Noi Maudi, 29: US-Israeli who taught in Minnesota school for years
Murdered with family and friends at the Psyduck music festival near Kibbutz Nirim on October 7
Noi Maudi, 29, a US-Israeli dual citizen from the southern town of Yated, was murdered on October 7 at the Psyduck music festival near Kibbutz Nirim.
He attended the festival with his nephew, Matan Rosenberg, who was also killed, as was Noi’s brother-in-law, Moti Elkabetz. His close friend Noam Rabia and Noam’s brother Yuval were also murdered at the same festival.
Maudi is survived by his parents, Tamar and Shimon, siblings Sapir, Shani and Sivan, his ex-wife, Sophia Ariola, and many nieces and nephews.
His sister Shani, the mother of Matan, wrote on Facebook: “Noynoy my brother, save me a place next to you at the table. You loved the Shabbat table the most, sitting together, especially when you were missing it while you were in America with the wonderful Sophie,” she wrote. Shani also shared a family photo, writing: “Matan, Noi and Moti, the photo without you is incomplete… you will always be in our hearts.”
His sister Sivan posted a photo on Facebook sitting on the ground between the graves of her husband, Moti, and brother, Noi: “Sitting between my two angels, I feel you close to me and I miss you and can’t believe it.”
Maudi taught Hebrew at a Jewish day school in St. Paul, Minnesota, from 2015 to 2021, when he returned to Israel following his divorce.
“He was a treasure like you can’t imagine, the kids loved him — ‘Can Noi come to class today? Can Noi teach us something?’ He was truly truly wonderful,” Rabbi Yosi Gordon, of the Talmud Torah of St. Paul, told the local CBS news station. “He did things in education as a teacher that I learned from him and I’ve been teaching for 65 years.”
“He just was a ray of sunshine for my kids and made them want to go to school,” said Rebecca Noecker, a former president of the school who had two children in Maudi’s classes, in comments to a local news outlet. “To lose anybody, but to lose somebody like that in such a way that was so violent, so horrific, for somebody who was so friendly and so peace-loving, I mean, it’s unspeakable.”
His childhood friend Oren Hazan (not the ex-MK) memorialized Maudi in a post on social media.
“I can’t believe I’m writing about you in the past tense, my dear friend. We spent so many years together, our entire dumb teenage years we would hang out, laugh, have innumerous deep conversations,” he wrote. “We’d also sit with Noam and Yuval in Yesha with all our friends.”
“You were a friend and a dear brother,” he added. “I will miss you so much. I love you and I hope I will be able to recover from this huge loss.”