Schapiro was educated at the Yeshivas Knesses Yisrael in Kaunas (formerly Kovno) where he was regarded as an extraordinary student (illui).

Supported by Rabbi Joseph Rosen (the Rogatchover Gaon), Schapiro was allowed by his parents to study medicine, relying on his adherence to Jewish commandments and values.

[1] Upon completing his training, Schapiro relocated to Berlin, taking up a post as co-director at the Magnus Hirschfeld Institute for Sexual Science.

[1] With the rise of Adolf Hitler in 1933, the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft was raided, looted, and eventually closed by the Nazis.

Here, he treated infertility using medical and psychotherapeutic approaches and founded the Swiss branch of the Mizrachi, a religious Zionist movement.