Learning leadership
Local students go to Israel on Nitzavim Fellowship
Nine recent high school graduates from Bergen County are better prepared to respond to ignorant, hostile, or just plain curious questions about Israel when they enter college in the fall, thanks to the Nitzavim Fellowship program for Orthodox gap-year students in Israel.
Nitzavim — the Hebrew plural for “standing up,” as you do to a challenge — was founded in 2021 by Rabbi Adi Isaacs, Hebrew University, and the 7 Schwartz Brothers Leadership Trust. This year, the program partnered with Masa Israel Journey, a program of the Jewish Agency and the Israeli government that provides “transformative experiences” in Israel for young Jewish diaspora adults.
This year, the 100 fellows from 32 gap-year programs include Renee Gershuni of Bergenfield; Ayelet Tkatch, Aurielle Gutkind, and Mia Friedman, all of Englewood; and Miriam Blech, Gedaliah Dimbert, Dovid Herrman, Liat Furer, and Yishaya Pearlman, all of Teaneck.
Under the direction of Yehuda Benhamou and former West Caldwell resident Netanya Greiff, Nitzavim Fellows complete 12 for-credit classes at Hebrew University that cover such topics as Jewish leadership on college campuses, combating antisemitism, and how to stand up for Israel on campus.
In addition to the monthly classes, the fellows form groups and work with a mentor to devise Jewish engagement and awareness projects they can implement at their colleges.
Ms. Tkatch, a 19-year-old Frisch graduate, will begin at MIT in the fall after finishing her gap year at Michlelet Mevaseret Yerushalayim seminary in Jerusalem.
“I thought Nitzavim would help teach me great leadership skills before going on to a secular college campus,” she said. “One part is antisemitism-focused and one part is more leadership-focused; I joined for both reasons. I wanted to go to a college that would provide the education I am seeking, and I hoped Nitzavim would help me gain tools to stand up against antisemitism so I don’t have to worry about that aspect and can concentrate on my studies.”
Ms. Tkatch said she felt that she indeed gained those tools from “amazing” Nitzavim teachers such as Rabbi Akiva Gersh, as well as guest lecturers including the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Yechiel (Michael) Leiter, and veteran Israel educator Charlotte Korchak, formerly of StandWithUs and now founding head of the Jerusalem Education Institute.
She and four other fellows are planning a project called Jewish Life Unplugged, consisting of a monthly newsletter and frequent Instagram posts written by Jewish students at different colleges, to give high school students an insider peer perspective of what Jewish students on these campuses actually experience — both positive and negative.
“Because Nitzavim has 100 kids from over 30 colleges, we’ll use that network to recruit people from each campus, and we’ll also ask friends from other seminaries and yeshivas to join us, with very minimal time commitments,” she said.
Ms. Blech, a 2024 graduate of Ma’ayanot who is studying at Amudim in Jerusalem this year, will attend Binghamton University’s Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science. She came into Nitzavim with some solid communication skills already under her belt.
Among other accomplishments, she was selected as one of two representatives from Ma’ayanot to compete as part of an Orthodox Jewish team in the National Speech and Debate competition. She headed the school’s Envision Shakespeare performing arts troupe and was a member of the pluralistic international Jewish choir HaZamir.
“I come from a religiously mixed family, so I’ve grown up around different types of Jews,” Ms. Blech said. “I liked that the fellowship teaches you how to communicate with the college community made up of people of different backgrounds.”
She and two other fellows heading to Binghamton decided to launch monthly events for Jewish women on campus, intending to foster a stronger connection among Jewish students of any or no affiliation.
“The student body at Binghamton is almost 25 percent Jewish, but people from different streams are not well connected,” she said. Jewish student organizations on campus, such as Hillel, JLIC, and Chabad, tend to attract specific groups that don’t necessarily mingle.
“We visited the campus, and we talked to previous Nitzavim Fellows at Binghamton, and we saw a clear need to make the Jewish population more cohesive,” she said. “Often, that disconnect stems from a lack of knowledge and understanding, and we feel that by getting together and talking about Jewish holidays and mitzvot associated with Jewish women, such as lighting Shabbat candles, we will learn we are more similar than different.”
Mr. Dimbert, a Frisch graduate now completing a gap year at Yeshivat Orayta in Jerusalem, said his interest in aeronautical engineering led him to choose Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida even though the Jewish population there is very small.
“As an Orthodox Jew on a secular campus, I will be someone others can’t relate to,” he said, and he anticipates being asked questions that he may perceive as ignorant or arrogant. That’s why he was attracted by the fellowship: “As soon as I found an opportunity to help me with that issue and perhaps strengthen the already existing community at my campus, I immediately went for it.
“I learned a lot about how to deal with those who don’t understand Judaism or Israel. Nitzavim taught me how to keep cool and answer questions. For example, if someone would ask me, ‘Why do you support Israel when it commits genocide?’ I would calmly ask their position on genocide and tell them that I don’t support genocide either. Therefore, I don’t support Hamas, but I do support the IDF because it protects Israelis by eliminating bad guys.’ I’d be happy to have a conversation about it and explain that there’s no convincing evidence Israel is committing genocide.”
At Frisch, Mr. Dimbert was captain of the robotics and wrestling teams, started a 3D modeling club, and was gabbai (prayer service coordinator) of his grade for all four years of high school. Given his leadership experience, he was not daunted when he was asked to design an individual Nitzavim project “to facilitate a more inclusive, growth-minded community” at his college.
The idea is to gather Jewish students for biweekly discussion groups over coffee. “At every meeting, one person would come with an idea prepared — it doesn’t matter what, as long as it’s related to Judaism — and give a quick presentation, and we’ll start talking.”
Each Nitzavim team project receives funding as needed for implementation, and a coordinator from the program is available to help them do that.
“They create the plan and make the necessary connections while they’re here in Israel, and then once they get to campus, they just have to plug it in,” Ms. Greiff said. “If they need funds to do that, we’ll get them the funds.”
In addition, one winner of a “Shark Tank” style project competition at the end of the year is awarded $5,000.
Nitzavim Fellowship is a project of Jewish Year Abroad, an independent, privately funded nonprofit organization headed by Rabbi Adi Isaacs. JYA also runs Thrive Study Abroad for Jewish semester-abroad college students at Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University, and Rimon Jerusalem, spearheading Jewish life on campus for students at Hebrew University.
Nitzavim Fellowship applications for the 2025/2026 school year, which are now being processed, can be found at Nitzavim.org.
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