Class Correspondent

15th Reunion
June 3-5, 2016

Ariel Ahram received tenure and was promoted to associate professor in Virginia Tech’s School of Public and International Affairs. He teaches in Alexandria, Va., and lives in Bethesda, Md. Ariel recently testified at the U.S. House Foreign Relations Committee’s hearing on sexual violence against women and girls committed by the Islamic State. Dev Bondarin was named artistic director of New York’s Astoria Performing Arts Center. Her first production was the notorious Broadway flop “Merrily We Roll Along,” a musical that follows three New York City friends as they pursue artistic careers over a two-decade span. Dev’s version of the play was inspired by a Brandeis production she participated in as a student. On July 8, Jon Braunstein became a father to Maya Madeline. Amy (Leichtner) Deutsch serves as director of the Ansin Religious School at Temple Ohabei Shalom, in Brookline, Mass. She and her husband, Dan, relocated from New York in 2014 when he became executive director at Temple Israel of Boston. They live in Brookline with their two kids, Abigail, 6, and Benjamin, 3. Diana Coben Einstein has joined other young leaders on the Mayor’s Star Council in Dallas. She serves as director of community connections at Temple Emanu-El. Diana and her husband, Heath, have three children: Levyn, 8; Adielle, 6; and Asher, 3. Brenna Carney Ferrick graduated from the University of Massachusetts School of Law. Jessie Glasser is an infectious-disease staff physician at the San Antonio Military Medical Center. Her family grew with the addition of Hannah Rose on July 7. Big brother Benjamin is having lots of fun with his baby sister. Rachael Goren-Watts and Molly Goren-Watts ’02 welcomed daughter Miriam Ayla, who was born on June 4. Big brother Jonah loves having a sibling. Scott Josephson was to wed Lavanya Sunkara in September in a private ceremony in Greece. They live in Jersey City, N.J. Amanda (Moskowitz) Levin and Jesse Levin had a second baby girl, Anna Louise, on Aug. 9. Amanda reports that big sister Olivia is having a blast. Nishant Malhotra joined Signal Hill India’s Bangalore office as vice president. He brings more than 10 years of investment-banking, private-equity and management experience, the latter with Wooqer, a successful Indian software startup. Matt Riesenberg and his wife, Randi, welcomed Ella Grace on March 14. Adam Smoler was named to Oy! Chicago’s Double Chai in the Chi list of 36 young Jewish adults striving to make the world a better place. He is a video and mobile development manager at Google, and one of the youngest Google managers to have held the title “head of industry.” He is also a board member at Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel and is very involved with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Adam is married and has a 1-year-old son. Sara Kahn Troster earned her master’s degree in public health from the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service. She works as a research analyst at the Maine Rural Health Research Center, and lives in Portland with her husband, David Freidenreich ’99, and their children, Naomi and Jacob. Sam Wainer produced a new marketing video for Metalphoto, a specialized type of anodized aluminum used to make durable high-resolution name plates, labels and control panels for industrial and military applications.

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