As a junior, Frances Taylor Eizenstat '65 studied abroad in Jerusalem, where she cultivated an intimate relationship with Israel. She would go on to become an advocate for low-income families and children. Her accomplishments include chairing several Jewish foundations and charitable organizations. After her death in 2013, her husband, Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat created The Frances Taylor Eizenstat Israel Travel Grant Program through the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies to help students cultivate the same kind of lifelong relationships with Israel as Eizenstat did.
The first two recipients of the grant, Mirit Gendelman '15 and Kochava Ayoun '14, used the $2500 grant for drastically different kinds of abroad learning.
Gendelman views her time studying abroad in Israel as directly following in Eizenstat's footsteps. "It's amazing to feel that I'm doing exactly what she did. I'm going to Hebrew University, exactly where she studied. She proposed this grant, and it's great to see the Brandeis-Israel relationship develop because of it."
Hebrew University is one of Israel's largest academic centers located in the heart of Jerusalem, an international hub for culture, religion and business.
Gendelman is completing a double major in Business and International and Global Studies, and during her time in Israel she is taking an intensive Hebrew language immersion course called Ulpan, a public policy class, an entrepreneurship class and a class about negotiating peace in the Middle East. She is taking classes at the university's business school, as well as the Rothberg International School.
Gendelman stressed the uniqueness of studying at an international school that acts as an intersection between a multitude of cultures and nationalities, while also retaining a distinctly "Israeli" feel. "I'm taking classes with Israelis, as opposed to just Americans. I love being with Israelis in the classroom, and not just inside an international student bubble," she said.
Although Gendelman herself is following in Eizenstat's footsteps, the grant design encourages students from a variety of fields to travel to Israel and pursue their individual interests and goals. "This grant is very flexible -if you want to work, if you want to apply for an internship, if you want to go to school-anything you want to do in Israel this grant can be applied towards [it]," Gendelman said.
Gendelman beleives she received the grant because of her significant involvement on campus in clubs related to Israel, as well as an internship at a consulting firm in Tel Aviv that she had secured before submitting her application. The grant has not only furthered Gendelman's academic goals but has inspired her future career. "I now am interested in coming to Israel for business school after Brandeis, and returning to work in the high-tech world in Israel," said Gendelman.
The grant certainly lived up to its potential for diverse applications with the first round of recipients. Ayoun chose to use the grant toward a three-week trip to Israel this winter break in order to conduct research for her senior thesis which is about international treaties as they relate to women and children. Her thesis will be published through the International and Global Studies program, which incorporates elements of Anthropology and Sociology as well as Psychology, her second major.
"I chose to write about international treaties with women and children because, for me at least, it's the most striking example of where they can go wrong and all the limitations," Ayoun said. Her paper focuses on the Hague Adoption Convention, an international convention meant to address issues of child trafficking and international adoption.
For Ayoun, Israel was an ideal case study through which to examine this area of international law. "Israel is a mix of secular and religious law, the religious courts and the civil courts. The issues that arise from Israel trying to adhere to the [Hague] convention shed light on the inherent issues of the convention."
Much like Gendelman, Ayoun was also surprised by how accommodating the Schusterman Center was, indicating that "There really weren't any strings attached, which I was really surprised about. It's open-ended. ... I think sometimes you do need more structure, but for me it worked out well."
The grant gave Ayoun the funding she needed to attend the International Family Law with Emphasis on the Work of the Hague Conference on Private International Law from Jan. 1 to 3, 2014 in Hos Hasharon, Israel. The conference happened to be held in Israel that year, and she had only learned about it by chance, four days in advance. "I got really lucky, that's the only way I can explain it," Ayoun said. The youngest attendee by at least a decade, Ayoun had the unique opportunity to have lunch at the UK ambassador's house and hear from high profile speakers that included Israeli Supreme Court Justice Neal Hendel. The conference allowed Ayoun to make professional connections and gain access to the academic papers of those who spoke at the conference.
Following her undergraduate career, Ayoun hopes to attend law school and pursue international law.
So far, the grant seems to have been successful in deepening student's relationships with Israel. In the case of Gendelman, the grant has succeeded in furthering her career goals in the Israeli business world. For Ayoun, the grant was an opportunity to enrich her senior thesis through primary research.
"[Eizenstat] was intimately involved in Israel, and I think it's important for Brandeis as an institution to become more involved in Israel," Gendelman said. "I hope students travel to Israel, I hope students take advantage of the Israel experience through this grant," she said.