ר׳ קלונימוס קלמיש שפירא

ר׳ קלונימוס קלמיש שפירא (1889–1943), the Piaseczna Rebbe, was a Polish Hasidic leader, educational theorist and spiritual leader in the Warsaw Ghetto. A son of ר׳ אלימלך שפירא of Grodzisk and student and son-in-law of ר׳ ירחמיאל משה הופשטיין of Kozhnitz, he became rabbi of Piaseczno in 1913 and later lived principally in Warsaw. In 1923 he founded Yeshivat Da’at Moshe, one of Warsaw’s largest Hasidic yeshivot. His educational writings sought to cultivate the inner spiritual life of children and adults rather than relying on coercion. Under German occupation his home at 5 Dzielna Street became a center of prayer, study, refuge and food relief. His wartime sermons, revised as catastrophe deepened and hidden with the Oneg Shabbat archive, were recovered after the war and published in 1960 as אש קודש. Deported to Trawniki, he was murdered during Aktion Erntefest.