Luxury and Hiddur Combine in New Kingston Avenue Mikveh
Nobody frequenting Kingston Avenue can have failed to notice the gorgeous new building just completed between Crown and Montgomery Streets, just to the left of Auction Ware. Many know that it houses a brand new men’s mikveh, and quite a few of those have already tried it out. Yet there’s more to this story than meets the eye.
Conceived some 7–8 years ago by Rabbi Don Yoel Levy of the OK Labs, the project soon evolved into a joint undertaking of the Levy and Rabkin families, according to Rabbi Chaim Fogelman, an official of the OK and chief overseer of the project. The mikveh, which officially opened Yud Shvat, is on the basement level of the three-level structure and has been built and maintained by the Rabkin family in memory of their father, Reb Meir Rabkin, a”h. It is to be called “Mei Meir,” or “Waters of Meir.” The second floor of the building houses a magnificent and truly inspiring (it has 15-foot ceilings with a dome!) shul built by the Levy family in memory of Rabbi Levy’s brother, Reb Eliezer Yitzchok Levy. It is scheduled to open in time for Pesach, and will IY”H be known as “Beis Eliezer Yitzchok.”
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