Born in Vilnius, Zemach Shabad (1864-1935) spent almost his entire life here. He embraced the whole city with his social, educational and charitable activities. Shabad devoted a particular attention to the impoverished, children and the ailing. After graduating from the Science School for Boys, he continued his education in the prominent Ramailė yeshiva, and from 1881 onwards he studied medicine at the Moscow University.