A Still-Higher Challenge: Shalem Welcomes its 12th Class
When Hallel Shandor ’28 got the call on October 7th from a member of his special-operations unit, he was three days into his post-army climb up Mount Everest. Hearing what was still unfolding in the southern towns and kibbutzim—including in Kerem Shalom, where just years before he’d founded a youth cohort to encourage new settlement—he turned and “ran the entire way down the mountain, which still took nearly a full day,” he recalls. A helicopter ride and emergency flight to Israel later, Shandor was back with his unit, preparing to use his training for combat in Gaza’s vast tunnel infrastructure.
In many ways, Shandor’s story reflects that of Shalem’s entire 12th class, whose 76 students began their first semester in late October of last year. Whether as soldiers and reservists who fought at the front or in war rooms—a full fifteen of them in elite combat units, and another six in the 8200 elite Intelligence Corps—or as civilians who worked to advance the resilience of Israeli society, their response was as unhesitating as Shandor’s run down Everest’s slopes. And that response was itself a reflection of their deep and longstanding commitment to service and citizenship.
Indeed, nearly 50 percent of the Class of ’28 were counselors in high school in their local youth movements, with another two volunteering as counselors for “Wings of Krembo,” Israel’s inclusive youth movement for children with disabilities. Twenty-seven percent of students worked as formal or informal educators at schools, leadership programs, or nonprofits for disadvantaged youth. And one-third chose to attend a mechina, or pre-military leadership academy, which combine volunteerism with Jewish or Western text study. Finally, 11 students participated in Israel’s well-regarded shnat sherut, a pre-army year of volunteering in development towns or with youth at risk.
One of those students was Aviad Sido, who was raised in the agricultural settlement Adi in Israel’s Jezreel Valley. Before his service in a special commando unit in the IDF’s Air Force, Sido chose to spend a year volunteering at the Jordan River Village, a year-round camp for Jewish and Arab children living with chronic illness. He also managed, during his service, to participate in the Jewish Agency’s Project Ten, which sends delegations of Israeli and diaspora Jews to build infrastructure in developing regions. And like Shandor, Sido was also determined to climb Mount Everest, although for a very specific reason.
Aviad Sido ’28 on the summit of Mount Everest
“I’d always loved mountain climbing and extreme sports. But in the final year of my service, my mother was diagnosed with cancer and died shortly afterward,” Sido says. “After she passed away, I decided to make the climb in her memory, and as a way of coping with and overcoming my grief. I really believe that challenging ourselves and pushing past our limits is the key to moving past crises, and I help others who have lost friends of family use extreme sports in this way.” Along with climbing Everest—and becoming the youngest Israeli climber to reach the summit in the process—Sido’s mother’s death also led to his decision to be a doctor; he even began his medical degree while in the reserves post-October 7th. Ultimately, however, his experience during the war caused him to change course.
“Since the judicial-reform protests, I’d been worried about the country and the course our society was taking. The war only emphasized how many challenges we’re facing, and I wanted to help in more ways than are possible for a soldier or a doctor,” said Sido. “I want to contribute on a large scale, and that’s what Shalem prepares its students to do.”
Shandor agrees, saying that when he was released from the reserves after nearly a year of combat, he wondered if he’d be able to find something as meaningful and as challenging as what he’d just been through. “Shalem offers an intellectual challenge I hadn’t encountered before,” he says. “All of my courses so far have made me look at the world anew.”
Ariella Schwartz ’28 can relate to Shandor’s sense of enthusiasm. After making aliyah with her family at the age of eight, Schwartz attended elementary school in Jerusalem’s Old City and high school at Pelech, one of the country’s leading high schools for modern Orthodox girls. There, she majored in Talmud, philosophy, and Yiddish (“I can speak a bissel,” she says, joking). After high school, Schwartz chose to spend two years at Migdal Oz, a leading women’s seminary for advanced Torah and Talmudic studies. This background, she explains, has made the study of Greek mythology and literature at Shalem all the more intriguing. “Learning the Iliad has been a window onto a whole different world; It’s amazing how relevant such ancient and foreign texts can be, especially relating to all we’ve been experiencing over this last year of war, and as compared to the ancient Jewish texts upon which I was raised.”
Ariella Schwartz ’28
On October 7th, Schwartz was serving in the IDF’s Strategy and Third Circle Directorate—a small, elite unit that deals with short- and long-term strategic planning—in the IDF’s headquarters, the Kirya. During her service, Schwartz wrote and presented analyses to decision-makers. She explains that the experience—which became even more meaningful and productive in the wake of the war—deepened her desire to contribute to Israel and improve the way it’s perceived by the international community. That desire ultimately led her to Shalem, which she felt would grant her the necessary tools. “I strongly believe that the study of the Great Books, world history, and Jewish and Zionist thought, are fundamental to the foundation of a great society,” Schwartz explains. “No other institution in Israel offers a syllabus as well-rounded and intellectually stimulating as that offered by Shalem.”
Schwartz also points to the student body as another reason for her love of Shalem, explaining that “there are so many different backgrounds and viewpoints represented. No two students come at a text from the same place.” Much of this diversity stems from the class’s geographic origins: This year, more than 25 percent of the class hails from Israel’s northern and southern regions—the largest percentage in any Shalem cohort to date. There are even four students, including Schwartz, originally from the United States, as well as one each from Australia, Mexico, and the UK.
Although only two months into their degree, all three students describe their studies as exactly what they were looking for. They also express their determination to enjoy every moment on campus, given the likelihood that they’ll be called up for duty again soon. Shandor, in particular, has prioritized seizing opportunities: When he was first released from reserve duty, he returned to Mount Everest to finish the climb he’d begun last year. “There was definitely a sense of closing the circle,” he says. “I was a different person climbing this time: I’d fought in a war, and I’d lost a lot of good friends. It was important to me to see that I could still climb my mountains. In my case,” he says, “literally.”
