Class Correspondent

Mehrun Etebari works at the Brookings Institution as a senior research assistant in the Saban Center for Middle East Policy. The five-time “Jeopardy” champion, who won $128,100 during his run in 2007, also operates what appears to be the most competitive bar trivia night in Washington, D.C., at Stetsons Famous Bar & Grill, on U Street. Featuring eight rounds of 10 questions each, Mehrun’s trivia contest routinely draws standing-room-only crowds of very serious competitors. After graduating from Brandeis, Mehrun taught English for a year in France. He later returned to the United States and pursued a master’s degree at Yale. Rachel Silverman and Joshua Bob ’01 are engaged to be married in October. Rachel, who earned a master’s degree in Jewish education and rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary, is the director of congregational learning at Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline, Mass. Joshua earned an M.B.A. from Babson College. He is the founder and CEO of TurnStar, as well as a global facilitator of Startup Weekend and a teacher at Prozdor: The High School of Hebrew College. Meredith Bodgas recently accepted a position at WomansDay.com as senior editor. She’s also blogging weekly for the Huffington Post. After seven and a half years as marketing communications manager at luxury eyewear company Robert Marc, Anna Natsume joined the O Group, a branding and design agency for luxury brands. She is an account executive and will be handling a variety of clients in the areas of fashion, hospitality, jewelry and spirits. Nina Cusner and her husband, Yitzi, welcomed their third child, Julie, on Sept. 9, 2011. The baby’s big sisters, Naomi and Lucy, are delighted. Debbie Miller released her second album, “Measures + Waits,” on March 27. She is also pursuing a doctorate in natural medicine from Bastyr University in Seattle. Matthew Bloom married Catherine Milne on March 17 at the Deering Estate, a historic mansion in Miami. Matthew is an associate at A.T. Kearney, a management consultancy, and works in New York. He received an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. Catherine is a third-year law student at Cornell. In October, she is to join the New York office of the Hogan Lovells law firm as an associate. The couple met in summer 2002 when they were interns in Washington, he for Sen. Robert Torricelli of New Jersey, and she for the United Way of the National Capital Area. Sharon Grysman; her husband, Jeremy; and newly minted big sister Ella welcomed twins, Jesse Daniel and Gabrielle Maya, on Feb. 29. They live in Riverdale, N.Y. Miriam Hurwitz married Jonathan Berk on Sept. 18, 2011, in Bronxville, N.Y. Sheila Kaufman was maid of honor, and Emily Berk ’11 and Amanda Berk ’06 were bridesmaids. Other alumni in attendance included Lauren Kanter Applebaum, Elizabeth Carlson, Aron Klein ’05, Deborah (Berkman) Thomashow, and Dana Blankschtein Tilkin. Amy Non is due to complete a two-year postdoctoral Robert Wood Johnson fellowship at Harvard University this summer, and will begin a tenure-track assistant faculty position in anthropology and in the Program in Medicine, Health and Society at Vanderbilt University in the fall. Her husband, Jorge Roman, graduated with a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Florida in the spring and will serve as an assistant professor of mathematics at Vanderbilt in the fall. Cesar Ramirez married Dominika Sasak-Ramirez and is now living in New Jersey. He earned his M.A. in social organizational psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and is a certified professional coach through Columbia Business School. He is part of the Human Resource Leadership Development Program at GE Healthcare in Piscataway, N.J. He also coaches and mentors Brandeis students and alumni. Dalya Levin married Henry Redel on Aug. 21, 2011, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York. Brandeis bridesmaids included her sisters, Galete Levin ’00 and Tali Levin ’01; cousin Tova Ferstenberg ’12; and friends Ariel Goldwyn Harary, Jennifer Hoffman and Halie Geller. Other Brandeis attendees included Morty Ain; Dara Brzoska; Sarah Chopnick; Shanah Gutman; David Lubinsky; Patricia Piekarski ’03; Tamar Senderowicz; Eric Strauss, M.A.’05; and Ora Wexler. Jake Kamins was named one of America’s Top Ten Animal Defenders by the Animal Legal Defense Fund for his prosecutions of animal neglect cases. He has worked as a deputy district attorney in Multnomah County, Ore., since 2010. Jake received his J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School, in Portland, Ore., where he was an associate editor of the Lewis & Clark Law Review. He resides in Portland with his wife, Jackie; their 16-month-old son, Mason; and their 16-year-old cat, Cassie. Anna and Jeff Rosenspan welcomed Benjamin Isaac Rosenspan (Class of 2034) to their family on Feb. 15. Stephanie (Weinberg) Riviello announces that she and her husband, John, had a baby boy, Max Isaac Riviello, on Feb. 10.

Photo of Levin Redel wedding
NYC nuptials. Dalya Levin ’04 married Henry Redel on Aug. 21, 2011, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York. Brandeis alumni in attendance included, from left, Tali Levin ’01; Galete Levin ’00; Patricia Piekarski ’03; Eric Strauss ’04, M.A.’05; Ariel Goldwyn Harary ’04; Shanah Gutman ’04; Ora Wexler ’04; Jennifer Hoffman ’04; Dalya; Henry; Halie Geller ’04; Tova Ferstenberg ’12; Morty Ain ’04; David Lubinsky ’04; Sarah Chopnick ’04; Dara Brzoska ’04; and Tamar Senderowicz ’04.
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