The official student newspaper of Vanderbilt University

The Vanderbilt Hustler

The official student newspaper of Vanderbilt University.
Since 1888
The official student newspaper of Vanderbilt University

The Vanderbilt Hustler

The official student newspaper of Vanderbilt University.
The official student newspaper of Vanderbilt University

The Vanderbilt Hustler

The official student newspaper of Vanderbilt University.

Zack Freeling, co-founder of Aryeh’s Kitchen, passes away

Freeling, a member of the Class of 2017, co-founded Aryeh’s Kitchen, an on-campus food truck.
A+path+on+Vanderbilts+campus
Emery Little
A path on Vanderbilt’s campus, as photographed on Nov. 9, 2020. (Hustler Multimedia/Emery Little)

Editor’s note: This piece contains mention of gun violence. 

On Oct. 21, Chabad Vanderbilt’s Instagram account announced that Zack Freeling (‘17) was shot and killed in what is being investigated as a homicide. He co-founded Aryeh’s Kitchen, the first fully kosher food truck on a U.S. college campus.

“Zack was an extraordinary person whom we loved dearly and will miss tremendously,” Chabad Vanderbilt’s Rabbi Shlomo Rothstein said in a message to The Hustler.

Freeling created Aryeh’s Kitchen with his father and Rothstein to honor Freeling’s brother, Sam, who passed away in 2013. Aryeh was Zack’s Hebrew name, meaning lion. Aryeh’s Kitchen began serving Vanderbilt’s campus in 2016 and was rebranded as Holy Smokes in 2020.

Freeling’s father and mother passed away in 2017 and 2019, respectively. However, per Rothstein, Freeling did not allow these tragedies to affect his outlook on life. 

“I’ve never met a person with as much family tragedy as Zack, his only sibling, father, and mother all passed away during his life,” Rothstein’s message reads. “He had every excuse and reason to give up on life, but he didn’t.”

Rothstein added that Freeling loved helping people and hired employees for Aryeh’s Kitchen in hopes of making their lives better.

“His driving force was how he could use his experiences to ease other people’s pain and help them embrace life,” Rothstein’s message reads.

Leave a comment
About the Contributors
Sally Johnson, Former Staff Writer
Sally Johnson ('22) is from Franklin, Tennessee, and is majoring in political science and English with a minor in Spanish in the College of Arts and Science. She can be reached at [email protected].
Emery Little, Former Social Media Director
Emery Little (‘22) is from Birmingham, AL. She majored in communication of science and technology and Spanish. In her free time, she loves to design graphics, follow tech news and run her photography business. She can be reached at [email protected].
More to Discover

Comments (0)

The Vanderbilt Hustler welcomes and encourages readers to engage with content and express opinions through the comment sections on our website and social media platforms. The Hustler reserves the right to remove comments that contain vulgarity, hate speech, personal attacks or that appear to be spam, commercial promotion or impersonation. The comment sections are moderated by our Editor-in-Chief, Rachael Perrotta, and our Social Media Director, Chloe Postlewaite. You can reach them at [email protected] and [email protected].
All The Vanderbilt Hustler picks Reader picks Sort: Newest
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments