(Chief Rabbi of Kovno. 1870–1943). Autograph Letter Signed. Written to Rabbi Joseph Rosen.

The last Chief Rabbi of Kovno (Kaunus) and one of the great leaders of Lithuanian Jewry. R. Kahana-Shapiro’s three-volume scholarly responsa “Devar Avraham” gained him the greatest respect in Rabbinical and Yeshiva circles. He was a colleague of Rabbi Rosen from his sojourn in Volozhin. R. Kahana-Shapiro was in Switzerland for health reasons when the war broke out. His son, who was living in the United States, sent him papers to join him in America. His father’s response was “The captain is the last to abandon his sinking ship, not the first. At this time of danger, my place is with the people of my city. I am going to Kovno” (Devar Avraham, Vol. I p. 3). He died in the Kovno Ghetto in 1943.