Wikipedia's first sentence called it “famed rosh yeshiva of the volozhin yeshiva and a son-in-law of rabbi naftali zvi yehuda berlin”. Today it says “famed rosh yeshiva of the volozhin yeshiva located in the town of volozhin”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2010 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2010
Refael Shapiro Rabbi Refael Shapiro (1837–1921) was the famed Rosh Yeshiva of the Volozhin yeshiva and a son-in-law of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (the Netziv ). After the Volozhin yeshiva was closed down in 1892 by order of the Russian government, he reopened it, albeit on a smaller scale in 1899. He was the father-in-law of Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk and is known as the Toras Refael after his primary work.1 Rabbi Shapiro ordained Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman (who would eventually become one of Israel 's chief rabbis ) who studied in the Kollel of the Volozhin yeshiva before opening his own yeshiva in the neighboring town of Vishova . Additionally, Rabbi Shapiro gave Semicha (rabbinical ordination) to Rabbi Moshe Shatzkes , known as the Łomża Rov, and Rabbi Meir Joshua Rosenberg . Rabbi Shapiro died on the 23rd of the Jewish month of Adar in 1921. As a younger resident of Volozhin wrote many years later he was "Our Rov, our Genius, the first among firsts... None could be compared to our Reb Refoel." The man added, "When you looked at Reb Refoel it seemed that you are not facing a man from this world, but a man who was truly created in God's Image... Everyone who saw Reb Refoel remained enchanted by his personality for the rest of his life."2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 312229126.
The opening as it stood in 2015 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Rabbi Refael Shapiro Rabbi Refael Shapiro (1837–1921) was the famed Rosh Yeshiva of the Volozhin yeshiva and a son-in-law of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (the Netziv ). After the Volozhin yeshiva was closed down in 1892 by order of the Russian government, he reopened it, albeit on a smaller scale in 1899. He was the father-in-law of Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk and is known as the Toras Refael after his primary work. Rabbi Shapiro ordained Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman (who would eventually become one of Israel 's chief rabbis ) who studied in the Kollel of the Volozhin yeshiva before opening his own yeshiva in the neighboring town of vishnyeva(vishnevo,Belarus). Additionally, Rabbi Shapiro gave Semicha (rabbinical ordination) to Rabbi Moshe Shatzkes , known as the Łomża Rov, and Rabbi Meir Joshua Rosenberg . Rabbi Shapiro died on the 23rd of the Jewish month of Adar in 1921.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 613830594.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Rabbi Refael Shapiro Rabbi Refael Shapiro (1837–1921) was the famed Rosh Yeshiva of the Volozhin yeshiva located in the town of Volozhin, Russia , (now Valozhyn , Belarus ), and a son-in-law of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (the Netziv ). After the Volozhin yeshiva was closed down in 1892 by order of the Russian government, he reopened it, albeit on a smaller scale in 1899. He was the father-in-law of Rabbi Chaim Soloveichik of Brisk , now in Belarus, and is known as the Toras Refael after his primary work. Rabbi Shapiro ordained Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman (who would eventually become one of Israel 's chief rabbis ) who studied in the Kollel of the Volozhin yeshiva before opening his own yeshiva in the neighboring town of Vishnyeva (Vishnevo, Belarus). Additionally, Rabbi Shapiro gave Semicha (rabbinical ordination) to Rabbi Moshe Shatzkes , known as the Łomża Rov, and Rabbi Meir Joshua Rosenberg . Rabbi Shapiro died on the 23rd of the Jewish month of Adar in 1921.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 811390220.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Belarusian Orthodox rabbi, rosh yeshiva of Volozhin Yeshiva Rabbi Refael Shapiro Rabbi Refael Shapiro (1837–1921) was the famed Rosh Yeshiva of the Volozhin yeshiva located in the town of Volozhin, Russia , (now Valozhyn , Belarus ), and a son-in-law of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (the Netziv ). After the Volozhin yeshiva was closed down in 1892 by order of the Russian government, he reopened it, albeit on a smaller scale in 1899. He was the father-in-law of Rabbi Chaim Soloveichik of Brisk , now in Belarus, and is known as the Toras Refael after his primary work. Rabbi Shapiro ordained Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman (who would eventually become one of Israel 's chief rabbis ) who studied in the Kollel of the Volozhin yeshiva before opening his own yeshiva in the neighboring town of Vishnyeva (Vishnevo, Belarus). Additionally, Rabbi Shapiro gave Semicha (rabbinical ordination) to Rabbi Moshe Shatzkes , known as the Łomża Rov, and Rabbi Meir Joshua Rosenberg . Rabbi Shapiro died on the 23rd of the Jewish month of Adar in 1921.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1114253353. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “famed rosh yeshiva of the volozhin yeshiva and a son-in-law of rabbi naftali zvi yehuda berlin”. Today it says “famed rosh yeshiva of the volozhin yeshiva located in the town of volozhin”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
famed rosh yeshiva of the volozhin yeshiva and a son-in-law of rabbi naftali zvi yehuda berlin
Now
famed rosh yeshiva of the volozhin yeshiva located in the town of volozhin
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
