hicago NCSY lost one of its founding pillars last year. Rabbi Jack Schnell passed away after a long battle with illness in August 2011. Among his many accomplishments as a philanthropist and an educator, Rabbi Schnell was among the first people to bring NCSY to the Windy City. “Rabbi Schnell was a giant of a man, both literally and figuratively,“ said Rabbi Micha Greenland, Regional Director of Midwest NCSY. “I was inspired by each and every interaction with him.” Standing over six feet and weighing 240 pounds (“on a good Monday,” his wife Rashi said), Rabbi Schnell was a gentle giant and his appearance belied an incredible warmth that touched everyone he dealt with. Rabbi Schnell was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1935. He graduated from Torah Vodaath and was the 109th graduate of Beth Medrash Govoha of Lakewood. He met his wife Rashi while the two were in Brooklyn College. After they married in 1958, the newlyweds settled in West Rogers Park in the Northside of Chicago. In those days, there was barely any Jewish community in Chicago, much less a religious one. Rabbi Schnell was hired as an educational director at Skokie Valley Traditional Synagogue, the local religious school. It was an uphill battle, Rashi recalled. “Parents in those days felt less threatened if their kids were sprawled out in Haight-Ashbury than if their children were becoming Orthodox,” Rashi said, referring to the drug-fueled hippie-mecca of the 1960s. Seeing the potential for growth in the community, he helped found one of the first NCSY chapters of Chicago. “He recognized early on that the best thing he could do for these kids was to connect them to a greater network of Jewish teens and other role models,” Rabbi Greenland said.
position as an educational director to launch a successful career in the nursing home industry. For dozens of years, the NCSY youth commission meetings were held in the living room of his West Rogers home and he served as chairman for over a decade. When he felt NCSY Chicago wasn’t getting enough funds, he was known to fly to New York on a whim and storm the NCSY office for more funds. For Rabbi Schnell, his wife said, “Every dollar had a mission.” Rabbi Pinchos Stolper, the founder of NCSY, recalled his commitment. “He was a very good, very wonderful person,” Rabbi Stolper said. “I traveled to Chicago a number of times and he was always there to work with us and he took it very seriously. It was meaningful for him.” “He looked upon NCSY not as an obligation but as an opportunity and served with passion,” Rashi said. “It was his first wife, and I’m the one that cooked dinner.” He continued his involvement in NCSY throughout his life. He was an equally fundamental part of Jewish life in Chicago. He gave the longest uninterrupted Gemarah shiur — 47-years — until he was physically unable to continue it. His wife said that they planned their vacations around the shiur. More than 1,000 people attended his funeral on August 14, 2011. He left behind four children and over 20 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His son, Dovid Schnell, President of Midwest Agudah, spoke about his effect. “Many of the kids he influenced married and went on to become Shomer Shabbat,” he said. “Even the ones that didn’t retain some semblance of Jewish identity, they maintained their relationship with my father for decades.” Looking back, Rashi summed up his legacy succinctly. “He had the zchus of making the world a better world.”
His love affair with NCSY continued even after he left his
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