A group of young Jews will get a chance to spend the upcoming year learning Torah in Israel thanks to the Alisa Flatow Fund. The fund named its five 2010 winners and five scholarship alternates this week.
This year's scholarship winners hail from Brookline, Massachusetts; Albany, New York; Pinsk, Belarus; Memphis, Tennessee, and Oak Park, Michigan.
The scholarship is given in honor of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in a terrorist attack in 1995, at the age of 20. Alisa was spending the year in Israel studying at Nishmat, an advanced Torah Institute ffor women in Jerusalem; she was killed in a suicide bombing near the town of Kfar Darom in Gush Katif.
Alisa's parents created the scholarship fund in her memory. They have awarded more than 160 scholarships since her death and chose them from over 3000 applicants. The awards are given based on both academic promise and financial need.
The Flatow family continues to give to Israel in other ways as well. Alisa's sisters have visited Israel frequently, her brother Etan enlisted in the IDF, and her parents have encouraged other American Jews to allow their children to visit Israel despite terrorism.
"Spending a year in Israel is a tremendous boost for young adults,” said Stephen Flatow, Alisa's father. “It gives them a deeper understanding of their religion and their own identity... It not only makes them better Jews, but better people.”