Gracefield Scholarships Help Shalem Graduates with Big Dreams and Limited Resources
In her iconic 1929 essay A Room of One’s Own, the author Virginia Woolf argued that for women to pursue their passions as writers, they need both financial independence and a space for uninterrupted thought. While today’s female writers and professionals of all stripes need no longer fight for admission to the public sphere, the basic material and social conditions for intellectual achievement remain as relevant—and often as elusive—as ever, for both women and men alike. Addressing precisely those obstacles to creative activity was the goal of the Gracefield Foundation when it approached Shalem College with a suggestion for scholarships.
“The Gracefield Foundation is deeply committed to liberal education and to helping bright, motivated young people fulfill their dreams despite the financial pressures that so often derail them,” says Shalem Chief of Staff and Director of Development Rachel Jacobson Gold. “After many years of supporting scholarships for Shalem undergraduates, they approached us with a really wonderful idea for supporting Shalem graduates, some of whom are juggling advanced degrees or other projects with demanding positions and the challenges of raising a family. Those conversations were the foundation for the Gracefield Scholarship Program for Shalem Alumni.”
The Gracefield Scholarship Program, which began this past summer, grants Shalem graduates the economic push they need to get started on, advance, or complete a project. The projects themselves should also be key to meeting academic, professional, or personal goals.
“The Gracefield Foundation recognizes the power of the liberal arts to produce creative, compassionate, and critical thinkers key to the improvement of society,” say Donald L. Solomon and Peter Silverman, founder and chair of the Gracefield Foundation, respectively. “By providing financial support for graduates who are working to pursue their passions independently, we hope to enable research or advance careers with the power to enrich all our lives and ensure a more resilient Israeli society.”
Donald L. Solomon, founder of the Gracefield Foundation.
As for the other condition Woolf deemed vital to intellectual accomplishment—a space for uninterrupted thought—Shalem Director of Innovation and Alumni Relations Odelia Yatzkan saw an excellent opportunity—for Gracefield scholars, and for Shalem College, too.
“By providing an additional stipend to recipients who spent two weeks at the end of the August in residence at Shalem, we encouraged our graduates’ ongoing connection to each other, and offered them the benefit of the cross-fertilization of ideas,” says Yatzkan. “It was also a chance to recharge their intellectual batteries in the place that nourished them as undergrads.”
Among the 12 recipients of the Gracefield Scholarship are Alissa Symon ’18, who used her time at Shalem to progress in her doctoral thesis on the role of foreign influence—specifically that of the North American Jewish Diaspora—on Israeli politics. A doctoral student at the University of Oxford and a Woolf Scholar at the University of Cambridge, Symon explains that while she loves engaging in research, “It is often a very solitary experience. During my two weeks in residence at Shalem, I was part of an entire community engaged in reading, writing, and developing original ideas. I received input from fellow graduates as well as from some of the lecturers who inspired me as an undergraduate, which helped to sharpen my thinking.”
Yahel Engelman ’18, another Gracefield Scholar, is pursuing his love for Middle Eastern studies through a master’s at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem while establishing his own company in Zionist education. To continue on to a doctoral program, he is completing his thesis on modernist Islamic thinkers from the second half of the 20th century. (“The thinkers exist,” he insists, “but they never gained traction in the wider community. My goal is to understand why.”) Engelman explains that he hopes always to maintain a balance between academic studies and the world of action. “I’m truly grateful to the Gracefield Foundation for allowing me to keep learning and growing intellectually. Its concern for graduates’ development as thinkers and people, and not only professionals, is not at all to be taken for granted,” Engelman says.
Peter Silverman, chair of the Gracefield Foundation.
To strengthen the sense of community among the participants, the Gracefield Scholarship’s on-campus program also opened with a session in which recipients learned about each other’s projects. In addition, the program included communal meals and lectures by Shalem faculty. “Shalem is a college committed to lifelong learning,” points out Yatzkan. “Even, or especially, as our alumni begin to move in specific academic or professional directions, we want to spark their curiosity and deepen their knowledge about a range of different subjects.”
Enya Koblenz ’20, program director for an educational nonprofit that encourages young women to study STEM subjects, says that the Gracefield Scholarship was the key to helping her fulfill a professional goal: She began designing a collaboration with the Israel Defense Forces, ensuring it has the tools to identify female recruits with technological capacities. “Developing this program has been on my mind since I began this position, and both my own nonprofit’s leadership and our partners in the IDF are enthusiastic about the idea. The issue has simply been a lack of time in which I could dedicate myself to the task in an intensive way. The Gracefield Scholarship has given me that, and it’s a gift for which I’m deeply grateful.
“Also,” Enya says. “I believe many talented female recruits will benefit from this effort. It shows that a well-placed investment of time and money can have a real and measurable impact on society.”
