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Rav Rodal z”l
Montreal, 25 Elul 5705 (September 3, 1945) – Hoshana Rabbah 5783 (October 16, 2022)
From 1970 to 2022 Rav Rodal brought a living, true and honest Judaism to Milan. An emissary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, he shared it through classes, gatherings, publications and daily contact with his community, always with contagious enthusiasm and a radiant emunah (faith). At school, at the Beth Shlomo synagogue and on countless occasions around the city, the Jews of Milan came to know him, and they remember him with affection.
Early years
Rabbi Shmuel Rodal Ha-Cohen, known to all as Rav Rodal, was born in Montreal, Canada, on 25 Elul 5705 (September 3, 1945), just before Rosh Hashanah, to Rabbi Yosef and Faige Rodal. His father had been one of nine Polish Chabad yeshiva students saved by visas issued by the Japanese consul Chiune Sugihara.
As a boy he worked in the family business, Rodal’s Judaica, and helped care for his younger siblings.
Studies and the Rebbe
At the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s suggestion he went to yeshiva in New York at 14. At 18 he continued at Kfar Chabad in Israel, and in 1967 at the Torat Emet yeshiva in Jerusalem; before the Six-Day War the Rebbe sent him and four other students a telegram urging them to stay.
When his father considered keeping him in the family store, the Rebbe told him:
“So much effort was put in so Shmuel should turn out OK … and you want to waste him on the store?”
In 1968 he married Devorah Munitz; the Rebbe was heavily involved in the match, advising, encouraging and ultimately giving his blessing. In a 2018 interview with JEM, Rav Rodal recalled:
“The Rebbe was literally like a father to me… The Rebbe loved me. I always felt this.”
The couple lived in Crown Heights. On the recommendation of Rabbi Zalman Shimon Dworkin he taught at the Yeshiva of Central Queens, where he turned around an unruly fourth-grade class.
Milan
Wishing to go out as emissaries, the Rodals submitted to the Rebbe a list of teaching positions, almost all in the eastern United States; Milan had been added as a favor to Rabbi Gershon Mendel Garelik, the Rebbe’s emissary in Milan since 1958. To their surprise the Rebbe chose Milan, advising them on how to structure a two-year contract.
Rav Rodal arrived in Milan in the summer of 1970, to learn Italian and find a home before the school year began at the Scuola del Merkos. Two years turned into fifty. For nearly half a century he taught at Milan’s Chabad school – which moved from via Poerio to Macconago and then to via delle Forze Armate – and he kept teaching into his seventies. Rabbi Benny Zippel, whom he taught in first grade in 1971-72, recalls:
“When he taught, you literally felt Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Pharaoh were about to walk into the classroom.”
Beth Shlomo
For about 50 years he was the Rav and Torah reader of the Beth Shlomo synagogue, which moved from Porta Romana to the Ottagono of the Galleria and finally to Corso Lodi. He walked more than an hour from his home to get there.
The etrogim of Calabria
For decades he spent his summers in the orchards of Calabria with Rabbi Moshe Lazar, carefully checking each fruit to ensure it grew from an ungrafted citron tree. Their work was guided and appreciated by the Rebbe, who each year used an etrog they sent for the mitzvah.
Il Pensiero della Settimana
He published and distributed Il Pensiero della Settimana, an Italian-language weekly with Torah teachings and inspirational stories. Starting with four pages and 127 recipients, it grew to sixteen pages and 11,600 subscribers across Italy.
Family and an open home
Rav Rodal and his wife Devorah had 17 children. Between school, classes, synagogue and his publication he worked around the clock, rarely sleeping more than four hours a night for much of his adult life. Their modest home was open to all, and guests sometimes stayed for days, weeks or even months. His children recall that he “lived with Moshiach”, ending nearly every conversation with the wish, and confident expectation, that Moshiach would arrive soon.
His final months
On July 29, 2022, while in Calabria choosing etrogim for Sukkot, he suffered a cerebral thrombosis. After a long hospital stay he passed away during chol haMoed Sukkot, on Hoshana Rabbah, October 16, 2022 (21 Tishrei 5783), at 77. The first part of the funeral was held at the Beit Chabad on via Soderini 3 in Milan; he was then brought to Israel and is buried on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. He was predeceased by his daughter Reizel and his brother Rabbi Menachem Aharon.
A musical tribute
Non Ho Parole (“I Have No Words”), a song by his son Yossi Rodal.