Two’s AZA Sopher Micah Kramer and Two’s advisor David Wexler recently sat down with Diane Mnookin Arnell, daughter of AZA’s first advisor Nathan Mnookin. After starting up AZA’s first chapter in Omaha, Neb., Mnookin moved back home to Kansas City in April 1923, where he formed the second chapter in the order — Kansas City AZA #2.
So who was Nathan Mnookin? What were some of his hobbies and interests?
Mnookin Arnell: Outside of work, he liked everything. He just enjoyed life. He loved playing with the kids. And he was just a big kid himself. My mother used to throw up her hands in despair and say, “He’s just never going grow up. He’s just never going grow up” And she enjoyed every minute of it.
He was fun. We used to go sledding and, and ride bikes and do all kinds of fun things. He learned how to fly. He was a pilot. He learned how to fly a Piper Cub. And my mother refused to let him take us up. He really, really wanted to, but she wouldn’t allow it. And she was the disciplinarian. He would say, “Ah, so what?” if we did something wrong, but she would lay the law down. I think he was more fun. She was a more serious one of the two. And she’d you know, try and make him straight and narrow. He didn’t buy it.
In 1926, Nate and another Kansas City chemist, J.C. Patrick, made quite a discovery in an artificial rubber called Thiokol, which was later used in rocket fuel. How did that all happen and can you talk about the importance of that invention?
Mnookin Arnell: He was a chemist and he was trying to make antifreeze. It was supposed to be an antifreeze, ethylene glycol, and they cooked it accidentally, and it turned out to be this absolutely stinky rubber. Then they just stuck it and stuck it away and forgot about it. And one day somebody took it out and it was odoriferous, so they didn’t want to do anything with it. But ultimately it turned out to be Thiokol, which was a wonderful thing to behold. Synthetic rubber. He really never knew that it was going to be the most wonderful, solid rocket fuel. He never knew any of that. It was all long after he died. And so he was not able to enjoy the benefits of it.
BBYO is now in 60 different countries worldwide. We just returned from International Convention in Denver, with close to 4,000 Jewish teens from all over the world. What would your father say about all this?
Mnookin Arnell: Oh, he would just … it would just blow him away. I mean, he would be so proud. He would be so proud of what they had accomplished. He was very, very proud of his boys. He loved them dearly, all of them. It certainly has grown. It’s amazing. I had no idea that it was worldwide. I really didn’t know that. That really is amazing. I know that he was very involved in this youth organization. I know that it was the love of his life and he enjoyed every minute of it.
What were some of the major lessons, ideals and principles that your father imparted upon you?
Just be a good person. Do what you can to help other people.
How was Nate remembered by the family?
Mnookin Arnell: He was just an awesome person, a wonderful sense of humor, wonderful intelligence. He was very, very, very bright and enjoyed passing that on to the young people. I think that’s what he really loved doing, was showing people how wonderful life is and how much you can enjoy and help others. He was just an amazing person. He was brilliant and worked hard.
Tell us about his sense of humor?
Mnookin Arnell: He loved to … if there was a fully set table, he liked to try and pull the tablecloth out without disturbing the dishes. It never ever worked. He tried it many, many times and it never worked. But he tried. He liked trying. Of course, my mother got furious. But of course he did it anyway.
In addition to starting AZA and inventing artificial rubber, your father also served in both world wars, World War I and World War II, even lying on his draft card to get into the first war, correct?
Mnookin Arnell: Well, he wanted to to go play soldier, and in order to do that, he put himself into the hospital for a week so that his blood pressure would get down low enough so he could pass the test. What can I tell you? My mother threw up her hands and said, “Go be a soldier.” And she did back him up in that. She let him do the things that he loved to do. So he went into the Army, into the Chemical Warfare Service. He was stationed for officers training in Baltimore, Maryland, and then he was stationed in Denver, and we spent a summer in Evergreen, Colorado, when he was stationed in Denver. And he made a lot of friendships in the Army that stayed friends long after. He loved it. I mean, you know, we were here in Kansas City and he was off playing soldier. And my mother was very tolerant of that. She allowed him to do the things he loved.
It sounds like Nathan was an incredible person and pursued a level of excellence in everything he did. For AZA, we have our ceremonial meetings and our rituals and procedures, and in there it says that to join AZA you have to be “a Jew of good moral character.” And then it says a desire to be helpful. How much do you feel Nate really exemplified that?
Mnookin Arnell: That was his life. He always wanted to be helpful in one way or another. Even through humor. But definitely wanting to be helpful. That was his — that was his life. He loved helping people. He loved doing things for people. He was just an amazing person.
How did he pass away?
Mnookin Arnell: Heart attack. He had heart disease for quite some time. He had his office was in Olathe and he drove home — I think in the snow storm that caused the heart attack that, that he died from. But he had had heart trouble for quite some time.
Can you end with the story about BBYO founder Sam Beber that you were telling us earlier?
Mnookin Arnell: When my husband and I were moving to Chicago, he was going to have a law practice in Chicago and we couldn’t find an apartment. And we knew from Kansas City that Sam Beber was one of the owners of Park Forest, Illinois, which was a housing development. So I took it upon myself to go into his office and I said that I knew of him because he was one of my father’s boys in AZA in Kansas City, and could he help me get an apartment? He was wonderful to us, got us an apartment. They gave us a royal welcome, and they were very, very nice to us. It just so happened that we were changing our name and we happened to change it in Sam Beber’s office. So that’s my story about Sam Beber. He was a very, very nice man. In that office, we went through the phone book trying to find a name that wasn’t Aronovsky, which our name was. All of the other family picked the name Arnold, but we saw pages and pages of Arnold in the phone book, so we didn’t want to pick that. So we just out of the blue picked Arnell and that became our name.
