Rabbi David Shunak and Rabbi Sam Kassin
Rabbi David Shunak, the assistant of the Chief Rabbi of Milano. He oversees the spiritual needs of 12,000 Jews in the city, officiating at weddings, funerals and bar mitzvahs.
During the past decade, there has been an influx of Syrian, Lebanese and Persian Jews in the city, each with a strong connection to traditional Judaism. Kosher meat is imported and very expensive so many Jews who wanted to keep kosher could not. Rabbi Shunak was able to find higher quality kosher meat with a higher kashrut standard at half the price. He convinced the community to subsidize the cost and as a result there was a 40 percent increase in the purchase of kosher meat. Rabbi Shunak will become the Chief Rabbi of Milano in a few years.