Elad Shapira

Elad Shapira was born in Haifa on 8 January 1986, the son of Eva and Eyal and brother to Bat El and Gal. He attended Sprinzak Elementary School and later the Leo Baeck Education Center in the city. In 2013, he married Ruth, and they had two children, Itamar and Lia. Alongside his military service, he devoted himself to media, music and sport, fields that were part of his work for many years.

In December 2004, he enlisted in the IDF. Leo Baeck’s memorial page describes his initial role as a prison instructor and his later service in various positions. For the final twelve years of his service, he was sergeant major of the Israeli Navy Basic Training School. Thousands of soldiers passed through the school under his supervision during that time. Izkor records that after his death he was promoted from sergeant major to warrant officer.

At the same time, he was sports editor at NWS News, a broadcaster on Radio 90 and the creator and host of a sports podcast. He also took part in a weekly podcast with Rabbi Yishai Kali from Bat Galim. At the station, he presented the program Shishi Yam Tikhoni. His colleagues remembered a cheerful, optimistic man who continued to take an interest in them and send them words of encouragement even when his health made life difficult. Itzik Yitzhaki recalled the candy Elad would leave beside the microphones before Friday broadcasts.

In 2023, he was diagnosed with cancer. Despite his illness, he continued writing, creating and broadcasting, and the radio station described how he gathered his strength each week to come in for his program. Elad died on 2 April 2026, during Passover, aged forty. He was laid to rest at the military cemetery in Haifa and is survived by Ruth, Itamar and Lia, his parents, and Bat El and Gal. His colleagues at NWS dedicated their Sports Person of the Week feature to his memory, and his friends at the radio station published farewell tributes thirty days after his death. May his memory be a blessing.