Rabbi Ariel Rav-Noy’s Last Cause

By COLlive reporter

As the family of Rabbi Ariel Rav-Noy OBM were sitting shiva this week in Los Angeles, they began discussing a meaningful way to honor the memory of the Shliach who was an inspiration to many.

It was the last night of the shiva and they discovered an unknown cause he was heavily involved with.

In addition to his responsibilities as assistant director of Chabad Persian Youth in Los Angeles and a father of 7 children, Rav-Noy was working on building a mikvah some 600 miles away.

Rav-Noy’s sister-in-law and her husband, Rabbi Eli and Mushkie Cowen are the directors of Chabad of Humboldt in Arcata, near Humboldt Bay on the North Coast of California.

“He was kind of a father figure to them,” says Mrs. Racheli Muchnik, a sister of Ariel Rav-Noy, who adds that her brother and sister-in-law Miriam helped marry off the couple and guide them to pursue Shlichus and then found them the position.

Hearing that community members were inquiring about the observance of mikvah and the laws of family purity (Taharas Hamishpachah), Rabbi Rav-Noy began encouraging them to build one for Humboldt County, home to 2,000 Jews.

“Ariel really insisted that a campaign begin,” Muchnik, herself a Shlucha in Oxnard, CA, told COLlive.com. “He gave a few thousand dollars as seed money and began soliciting for them because the community in Humboldt can’t support such a project.”

Rabbi Rav-Noy fundraised for the cause in Los Angeles and would often tell his wife that he wished he could pay for the entire building project. “He gave every penny of maaser for the mikvah,” Muchnik says.

Upon hearing this, the Rav-Noy family decided to launch a capital campaign to get the Mikvah built. Rabbi Eli and Mushkie Cowen announced that the building will be called “Ariel’s Mikvah” to honor his memory.

His wife Miriam Rav-Noy says there’s no doubt in her mind that this would be the first project her late husband would want to see come to fruition. “It would be so meaningful to see this happen,” she said.

To donate, visit www.ArielsMikvah.com