Marc B. Shapiro

Marc B. Shapiro

Marc B. Shapiro (Hebrew: מלך שפירא, born 1966) holds the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Chair in Judaic Studies at the University of Scranton and is the author of various books and articles on Jewish history, philosophy, and theology. He received his BA at Brandeis University and his PhD at Harvard University, where he was the last PhD student of Professor Isadore Twersky. He received rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Ephraim Greenblatt. Shapiro's father is Edward S. Shapiro who has published books on American history and American Jewish history.

Shapiro's writings often challenge the bounds of the conventional Orthodox understanding of Judaism using academic methodology while adhering to Modern Orthodox sensibilities. His books Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy (a biography of Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg) and The Limits of Orthodox Theology (a study of the disputes over Maimonides' Thirteen Principles of Faith) were both National Jewish Book Award finalists. In 2015 he published Changing the Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History, which documents the phenomenon of internal censorship in Orthodoxy. Adam Ferziger has stated that this book "is the outstanding product of a master of rabbinic literature and an extraordinarily sharp-eyed and meticulous scholar."

Shapiro is a popular scholar-in-residence and on-line lecturer for Torah in Motion, for which he also leads Jewish history tours to Europe. He often writes for the Seforim Blog.

According to Rabbi Jeremy Rosen, Shapiro is "one of the most important and influential committed religious Jews alive today."

Books authored

• Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy: The Life and Works of Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg, 1884-1966 (London, 1999)
• The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides' Thirteen Principles Reappraised (Oxford, 2004)
• Saul Lieberman and the Orthodox (Scranton, 2006)
• Studies in Maimonides and His Interpreters (Scranton, 2008)
• Changing the Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History (Oxford, 2015)
• Ed. Kitvei Ha-Gaon Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, 2 vols (Scranton, 1999, 2004)

External resources

• Shapiro posts at the Seforim Blog
• Shapiro lecture at Yeshiva University - A Non-Orthodox Traditional Approach: Reflections on the Authority of the Moroccan Rabbinate
• Shapiro lecture - Sephardic and Ashkenazic Approaches to Halakhah
• Shapiro lecture - Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef and the Revival of Sephardic Halakhah
• Shapiro lecture - Eliezer Berkovits' Halakhic Vision for the Modern Age
• Shapiro lecture - Some Recent Discussions of Jewish Dogma
• Shapiro lecture - Some Recent Discussions of Jewish Dogma (video)
• 13 Part Video Series on Maimonides' Thirteen Principles
• Shapiro lecture - The Steipler (video)
• Shapiro lecture - Must a Jew Believe Anything? (video)
• Shapiro lecture - Have the Rabbis Always Been Honest With Their Readers? (video)
• Rabbi Daniel Korobkin's interview with Shapiro
• Marc B. Shapiro lectures at Torah in Motion
• Marc B. Shapiro archive at YU Torah Online
• "Response to a Hagiographer's Review"
• "בענין גילוח בחול המועד"
• "The Moroccan Rabbinic Conferences"
• "Glatt Kosher is Not All It is Cut Out To Be"
• "המחלוקת על הרבנות בפרנקפורט"
• "Mi-Yosef ad Yosef Lo Kam ke-Yosef"
• "?האם יש מקום להתיר את הפלגש"
• "Talmud Study in the Modern Era: From Wissenschaft and Brisk to Daf Yomi"
• "נשים במרוקו - עדותו של הרב שלמה משאש זצ"ל"
• "'Confrontation': A Mixed Legacy"
• "Isaac Reggio and the London Herem of 1842"
• "The Lithuanian Yeshivot: Yesterday and Today"
• "The Brisker Method Reconsidered"
• "Suicide and the World to Come"
• "Another Example of Minhag America"
• "Further on Women's Hair Covering"
• "How Did Fundamentalism Manage to Infiltrate Contemporary Orthodoxy: A Response to Samuel C. Heilman"
• "Of Books and Bans"
• "בענין לימוד תורה בליל ניטל"
• Review of David Zohar's book on R. Hayyim Hirschensohn
• "אודות הפולמוס בענין אתרוגי קורפו"
• "Torah Study on Christmas Eve"
• "Rabbi David Tsevi Hoffmann on Orthodox Involvement with the Hebrew University"
• "Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg on the Limits of Halakhic Development"
• "Maimonides Thirteen Principles: The Last Word in Jewish Theology?"
• Review of Shapiro's book on 13 principles by Rabbi Gil Student
• Review of Shapiro's book on 13 principles by Rabbi Yitzchak Blau
• "Rabbi Esriel Hildesheimer's Program of Torah u-Madda"
• "Rabbi David Zevi Hoffmann on Torah and Wissenschaft"
• "Scholars and Friends: Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg and Professor Samuel Atlas"
• "Torah im Derekh Eretz in the Shadow of Hitler"
• "Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch and Friedrich von Schiller"
• "Mainstreaming Talmud"
• כתבי הגאון רבי יחיאל יעקב וויינברג, חלק א
• כתבי הגאון רבי יחיאל יעקב וויינברג, חלק ב
• "אגרת בקורת על ישיבת אייזנשטט"
• "Rabbi Joseph Messas"
• "האם מותר להכנס לכנסיה"
• Review Essay of Avi Sagi and Zvi Zohar, Transforming Identity
• "Islam and the Halakhah"
• "Sociology and Halakhah
• Review of Shaul Stampfer, Families, Rabbis and Education
• Review of Hayim Tawil and Bernard Schneider, Crown of Aleppo
• "האם יש חיוב להאמין שהזוהר נכתב על ידי רבי שמעון בן יוחאי"
• "Is a Jesuit Good for the Jews?"
• "Modern Orthodoxy and the Challenges to Its Establishment
• Review of Eliiyahu Stern, The Genius: Elijah of Vilna and the Making of Modern Judaism
• "Berdyczewski, Blasphemy, and Belief"
• "Torah im Derekh Eretz as a Means of Last Resort"
• "הנחיצות בהעמדת רבנים בעלי תורה ומדע לשמש בקדש במדינת ישראל"
• Shapiro response to criticism of his Studies in Maimonides and His Interpreters
• "Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits's Halakic Vision for the Modern Age"
• "Author Challenges Rambam's Principles"
• Credo 13 television series
• "Shapiro on the Mottle Wolf Show"
• Jewish Press interview
• Jewish Press interview 2
• New Book Network interview
• Alan Brill interview
• Zev Brenner Interview
• Steven I. Weiss interview
• Luke Ford's excerpts from Shapiro's lectures and blogs
• Jeremy Rosen, "Marc Shapiro and Confronting the Ultra-Orthodox"
• Allan Nadler, "Pious Censorship" (review of Changing the Immutable)
• Yiddish site devoted to Shapiro