ST PAUL, Minn. — Members of a St. Paul school community are remembering a 29-year-old man killed in Israel during the initial attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Noi Maudi taught at Talmud Torah school in St. Paul for six years, becoming a beloved teacher and trusted friend to both students and fellow teachers.
“He was the perfect big brother,” said Rabbi Yosi Gordon, Maudi’s friend and former colleague about Maudi’s connection to students in the school.
“It’s nice to have a teacher who represents Israel who became an American and became a regular member of our faculty and was such an extraordinary, loving, kind, caring, intelligent, natural teacher,” Rabbi Gordon added about how Maudi’s colleagues felt about his teaching style and leadership.
In 2021, Maudi decided to return to his home country of Israel and settled in his family’s hometown near the Gaza border. On Oct. 7, Maudi had attended a musical festival when he was targeted by terrorists, along with his brother-in-law, two friends and his 17-year-old nephew.
“They found all their bodies murdered in the car, except for his nephew,” Gordon said, adding that the family believes the teenager was taken captive and is now being held hostage in Gaza.
‘A ray of sunshine’
As a former president of the Talmud Torah school and as a parent of two of Maudi’s students, St. Paul City Council Member Rebecca Noecker knew Maudi both professionally and personally.
“He just was a ray of sunshine for my kids and made them want to come to school,” Noecker said on Wednesday.
Perhaps that’s why – when Noecker was talking about the conflict with her children last week – their minds quickly shifted to whether Maudi was safe.
“One of the first things they said was, ‘Well we wonder if Noi is OK,’” Noecker said, adding that she was stunned when she read an email confirming “Noi’s death” the very next day: “I just read those two words and it was just a complete shock.”
‘He had compassion’
On Sunday, friends and family in Minnesota united with family in Israel for Maudi’s online memorial service. Today, those same Minnesotans say they’re still grieving their friend and heartbroken for themselves and his family, both near and far.
“All those things we hoped for for him are all gone. And for his family, who we care about very much, they… you never recover from this. There will never be a moment when they are ok, and that’s too terrible to think about,” Rabbi Gordon said, adding that Maudi also “had compassion” for his neighbors in Gaza.
Friends further note the contradiction between how Maudi lived and his violent death. A contradiction and loss they believe should be felt by all Minnesotans.
“He’s a Minnesotan, and he’s an American,” said Rabbi Gordon, adding: “So everybody here should understand that that’s their person, that’s their friend. That’s one degree separation from their own lives and their own families. And it’s our own loss, and then we should hope for a peaceful resolution to all the violence and death and loss in the Middle East.”
“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,” Noecker also reflected.
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