Avraham Duber Kahana Shapiro
Avraham Dov-Ber Kahana Shapiro was the last Chief Rabbi of Kovno and the author of Devar Avraham, a three-volume collection of responsa.
Biography
He was born in 1870 to Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Sender, a Kohen and author of Sefer Chidushei HaGarzas on Kodshim, on October 5 on the night immediately following Yom Kippur, in the city of Kobryn. He was a descendant of Rabbi Chaim Volozhin.He studied in the Volozhin Yeshiva. The first volume of his magnum opus, the Devar Avraham, was published in 1906 when he was thirty-five years old.
Army service
At 18 years old he was drafted into the Russian army and sent to Minsk, where he used his limited spare time to "clandestinely enter the local Beis Midrash... The Rav of Minsk, R Yerucham Yitzchak Perlman" worked to obtain his release, and subsequently "took him as a son-in-law."Rabbi
In 1896 he received his first rabbinical position at the age of 25, upon the passing of his father-in-law, and was named Chief Rabbi of the city of Kovno in 1923. His students included Ephraim Oshry, author of Sheilos U'Teshuvos M'Mamakim.He was the last Chief Rabbi of Lithuania.