Most students either like him or dislike him. Often a student in the classroom will dislike Dr. Sha- piro, considering :himself wronged by a willful man. Upon being grad- uated, this same student, his judgment no longer clouded by imagined wrongs, will take a great liking to the man. At any rate, Dr. Shapiro's brisk and active manner has won him a host of followers in and out of T. A. Out of T. A., Dr. Shapiro is active socially. Last year he was elect- ed president of Berenziner Benevolent Association, a Landsmenshaft group. Throughout the war he worked hard to sell war bonds and solicit money for war charities. In his spare time Dr. Shapiro likes to play both table tennis and handball. He plays either game well, preferring to play what he calls a defensive game. Looking to the future, Dr. Shapiro declares that he would like to do some traveling. He sits back, pauses reflectively, and with typical Shapiro enthusiasm tells you that he would like to take another crack at those French archivesf' 16