Shapiro, Judah Joseph, 1912-

Judah J. Shapiro (1912-1980)

Judah Joseph Shapiro was born in New York City on June 12, 1912. Throughout his life, Shapiro was a "leading Zionist organizer, theoretician and educator." 1 From 1954 to 1956, he was the director of the Department of Cultural and Educational Reconstruction of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. In 1956, he was appointed as the national director of the B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundations, a position he held until 1959. He had previously been associate national director of the foundations and had worked with the foundations at college campuses in New York and Boston from 1942 to 1948. From 1959 to 1965, he was executive officer and secretary of the board for the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. In the spring on 1965, he was named as chairman of the Commission on Reorganization of the Zionist Movement in the United States, which led to the formation of the American Zionist Federation. From 1969 to 1976, he was a professor of contemporary Jewish thought at the Jewish Institute of Religion of Hebrew Union College. From 1971 to 1980, he wrote and broadcast the radio show Highlights and Background of the Jewish News, a program on Jewish affairs. The program was broadcast on the station WEVD, which was founded by the Socialist Party in honor of Eugene V. Debbs in 1927 and taken over by the Yiddish newspaper The Forward in 1932.

Shapiro was also president of the Labor Zionist Alliance as well as editor of the Sunday English-language page of The Forward and the periodical The Jewish Frontier . Throughout his career, he guest lectured at colleges and universities throughout the U.S. and abroad, as well as at conferences and special events held by a variety of Jewish organizations. He additionally served as the president of the National Conference of Jewish Communal Service, chairman of the Hadassah Youth Reference board, and as a board member for both the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and the American Jewish Historical Society.

Shapiro also wrote several articles and books, including Contemporary Jewish Community Life and the Zionist Movement (1964) and The Friendly Society: a History of the Workmen's Circle (1970). His doctoral thesis for the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University is titled "A Report of an Experience in the Field of Educational Reconstruction in Europe After World War II (1948--1954)."

At the time of his death, Shapiro was president of the National Committee for Labor Israel. He died on September 2, 1980. Shapiro was married to Florence I. Shapiro (née Snyder), a social studies teacher. They had two sons, Jeremy Joel and Daniel Reuben Shapiro.

Footnote 1 "Dr. Judah Shapiro, 68; Headed Zionist Groups," New York Times, September 6, 1980, 26.

References: "B'nai B'rith Names Aide," New York Times, May 20, 1956, 19. "Dr. Judah Shapiro, 68; Headed Zionist Groups," New York Times, September 6, 1980, 26. "Hillel Director Resigns," New York Times, June 28, 1959, 54. Shapiro, Judah J. Curriculum Vitae, 1967.

From the guide to the Judah J. Shapiro, papers, undated, 1916-1980 (bulk 1971-1977), (American Jewish Historical Society)