Beren Summer Fellowship

Hannah Wander, from Highland Park, Illinois is a Junior at Middlebury College studying Political Science with a focus on Political Philosophy. Hannah is a swimmer on the Middlebury Swim and Dive team specializing in breaststroke. She has been active with the Midd Republicans and is a fellow at the Hamilton Forum, an organization that promotes engagement with American political thought and founding principles through dialogue series. In the summer of 2018, Hannah participated in the Maimonides Scholars summer program. Her involvement with Tikvah continued in the summer of 2020 when she participated in the Tikvah Summer Course: Jews and Religious Liberty. Hannah is currently a research assistant for Yehoshua Bedrick at EdChoice. After graduation from Middlebury, Hannah will likely apply to Law School.

Jacob Viviano, a Michigan native, is a senior in the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, where he studies Foreign Policy and National Security. At Michigan, Jacob is a member of Wolverines for Israel, Young Americans for Freedom, and WeListenUSA. For the past year, Jacob worked for John James on his US Senate campaign in Michigan, serving in various roles for the campaign. The year before, Jacob interned for Quicken Loans Government Affairs in Washington, DC. After graduation in May 2021, Jacob plans to return to Washington DC.

Chaya Sara Oppenheim is a senior studying English and history at Barnard College of Columbia University. At Barnard, Chaya Sara is the chief article editor of the English department’s literary journal. She also serves as the editor of The Shekel, the academic journal of the American Israel Numismatic Association. Her non-fiction and fiction work has been published in Mishpacha Magazine and the Columbia Daily Spectator. Chaya Sara is passionate about issues regarding the authentic representation of Jewish culture in literature. Her current academic work includes an analysis of how Holocaust diaries serve as primary sources for historical research. After graduating Barnard, Chaya Sara plans to apply to graduate school and pursue a PhD in literature and a career in academia.

Michael Schwartz is a first-year student at Brandeis University, where he is studying politics and economics. He is originally from Newton, MA and attended Maimonides School for 13 years. In 2019, Michael was a Tikvah scholar at Yale and participated in the Tikvah Overseas Institute in 2019-20 as well. At Brandeis, he is a member of the Brandeis Orthodox Organization (BOO) and a writer for the Brandeis Journal of Politics. Michael hopes to go to law school after graduating in 2024.

Maya Moritz is currently completing her M.Sc. in Economics at the University of Mannheim in Germany, where she focuses on economic history. After growing up in Israel and New Jersey, she gained her B.Sc. in Economics at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. She has presented work on educational attainment in Kyrgyzstan and completed a thesis on German vocational education. She has also served as an editor and writer for the student papers in both universities and assisted with business, political, and economic research for universities and research institutes in Mannheim, St. Andrews, and Toronto. Maya has participated in several programs focusing on Israel and Judaism, including Write on for Israel and internships with JNF and EMET. After graduation, she intends to pursue a PhD in public policy, where she hopes to develop her fellowship project into a thesis.

Noah Marlowe is currently a rabbinical student and Master’s candidate at Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, as well as pursuing a certificate in Mental Health Counseling at RIETS/Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. At Yeshiva College, Noah received the Prof. David and Sarrah Mirsky Memorial Award for Exemplifying the University’s Ideal of Torah Umadda. Noah is an alumnus of the 92nd Street Y Jewish Innovation Fellowship, AIPAC’s Leffell Rabbinic Fellowship, and Fuchs-Mizrachi’s Beit Midrash Fellowship. In addition, Noah has written for The Lehrhaus and Tradition Online. You can find Noah running, podcasting, Daf-Yomi-ing, searching for “shtickpurtunities,” and tweeting (@tzvei_dinim).

Michael Leff is a senior at Johns Hopkins University, where he studies Near Eastern Studies, Natural Sciences, and Philosophy. He is the President of the Hopkins American Partnership for Israel, a non-partisan organization dedicated to discourse on human rights and US foreign policy. Michael has been a Campus Tikvah Fellow since 2019 when he founded and lead the Seminar on Statehood and Zionism. He is passionate about literature, history, and ethics, is a donor and volunteer with Gift of Life Bone Marrow Registry, and is a member of the Johns Hopkins Interfaith Council. He is a researcher in the Spangler Lab with a focus on cancer immunotherapy and osteogenesis.

Kennedy Lee is a student in the Comparative Politics of Eurasia Master’s program at the Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg, Russia, and an intern at the Institute on Religion and Democracy and Providence magazine. She holds a BA in Russian Language and Civilization and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Avi Koenig is currently a freshman at Queens College studying History. At Queens, Avi is a member of the planning committee of the Macaulay Business Club as well as a member of the Queens College and Macaulay Pre-Law Societies. Additionally, Avi is a contributor to The Knight News, the Queens College student newspaper. Outside of school, Avi participated in the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Government Advocacy Internship working in the office of New York State Assemblyman Walter Mosley and is currently a participant in Yeshivat Chovevei Torah’s Meorot Fellowship. In the Summer of 2019, Avi participated in the Tikvah Scholars Program, and this past summer, was a participant in the Tikvah Online Academy. After graduation, Avi will probably go to graduate school but is still exploring life and figuring out where his academic career will take him.

Daniel Gottesman grew up in Lincolnwood, IL where he attended Ida Crown Jewish Academy. After graduation he studied at Yeshivat Hakotel in the Old City of Jerusalem as well as served in the Givati Brigade in the IDF. Daniel graduated from Yeshiva University in May 2020 with a bachelors in Jewish History. He is now in the middle of receiving rabbinic ordination from RIETS as well as pursuing a Masters in Judaic Studies.

David Frisch is reading for the MPhil in Politics (Political Theory) at the University of Oxford. He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Duke University, with a BA in Political Science and minors in History and Religion; he was also named an Angier B. Duke Scholar. During his undergraduate years, David also completed coursework in political theory at New College, Oxford, and in the history of political thought at Pembroke College, Cambridge.

David’s core research interests lie at the intersection of religion, history, and politics. He has treated child protection and family law as his primary case study for the critical importance of religious and cultural tolerance. He volunteered both as a courthouse childcare specialist and for three years as a court advocate for survivors of domestic violence. Thanks to two grants from Duke University, he has done work on this topic in U.S. courthouses, at historical archives in Spain, and as an invited Visiting Researcher at the Monash University Law Faculty in Melbourne, Australia. Beyond academics, David is grateful to the rivers in his hometown of Pittsburgh but is glad to be rowing once again on British waters.

Sasha Fraser is from Woodstock, New York and is currently a freshman at Bard College. She participated in the Maimonides Scholars Program in 2019, and took multiple classes through the Tikvah Online Academy in 2020. She plans to major in chemistry or physics, although she has a deep interest in history and literature. Before attending Bard, from 2015-2020, she co-taught Judaic Studies in the Congregation Emanuel religious school with concentrations on photography, Jewish history, and Jewish culture. She is currently active in the Jewish Student Organization at Bard.

Thomas Getman is from New York City and is a rising Junior at Emory University, double majoring in Business Administration and Philosophy, Politics, & Law. He attended the Hotchkiss School, a boarding school in Lakeville, CT, for high school. At Emory, he is very involved in Jewish Life, serving as his fraternity’s Jewish Life Chair and Vice President of EIPAC (Emory Israel Public Affairs Committee). He is very interested in how Jewish Philosophy underpins the founding of the United States of America and wants to understand how groups can combat antisemitism both legally and socially. He is starting to study for the LSAT and plans to attend Law School after his undergraduate education.

Michael Weiner is a recent graduate of Yeshiva University, where he majored in political science and Jewish history. During his college career, Michael explored the field of American foreign policy and the Middle East through an editorial internship with The American Interest and research internships with scholars at the Hudson Institute. In addition, he has pursued his own freelance writing and translation work by publishing op-eds on politics and Judaism in national outlets and translating Israeli policy articles into English for Mosaic Magazine. This summer, Michael will serve as research assistant to Elliott Abrams, and looks forward to discussing religion, modernity, and the opportunities of America at Tikvah.

Yehuda Goldberg is a rising senior at Yeshiva University, where he studies philosophy. He is also a Straus Scholar at the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought. Prior to studying at YU, he spent two years at Yeshivat Har Etzion. He is interested in the intersection of theology and political philosophy and the role that the careful study of rabbinic texts can play in shaping Jewish thought. After completing Yeshiva University, he hopes to continue his studies in a graduate school and at RIETS.

Gideon Small, a New York City native, is a rising senior at Skidmore College pursuing a major in political science and a minor in economics. At Skidmore, Gideon has taken courses with a focus on Middle Eastern politics and history, paying special attention to the 19th and 20th centuries in the region. Gideon is unclear about his specific career path after college, but is very passionate about political persuasion in the United States and the domestic and international dialogue surrounding Middle Eastern politics, the Israel-Palestine conflict, and Jews’ place in the national and international political arena. Gideon would like to deepen his knowledge and understanding of the global Jewish experience and learn about these topics with more nuance and engage with these issues on a deeper political level.