Remembering a Teacher and a Friend, Bob Goldy.

Hillel leadership around 1990/1991. Rabbi Goldy is second from left. The author, Amy Shaiman, is center.

Walking up the steps of Hillel the first time, my heart beat with nervousness. Would I feel included, would I know anyone? What was Hillel going to be like? I opened the door and went in. Within a few minutes people greeted me and I began to feel comfortable. That was one of the many many times I walked through Hillel's doors as a Miami student. Amongst the community and family I found in Hillel at Miami was the then director, Rabbi Robert Goldy, PhD, or to us (and most people he met), Bob. The Hillel director here from 1984-1994, he touched my life and the lives of so many students. He empowered us to be comfortable with our identities, to learn, to teach, to explore, to have fun, and to embrace Judaism. Our family of Hillel-connected students watched on the sidelines as he and Dr. Charlotte Newman (now Goldy) dated, and they let us throw them an engagement party before they married. We had the joy of watching Bob be a new dad to his daughter Rachel (who enjoyed the Feival Mousekowitz doll that was our broomball mascot). When I moved back to Oxford in 2005, I had the blessings of reconnecting with Bob and Charlotte and getting to know Rachel as an adult, before they followed her to Maryland after Charlotte's retirement from Miami. It was wonderful to watch him with my family (also a midlife Miami story), especially my son. Bob was a teacher, a friend, a mentor, and an exemplar for me and for so many other students. I invite you to learn a bit more about other aspects of his life (wrestling, Israeli Army and government service, magazine editing, and more) in the obituary that his family assembled. It was a gift to be Bob's student and friend. I pray that his memory is a blessing to his family and to all who were honored to know him.

Amy Shaiman (Greenbaum), '91

Have memories or photos of Rabbi Goldy to share? Please feel free to send your memories to Amy at amy@amyshaiman.com and she will make sure to share those memories with Charlotte Goldy, Bob’s wife, and their daughter, Rachel.

Rabbi Goldy with his daughter, Rachel, and Fievel.