When My Shver Came to Denmark

By Rabbi Yitzi Loewenthal, Director of Chabad Denmark

My father in law, Rabbi Menachem Rodal was a unique and special individual. His attitude and approach could best be summed up as “Emet” -truth, and “sholom” – peace.

He was extremely honest and truthful, yet loving and caring in the way he dealt with himself, his family, and others and the world around him.

There is a popular adage about family time, “quality time”. To Rabbi Rodal, as so many knew him as, every moment with his family was quality time. Time that he spent either having fun together, talking words of Torah, or telling or listening to some of his countless witticisms, wisdoms and some groaners. For him, a conversation was a meaningful and real interaction, one cementing the bonds of connection.

Each of his 11 children viewed themselves as having “the” unique connection with him. For such was his interactions, filled with meaning, depth humor and love.

Humility, unassuming and selfless, were characteristics that he stood by and lived with. With absolutely no airs about him, he had no problem to get on the floor to give his grandchild a ride, or to talk to someone at their level.

In his interaction with people and the world around him, to paraphrase pirke avot, “be like a student of Aaron hakohen, love peace and love the briyot, – creators, and bring them closer to the Torah.”

Rabbi Menacham Aaron hakohen was truly a lover of peace. It hurt him, almost physically, to see argument and strife. In addition to doing what he could, like Aaron hakohen, to bring peace and harmony to people he also and especially, brought peace and happiness to people by making them smile and laugh with his humor and jokes, and also making people feel special for who they were. He took pains to greet and get to know those who others may have overlooked, whether cleaning crew or the mailman.

His every interaction was on an equal level. He always spoke to people with a respect and “same eye level” leaving them feeling they had a friend and companion.

He visited us here in Denmark a few times, and each time he connected meaningfully with a number of people, inspiring, encouraging, and guiding them in their journey of life.

There were many lighthearted moments with his humor. He had a white beard and a saintly look. So when he met someone for the first time and would tell them a humorous anecdote, the people listening were often under the impression that this was a deep mystical statement. Especially that his jokes were always told deadpan with a serious face it took them a while, until they saw the twinkle in his eye to realize that this was actually a joke and humor.

In truth, even in doing this he was communicating a powerful idea, that even the most important things in life should still be done in a happy and positive atmosphere.

Rabbi Rodal was a teacher par excellence. In his view, as he told me once, a child not learning is the fault of the teacher, not the student. He embodied the idea of our sages “Chanoch Lanar al pi darkoi”, that each child needs there own approach, and it was inspiring to see that after over 40 years in the classroom he showed great excitement on discovering new techniques for communicating Torah and Yiddishkiet to children.

The Mishnah says that Aaron loved the briyot. Commonly translated as people but can also be translated as nature of animals. He had a great love of nature and animals. And especially enjoyed showing how the complexity of nature and animals show the hand of the creator.

With time, he developed a course for kids and for adults showing the divine providence behind nature and the lives of animals. As an educational experience, it was second to none as both kids and adults were riveted. It definitely brought with it some moments of humor and drama whether it was escaped scorpions or goats getting loose.

One of my first interactions with him was in Camp Gan Israel of Detroit, some 5 years before I met my wife. Both in school at home and especially in the camps that he participated as camp Rabbi he brought this love for nature and animals. Often the toughest and most difficult child will soften and bond while feeding baby chickens or caring for ducks.

I saw a number of children from troubled backgrounds, who he managed to connect with and nurture and bolster. The underlying reality that Hashem created the world was the common thread that ran through his classes and workshops.

He also played and coached sports, including arranging swimming and sports teams and competitions. For him, this was another way of breaking down barriers, connecting and bringing people together in a good atmosphere, and bringing people closer to Hashem the Torah and chassidus.

Rabbi Rodel’s relationship with Judaism was simple and straightforward. He did the right thing with joy and dedication. He served G-d by doing mitzvot, and enjoyed learning and teaching Torah, and especially understanding and delving into the simple explanation of Chumash (bible) and the Rashi commentary. When he would learn he would also ask questions of his children and students and included his own novel ideas.

As a true chossid and shliach his every action was imbued with doing what the Rebbe wanted. Rabbi Rodal was an emeser chassidic Jew yet with his own original approach. He was a true example of internalizing Judaism and chassidut and making it your own.

His dear wife, children, in-laws and grandchildren, students and friends were all impacted by, and will deeply miss this truthful loving and unassuming, yet a great man.