Vandy Hillel is excited to share our Alumni newsletter with you! Scroll to see updates from fellow alumni, and to see what Vanderbilt Hillel has been up to this fall.
Are you interested in being featured in a future alumni newsletter?
We would love to hear from you!
Email Shannon Small at shannon.small@vanderbilt.edu
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Evan McCants Goldman, Class of 2014
The last ten years have flown by! After I graduated in 2014 (sheesh) I took a gap year to travel and volunteer in Nepal with the organization Tevel B’Tzedek. As a volunteer in Nepal, I assisted with the effort to provide emergency relief aid to rural areas of the country following (and during) a series of devastating earthquakes. (Side note: Tevel is a great organization with a great mission – check it out! Tikkun Olam!)
After a few tumultuous but impactful months in Nepal, I moved to NYC and attended New York University School of Law. Though much of my elective coursework focused on criminal law, I ultimately started my legal career at a law firm practicing white collar criminal defense and commercial litigation.
However, after a couple years of practicing, I made a big jump and left the private sector to work as a public defender. I spent the next two years and change as part of a somewhat niche criminal-law-adjacent practice called the Parole Revocation Defense Unit. In that role I represented those being prosecuted for alleged violations of the terms of their parole and worked to get them out of the draconian and destabilizing Rikers Island jail and into stable, productive situations in the community.
About two years ago I made the decision to return to private practice, this time joining a small-but-mighty upstart law firm that handles a wide range of civil litigation. I am still living in New York, and still grateful to be learning and growing in my favorite city on the planet! I am engaged to an amazing young woman (fellow NYU Law Alum, Sophia Zander), and we have two cats (Kobe and Bodhi).
More than a decade after I first became involved with Vandy Hillel (shoutout FYSH Board 2010-11!) I cling to the fond memories I made. Hillel provided me with innumerable amazing experiences: from traveling the world through Birthright and Spring Break service trips, to building community on campus and giving back to the Nashville community in small but (hopefully) impactful ways, and I hope that every Jewish student at Vanderbilt has the opportunity to love and grow from Hillel as I did!
If you would like to get in touch with questions about anything (travel, law school, the legal field, fun things in NYC, etc.!) feel free to reach me at evanmg2310@gmail.com.
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Sydney and Jonathan Samuels, Class of 2019
We both graduated from Vanderbilt in 2019. Although we met at camp several years before college, we were fortunate to be at Vandy together, and Hillel was a place where we spent time regularly. After graduation, Jonathan moved to Birmingham, Alabama for his job as an actuary, and Sydney moved to Charlotte, North Carolina where she began her career in digital marketing. After traveling back and forth to visit each other throughout COVID-19, we moved back to Nashville in 2021.
In 2022, we bought a house, got engaged, and got a dog (it was a busy year!), and we got married in 2023. In our free time, we love to travel, spend time with friends and family, and catch up on our favorite shows.
We loved our time at Vanderbilt Hillel, and we are grateful for the friends and experiences it brought us. Now, we enjoy having Shabbat dinner with friends and hosting Jewish holidays at our home.
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Jerry Klein, Class of 1953
After spending two high school years at Montgomery Bell Academy and then graduating from West High in 1949, I matriculated at Vanderbilt to study pre-dent. As a student living at home and not in a dormitory, I was always proud to know that Hillel was a presence on campus even though it wasn't yet the outstanding facility it is today. I joined ZBT fraternity and played intramural football, but my fondest memory as a freshman is being on the Junior Varsity Basketball Team. Our coach David Scobey (who later became Nashville's Vice Mayor) had us travel with the varsity team which was always very exciting. It was a thrill to get on the court to play at Kentucky's Rupp Arena! There were some excellent players on our junior varsity team, such as Bob White and Jimmy Clark who went on to play varsity with local basketball greats such as George Kelley, George Kardokus, Bob Dudley Smith and Jack Heldman, names people may not be familiar with now but who were very popular at the time. On several occasions in our younger years we had the opportunity to get together and reminisce about these memorable times.
I would have liked to continue playing basketball at Vanderbilt but the time commitment interfered with my studies, so I chose to follow my plans of becoming a dentist. In my junior year at Vandy I went to Memphis to the University of Memphis School of Dentistry where I finished my undergraduate studies and started dental school. Following graduation I honed my skills as a dentist in the United States Air Force, stationed at NATO bases Dreux and Evreux in France then began practice in Logan Center (now Westgate Center). When the Continental Apartments was built in the early 1960's, I opened an office there, then built my own office on Cleghorn. My son, Larry, followed my path to M.B.A., then graduated from University of North Carolina, did a dental residency at University of Maryland and joined me in my practice. I truly enjoyed my work and derived a great deal of satisfaction from helping my patients.
Soon after going into practice, I met and married Mimi Benowitz from Red Bank, New Jersey, joined a host of other young-marrieds who had moved into Brookfield Courts duplexes (laughingly referred to as Stork Village) and we started our family. My greatest joy is our children: Larry (Kathy), Gina (Craig), and Risa (Drew) and 8 grandchildren: Sophie, Ethan and Olivia Jorasch, Vivian and Tess Herzog and Jack, Annie and Nancy Gracen Klein.
Health issues caused me to move last year from our home in Sugartree to Richland Health Center where I currently reside.
It's been an interesting life. In addition to my work, I've enjoyed most all sports (actively and watching), photography, being involved with the theater, and especially traveling all over the world. Since retiring, painting has kept me busy.
Vanderbilt has always been a big part of my life, as that is where all my doctors and medical records reside, as well as where my wife, Mimi, worked for 18 years. It is also where my eldest grandchild, Sophie Jorasch, received her degree and where my son-in-law, Drew Herzog, received his Masters in Business.
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- On August 11, we officially debuted the renovated Ben Schulman Center for Jewish Life with a ribbon-cutting ceremony (pictured above)! We could not have achieved this milestone without the incredible generosity of our community. See photos of our renovated space here
- We recently held FYSH (First Year Students of Hillel) Fest, our first-year move-in program, creating a network of Jewish friends for our incoming class. Over 250 people, first year students and theiir families, joined us for a jam-packed program complete with campus tours, downtown exploration, going to an escape room, and plenty of fun playing games at Pins Mechanical. (pictured above is our FYSH Fest crew!).
- Over 200 family members and students joined us for Family Weekend
on September 6th! We are so thrilled to have met and chatted with so many of you. Thank you for sharing Shabbat with us. (pictured above is Becca Carp, with her parents, Noah and Risa Carp, conducting Shabbat blessings for the event).
- This year, Vandy Hillel students had a blast at Sukkot Fest! They spent many hours under our campus Sukkah, enjoying music, games, and more. (pictured below).
- Over 200 students attended our Rosh Hashanah Seder this year. We were also thrilled to share Rosh Hashanah services with student Griffin, as he became a Bar Mitzvah at Vandy Hillel. (pictured below is Griffin as a new Bar Mitzvah!)
- Our Membership and Programming Board (MAP) held a Zumba program in October. Vandy students enjoyed engaging while exercising! (our Zunba crew is pictured below).
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Alumni had an amazing time at Reunion this weekend at our Wine and Cheese event, Shabbat, and Tailgate!
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| Coming up soon with Vandy Hillel
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