Judy Shapiro was born in New York City and raised in Borough Park, Brooklyn. Very active in the Zionist youth group Mizrachi Hatzair, known today as the youth section of Amit Women, she came on Aliyah in l972 with her husband and three of their eventual five children. She has a Masters Degree in English Literature and studied music and education at Brooklyn College. A teacher of music and piano for many years, she lives in Hod Hasharon with her husband, Menachem, an endocrinologist.