Zachary Gershman, recipient of the 2018 Ruderman Scholarship in Jewish Studies.
Gershman, a senior International Affairs major with a minor in Jewish Studies,originally hails from Stowe, Vermont. Growing up in a rural area did not give Gershman many opportunities to explore his Jewish heritage. His first true exposure to modern Judaism was a 2008 Bar Mitzvah tour of Israel with his grandfather. This encounter inspired him to become extensively involved with Jewish life both at his high school and university. Gershman has served in multiple leadership positions in the Jewish world, including as President of the Jewish Union of his high school. He has also served on the Executive Boards of Northeastern Chabad and the Northeastern chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi, the global Jewish fraternity. Additionally, Zach has hosted multiple events for Northeastern Hillel and Huskies for Israel, a local Israeli advocacy organization. Gershman plans to use the 2018 Ruderman Scholarship to promote and further his Judaic and Israel studies. He is exploring several MASA programs which would allow him to return to Israel in the upcoming year, and plans to fund these educational opportunities with the scholarship.
Danielle Murad Waiss, the 2017-18 Gideon Klein Scholar, who received a 2018 Presidential Global Fellows award from Northeastern University! Designation as a Presidential Global Fellow is given on the basis of students’ academic standing, leadership qualities, and understanding of the importance of the global experience to their education, personal development, and career goals. Murad Waiss, who grew up in Mexico, spent four months on coop at the NATO Defense College in Rome in their Middle East faculty and an additional four months at the International Institute for Counterterrorism in Herzliya, Israel. She spent a semester as a Hansard Scholar in London, taking classes at the London School of Economics and interning for a Member of Parliament. Murad Waiss also has been on a Northeastern University Dialogue of Civilizations that took students to Germany, France, Netherlands and Belgium to learn about the international world order after World War II.
Jewish Studies minors Zachary Gershman, Macarena Flores-Kuri, Danielle Wagner, and
Rebecca Mueller on their graduation from Northeastern!
Jewish Studies minors at Northeastern create a final project that draws a connection between their major and Jewish Studies. Becky Mueller, a dancer, produced a fun and fascinating PowerPoint presentation about the history of Jewish dance. Danielle Wagner, a scientist and vegetarian, produced a PowerPoint about rationales for vegetarianism in Jewish texts, lore, ethics, and culture. Zach Gershman continued his grandfather’s work on Besa, the Albanian commitment to promise-keeping and hospitality that saved their small Jewish population during the Second World War, and composed an op-ed about US immigration policy that invoked this inspiring history. Macarena Flores-Kuri, inspired by her grandmother’s kitchen stories of family hiding and escapes from Franco’s Spain to Mexico, wrote a study of the special circumstances for women of hiding during the Holocaust. As our graduates continue their life journeys, we hope that they reach their many destinations in life, joy, and peace, and that the works of their hands be blessed. Please return to us often.
Liane (Marquis) Feldman, who graduated in 2006 from Northeastern with a major in English, on her appointment as the new Assistant Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies in the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at NYU.
Read the rest of the Spring 2018 Haverim newsletter here:
