Meet America’s potential first Jewish second family: Josh Shapiro, Lori, and their 4 kids
The family celebrates Shabbat each Friday night, and has hosted events for Jewish holidays at the governor’s mansion
Josh Shapiro laughs with his wife Lori Shapiro and family at his swearing in as governor of Pennsylvania on January 17, 2023 in Harrisburg. Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images
By Benyamin Cohen, Jacob Kornbluh, Rebecca MasselAugust 5, 2024
Josh Shapiro, the popular Pennsylvania governor, is on the short list of potential running mates for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Here’s the inside look at what could be the first Jewish Second Family: the Shapiros.
Who is Lori Shapiro?
Lori Ferrara was born in Yardley, Pennsylvania. She attended Akiba Hebrew Academy, now known as Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, near Philadelphia. That’s where she met her future husband, Josh Shapiro. She played on the high school’s softball team, and Josh Shapiro was the captain of the basketball team. They became high school sweethearts and began dating in ninth grade.
CNN Anchor Jake Tapper, who is four years older than both, also attended the school. Other notable alumni include author Mitch Albom, cookbook author Jamie Geller, and Rabbi David Wolpe.
Shapiro proposed to his future wife in January 1997 under the 19th-century Montefiore Windmill in the Yemin Moshe neighborhood of Jerusalem, during one of many trips to Israel. They married in May of that year in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Lori Shapiro’s first government job was at the White House during the Clinton administration. She worked on analyzing economic innovation and digital policy in the Office of Science and Technology Policy. After the birth of Sophia, the couple moved back to Pennsylvania.
As Pennsylvania’s first lady, she has served as the honorary chair of the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition and sits on the board of the Philadelphia Art Museum.
At his inauguration in January 2023, Lori held on her lap three Bibles. One was salvaged from the deadly attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018. The other two are a family Bible that Shapiro has been sworn in on for every public office he has held since 2005 and one was provided by the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History.
Shapiro told the Forward that the Bibles symbolized how his Jewish faith has and will continue to guide him as he commits to “being a good governor” for Pennsylvanians.
Who are Josh Shapiro’s children?
The Shapiros have four children – Sophia, Jonah, Max and Reuben.
Sophia, 23, is also an alumnus of Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, where her parents met. She brought her father a red string — a symbol from the Tomb of Rachel that many Jews believe serves as protection from the evil eye — that she picked up when she visited the Western Wall, which he now wears around his wrist. She is very active on social media. In 2022, she went viral on TikTok, spoofing the Bama Rush trend and sharing her father’s love for Uncrustables. She also founded Students for Shapiro at the University of Pittsburgh in 2022, which was expanded to other campuses across the state.Sophia interned at the White House in summer 2023. She has been working with the Biden re-election campaign since May, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Jonah, 19 and also an alum of Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, went viral in 2020 after he wandered into the room while his father was being interviewed on MSNBC. Jonah told the Forward last year that he’s not sure whether he will follow his father into politics but said he would like to serve in a role that would help the community.
He interned this summer at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.
Max, 15, could become a sports broadcaster one day, as evidenced by that time he interviewed his dad outside a Philadelphia Eagles football game.
If Max is in front of the camera, you could expect Reuben, 13, to possibly be behind it, as he was recently on a family hike in the Allegheny National Forest. Shapiro was very involved in bar mitzvah preparations for Reuben. “He really took the time out for Reuben,” said Rabbi Ariana Capptauber of Beth El Temple in Harrisburg. He “helped Reuben with his speech and his practicing his prayers and his Torah reading, and he came and did the walkthrough with us before the big day.”
Like his father, Reuben has presidential ambitions. At age 7, Reuben made his father tear up as he drew a boy sitting in front of the American flag, with a message that read, “When I am the president I will protect the environment.”
Who are Josh Shapiro’s parents?
In an interview with the Forward during the 2022 gubernatorial campaign, Shapiro said his parents, Steven and Judi Shapiro, “set a very good example for me to live a life of faith and service.”
The senior Shapiro, a pediatrician known as “Dr. Steve” to his patients, told the Forward he “never thought this day would happen,” that his son would become governor of Pennsylvania; he called it “surreal.” He said that Shapiro showcasing his Jewish faith during the campaign was a natural thing. “It’s just the way we live.”
Shapiro said that as a child he was motivated by his mother, a teacher, to join a grassroots letter-writing campaign that connected Jews around the world with Soviet “refuseniks” of similar ages living with fear of punishment for practicing Judaism.
Shapiro recalled writing letters to a refusenik named Avi Goldstein, who lived in Tbilisi, and said he enlisted others from the U.S., Canada and England in a pen-pal program he called “Children for Avi.”
What is family life like in the governor’s mansion?
Shapiro tries to never miss the Shabbat meal with his family and their two dogs, Bo and Bentley. During his gubernatorial campaign he always made sure his schedule was cleared for Friday night and often returned from the campaign trail just for the meal.
“It’s wonderfully chaotic as most Shabbat dinner tables are,” Shapiro told the Forward. “We do the brachot [blessing] together, we sit and talk, and my kids actually sit at the table and are part of the conversation and engage.”Shapiro’s wife bakes the challah — which was featured in his campaign launch video — while he grills the fish “or whatever we’re eating.”
Introducing Bentley and Bo — who will be very good boys as Pennsylvania's next First Dogs. 🐾 pic.twitter.com/aEi4I5aYJM
— Josh Shapiro (@JoshShapiroPA) March 9, 2022
During the Passover holiday, Shapiro posted a video that showed preparations for his first Seder in the governor’s mansion, which he described as “so haimish,” using a Yiddish term for homey. The 14-minute video posted on his official Twitter account features Shapiro, his wife and their son Max with award-winning Israeli chef Michael Solomonov, the co-owner of several Philadelphia restaurants, preparing broiled seasoned salmon cubes drizzled with tahini sauce. The Shapiros ate the salmon dish on a piece of matzo.
Shapiro has made an effort to open his home to the Jewish community of Harrisburg. He had the city’s eruv — a thin wire that encircles an area permitting observant Jewish people to carry their belongings outside of their homes on Shabbat and Jewish festivals — extended to include the governor’s mansion. Shapiro requested this in the hopes of hosting Jewish community members of all backgrounds at functions held there.
In October 2023, during the festival of Sukkot, Shapiro invited members of the Jewish community to visit his sukkah. “That was really exciting,” said Rabbi Moshe Yosef Gewirtz, a teacher at the Silver Academy, a local Jewish day school. “There was a sense of pride.”
Great time celebrating Sukkot with members of the Harrisburg community who visited our sukkah at the Governor’s Residence. pic.twitter.com/x8ydH1BKS3
— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) October 2, 2023
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