Oil portrait of Rav Meir Shapiro in a black hat and dark coat, painted in loose, expressive strokes against a soft blue and bone background.
Original · oil on canvas · signed Frayda

Giclée fine-art print · Siyum HaShas edition

Rav Meir
Shapiro zt"l

The Lubliner Rav, who gave Klal Yisroel the Daf Yomi. An original oil portrait by Frayda, printed on archival canvas for your home, study, or beis medrash.

Choose a size
Yahrtzeit
ז׳ חשון · 7 Cheshvan
Born
Suczawa, 1887
Niftar
Lublin, 5694 (1933)
Medium
Oil on canvas, giclée reproduction

The subject

One daf. Every Jew. Every day.

Detail of the painting: the eyes and brow, worked in thick strokes of grey, blue and bone. Detail of the painting: the artist's signature, Frayda, in the lower right corner.

In Elul 5683 (1923), at the first Knessia Gedolah of Agudas Yisroel in Vienna, a 36-year-old Rav from Sanok stood up and proposed something simple and enormous: that every Jew in the world learn the same page of Gemara on the same day, finishing all of Shas together in seven and a half years.

Rav Meir Shapiro did not live to see a second Siyum HaShas. He was niftar on 7 Cheshvan 5694, at 46, in the Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin he had built. But the daf kept moving. It moved through the war years, it moved through the camps, and it moves today, with hundreds of thousands of Yidden holding the same page every morning.

As Klal Yisroel approaches the next Siyum HaShas, this portrait is a way to keep his face in the room where you learn.

About the painting: Frayda painted this original in oil, from the known photograph of the Rav, working the hat and coat in loose knife strokes and letting the background fall away to blue and bone. The print reproduces the canvas texture and every stroke, including the signature.

Order a print

Five sizes. All on canvas.

Printed as a museum-grade giclée on archival canvas, stretched on wood bars and ready to hang or frame. Sizes keep the painting's 3:4 proportion.

The artist

About Frayda

Frayda has been painting her whole life, mostly for the people who sit at her table. Born in Cleveland, raised in Baltimore, now at home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, she painted for decades the way some people bake: for family, for a wall that needed something, for the pleasure of it. Five years ago she started giving the work the hours it deserved. The reaction was immediate. Friends asked for pieces. Guests stopped mid-conversation in front of the canvases. People who had never bought art asked if they could buy hers.

Her style is unmistakable once you've seen it: thick oil, laid on with a palette knife and left alone, so the paint keeps the energy of the hand that put it there. The palette stays close to the land of Eretz Yisroel, sand and sage and bone, and then one run of living blue cuts through. It is in the trunk of the olive tree at Kever Rachel. It is in the hat and coat of the Rav. Up close, the surface is all movement. Step back and a face looks out at you.

This painting comes from nachas. Her children learn and give the daf, and the Daf Yomi has become the rhythm of her family's days. Rav Meir Shapiro gave them that page. She painted him the way you paint someone you feel you owe a debt to, and she painted him to be looked at every day, the way the daf is.

Oil painting by Frayda of Kever Rachel: an olive tree with a blue-grey trunk beside the domed white tomb, in soft sage and sand tones.

Also by Frayda · Kever Rachel · oil on canvas

Questions

What is a giclée print?

A giclée is a fine-art inkjet print made with pigment inks on archival canvas or paper. Done well, it holds color for decades without fading and reproduces the texture of the original brushwork.

How does the hand-embellished option work?

Your printed canvas is sent to Frayda's studio. She paints real oil strokes over the print, following the original, then signs and numbers it. The embellished edition is limited to 100 across all sizes. Allow an additional 2–3 weeks before shipping.

Does it come framed?

Prints ship stretched on wooden bars with the image wrapped around the edges, so they hang as-is. Framing is a simple addition at any local framer.

Can I order a custom size, or a print for a shul or yeshiva?

Yes. Email orders@ravmeirshapiro.com with the size and quantity and we'll quote it.

Shipping, returns, and the fine print

Shipping

Each print is made to order. Standard prints are printed and stretched in 3–5 business days, then ship by ground within the US. Expect 1–2 weeks door to door.

Hand-embellished prints go from the printer to Frayda's studio, where she paints, signs, and numbers each one. Allow an additional 2–3 weeks.

Shipping is calculated at checkout by size. Large and oversized canvases ship in reinforced boxes. International orders: email us for a quote.

Returns and damage

Because every print is made to order, we don't accept returns or exchanges. If your print arrives damaged, email a photo of the damage and the box to orders@ravmeirshapiro.com within 7 days of delivery and we'll replace it at no charge.

Hand-embellished prints are one-of-a-kind and final sale. The same damage replacement applies.

Privacy

We collect your name, shipping address, and email only to fulfill and update you on your order. Payments are processed by Stripe; we never see or store your card details. We don't sell or share your information, and we only email you about your order unless you ask to hear about new work.

Terms

Prices are in US dollars. Sales tax is applied at checkout where required. Colors on screen vary by device; the print is matched to the original painting. The original painting and all reproductions are © Frayda; purchasing a print does not transfer any reproduction rights.

Sold by Capya Ventures LLC on behalf of the artist.

Contact

orders@ravmeirshapiro.com. We reply within one business day. For shul, yeshiva, or bulk orders, say so in the subject line.