R. Yehuda Meir Shapiro was born in the city of Suczawa, Austria in 1887. He was a descendant of R.Pinchas Shapiro of Korets. After cheder, R. Shapiro began to study with his grandfather, the “Minchas Shai”. Another of his early teachers was R. Shalom Moskowitz. R. Shapiro became known as the Illui of Shatz. From an early age, he was known as an outstanding leader and gifted speaker. He was soon ordained by many great scholars, including R.Sholom Mordechai and the Cohen of Brezhin (the Maharsham). He was appointed Rabbi of Gliniany at the age of 24, founding a yeshiva there - a pattern he would repeat in Sanok and Petrakov.

His grandfather introduced him to the Chortkover Rebbe, and this began his passion for chassidus, and the beginning of his relationship with the Chortkover Rebbe. His first rabbinical posting came at the age of 23, when he was appointed Rabbi of Galina. He spent ten years in the city, in which time he established a yeshiva called Bnei Torah. Construction commenced in 1920. The Yeshiva held a Talmud Torah, a place to train rabbis, and a kitchen to feed orphaned children. It ran at a budget of over half a million marks. This Yeshivah was served as a prototype for what was later to become Chachmei Lublin.While serving in Galina, R.Shapiro began his involvement with Agudat Israel. He was present at its founding conference in 1912. In 1914 he was appointed head of the Education Department of Agudat Yisrael in East Galicia, becoming president in 1922 of Agudat Yisrael in Poland. At the time, he was also added as a member to the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah. R. Shapiro was initially very doubtful as to whether he should become an MP for the party, but was encouraged to do so by his rebbe, the Chortkover. After leaving Galina, Rabbi Shapiro began tenure as Rabbi of Sonok.His next posting was to Petrakov.On 14 June 1931, he was appointed Rabbi of Lublin in the old synagogue of the Maharshal.

R.Shapiro founded the idea of דף יומי "page [of the] day" --a regimen undertaken to study the Babylonian Talmud one folio (a daf consists of both sides of the page) each day. Under this regimen, the entire Talmud is completed, one day at a time, in a cycle of seven and a half years.R. Shapiro introduced his idea Sunday August 19,1923 during the Kenesia Gedola (Great Assembly) in Vienna, of the first international Aguda convention. Daf Yomi has since been taken up by thousands of Jews worldwide.

Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva was, along with Daf Yomi, the largest achievement of R. Shapiro. He conceived of a yeshiva for Chassidic Poland, modeled on Lithuanian yeshivahs such as Volozhin, Slobodka and Novardok, but which would train Chassidic rabbis as the next generation to lead Polish Jewry. The Yeshiva was housed in a massive building, housed hundreds of students and had a vast library of over 100,000 books. On May 22-28, 1924, the cornerstone laying ceremony took place for the construction of the yeshiva building. Approximately 20,000 people participated in the event. The opening ceremony took place on June 24-25, 1930. Apart from thousands of local Jews, around 10,000 people arrived from all over Poland and abroad. R. Shapiro served as the yeshiva's teacher and rosh yeshiva until his death. R.Shapiro, together with R.Aron Levine and R.Zalmen Sirtzokin, chaired the committee which as a part of the Polish Ministry for Religious Affairs, held responsibility for delegating Rabbinical positions throughout Poland. He was also part of the Vaad HaChinuch. Beginning in 1922, R. Shapiro served as a parliamentarian to the Polish Sejm. In 1928 he stepped down as a politician so that he could devote all his energies to Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva.

R.Shapiro became ill with typhus in 1933 and died within a month on 27 October 1933 aged 47. His death was marked by popular mourning across Jewish and non-Jewish Poland. Countless newspapers across the entire political spectrum from orthodox to Yiddishist to Socialist featured front page biographies R. Shapiro’s remains were brought to Israel in 1958, under the auspices of his brother. He was reburied in "Har Hamenuhos" with a full ceremony. R. Yitzchok Meir Levin delivered a eulogy, as did those students of his who had survived the Holocaust.