Rabbi Mark S. Shapiro, longtime chief of Congregation B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in Glenview, used to be an eloquent orator and social justice chief who impressed a lot of his scholars to turn out to be non secular leaders themselves.
Rabbi Shapiro, a Northbrook resident, died Aug. 28 at 85 of Parkinson’s illness.
“One of the things he was most proud of is he had many, many, many students — upward of 30 or 40 — who decided to become rabbis and cantors and teachers and Jewish educators,” stated Steve Shapiro of Minneapolis, the eldest of Rabbi Shapiro’s 3 sons. “That was a legacy he was maybe more proud of than anything.”
Rabbi Shapiro led Congregation B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim, referred to as BJBE, in Glenview from 1962 to 2000. Continuing as rabbi emeritus for the synagogue, which has since moved to Deerfield, he presided over funerals till 3 years in the past.
“He was one of the leading rabbis of his generation,” BJBE Rabbi Karyn Kedar stated.
A local South Sider and lifetime White Sox fan, Rabbi Shapiro attended Hyde Park High School and the University of Chicago. He gained his grasp of Hebrew Letters with honors and rabbinical ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, then started his occupation in 1960 at Temple Beth Zion in Buffalo, New York.
Returning to Chicago, he to start with used to be rabbi of the Lower West Side synagogue B’nai Jehoshua, which used to be based in 1893 however had noticed a lot of its individuals practice the development of Jewish migration to the suburbs.
In 1965, it merged with a more moderen Reform Jewish synagogue in Glenview, Beth Elohim, led via Rabbi Shapiro.
“He was young in his career, and he formed the very DNA of the congregation,” Kedar stated.
The similar yr the congregations merged and Rabbi Shapiro and his spouse Hanna moved to Glenview, he marched with different non secular leaders along the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Alabama.
Kedar stated he used to be “a man of conviction” who additionally used to be hooked in to Israel “before that was in vogue.”
In 1982, he met with the “refuseniks” who have been forbidden to to migrate from what used to be then the Soviet Union and used to be a founding father of the interfaith team United Power for Justice in Action.
In 2016, he revealed a choice of sermons and different writings in a e book titled “Close Your Books” — in different phrases, listen.
Kedar stated Rabbi Shapiro’s affect is “the ripple effect that continues on.”
Rabbi Shapiro and his spouse Hanna have been married for 61 years. In addition to her and his son Steve, he’s survived via sons Eliot and David and grandchildren Natalie, Noah and Rose
Funeral services and products have been held Monday at BJBE with burial at B’nai Jehoshua/Zion Gardens Cemetery at the Northwest Side.