College students are undeterred by fear

If it was brave of 29 American Jewish college students to come to Israel in the war-torn summer of 2024 to participate in the annual Bar-Ilan University–Yeshiva University Summer Science Research Internship Program, then the 27 men and women in this summer’s cohort were not only brave but lucky.

The internships were to begin on June 25, but the start was delayed by a week because the war with Iran led to massive flight cancellations. Due to uncertainty about whether the hands-on research program would be forced to cancel as well, two of the students found alternative internships closer to home.

Yet the bulk of the 2025 cohort —Orthodox students from Yeshiva University, Cornell University, the Cooper Union, Queens College, Hunter College, Touro University, and SUNY Binghamton — had faith that the program’s 15th year would go ahead as planned, despite Iran and the ongoing war in Gaza. As it turned out, the war with Iran ended June 24, and most students were able to rebook flights to Israel by the first week of July.

Interns from New Jersey comprise a third of the cohort: Elza Koslowe, Ruth Frohlich, and Yonasan (Tani) Diament of Bergenfield; Devora Weinstein of Clifton; Vered Gottlieb of Edison; Benjamin Epstein of Englewood; Shoshi Cantor of Hillside; Leah Weiss Sher of Passaic; and Adina Feldman of Teaneck. Most of them had spent a gap year in Israel before starting college.

“I was never really concerned about being here,” Ms. Cantor said. “It was never a question. I was more concerned about how I was going to get here when my flight got canceled.” She managed to get on a flight that landed on July 3.

Speaking during the program’s final full week, the 21-year-old Cooper Union electrical engineering major recalled that many of her professors and classmates did not understand her determination to go to Israel during a war. But her parents, Esti and Adam Cantor, supported her decision.

Ms. Cantor, who graduated from the Bruriah High School for Girls in Elizabeth, interned in the Bar-Ilan lab of Professor Adam Teman in the Kofkin Faculty of Engineering. Mentored by Dr. Yoav Weitzman, she helped develop and test a monitoring system that could aid in overcoming a major challenge in computer chip design: predicting how long a chip will function before it starts to degrade.

“It’s really cool to witness and be a part of innovative research in Israel,” she said. “The students and professors in my lab were all so friendly and helpful.” In addition to excellent networking opportunities for her planned future in Israel, she added, “it was also fun to hear conversations in Hebrew about some of the concepts I’ve learned in school.”

Ms. Koslowe, who graduated from the Frisch School in Paramus in 2023 and now is entering her junior year as a computer science major at YU’s Stern College for Women, interned in Professor Gilad Asharov’s cryptography lab.

Her project focused on designing and implementing secure multiparty computation protocols. This method allows multiple parties to compute a function jointly without revealing their inputs to each other. A classic example of MPC is when a group of millionaires want to determine the highest salary among them without revealing their individual earnings to each other.

Ms. Koslowe noted that the computer science field is changing rapidly, especially with the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, and therefore she cannot predict what her job prospects will be when she graduates in two years. She is considering aliyah as well.

“One of the big reasons I did this internship was to see what my options are in the field,” she said. “I spoke to my professor and to others in the field, and to my aunts and uncles who live here. I don’t have clear answers, but I feel I’ve gotten to know more people and will have more connections in Israel when I’m done with my degree. I hope in a couple of years I’ll feel more equipped to contribute to the workforce.”

Ms. Koslowe said that she assumes her parents, Shana and Jamin Koslowe, “felt a little nervous” about her going to Israel this summer but nevertheless were very encouraging. She arrived on July 2, after her original flight was canceled.

“I just wanted so badly to get here for the summer,” she said. “I knew that if the airlines opened up and programs were running then I would feel safe coming here.”

The program’s home base is YU’s Gruss Institute Jerusalem campus. The interns are bused about an hour away to Ramat Gan, the Tel Aviv suburb that is home to Bar-Ilan.

“It’s been a very beautiful summer living in Jerusalem,” Ms. Koslowe said. She visited friends from her gap year at the Beit Midrash for Women in Migdal Oz who made aliyah and are now college students or doing national civilian or army service. “It was really nice to see how they are succeeding in the challenge of being new immigrants.”

Since its inception, the joint program has brought nearly 500 American undergraduates to Israel. Professor Arlene Gordon of BIU’s Department of Chemistry now directs the program.

“Working with leading faculty and graduate mentors in areas ranging from Alzheimer’s research and depression to aging and language acquisition, students are immersed in an environment that fosters both scientific inquiry and personal growth,” Dr. Gordon said. “Each participant is matched with a lab that aligns with their individual interests and career goals, ensuring a deeply meaningful experience.”

Participants also have opportunities to attend lectures by BIU scholars, evening programs, Torah learning, and Shabbatonim, and visit interesting sites such as Teperberg Winery, Israel Aerospace Industries, the National Library, and the Volcani Center for Agricultural Research.

Mr. Epstein, 21, a YU biochemistry major, worked in the lab of Prof. Haim Cohen, director of the Sagol Healthy Human Longevity Center at Bar-Ilan University’s Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences. He investigated how changes in DNA architecture occur with age and how they can be reversed.

“The lab focuses on investigating the molecular mechanisms of aging and is recognized as a leader in its field,” he said. “I gained hands-on experience with a range of important techniques. The team was exceptionally welcoming and created a supportive, engaging environment that made the lab a genuinely fun and motivating place to work.”

Ms. Weinstein, an incoming senior at Touro University, is a biology major and worked in the chemistry lab of Prof. Jordan Chill with a focus on cellular biology. She created a version of a cell-regulating protein, E2F8, to examine how adding a phosphate group to this protein may affect how it interacts with other proteins involved in regulating cell activity.

“Being involved in cutting-edge research in Israel really solidifies the idea for me that Israel is not only the home of our history and our past but is also the place of the future of Am Yisrael,” the nation of Israel, she said.

Ms. Weinstein added that the Bar-Ilan University–Yeshiva University Summer Science Research Internship Program was exactly what she’d been searching for when deciding her plans for the summer.

“I knew that I wanted to spend time in Israel, but at the same time work toward furthering my education,” she said. “It was the perfect solution. When the situation with Iran shut down all the airports and threatened to cancel the program, I never lost faith that I would be spending my summer in Israel, despite everyone constantly asking me ‘What will you do if your program is canceled?’

“I am incredibly grateful to the team that helped to organize this program. There is no better way that I can imagine my summer than spending it in Israel.”

The internship program, supported by Monique and the late Mordecai Katz, the Irving I. Stone Foundation, and the Zoltan Erenyi Charitable Fund, is run by Bar-Ilan University’s International School. Applications for the 2026 program will be available online in December.