Three British students helped their seminary secure first prize in a competition for gap year participants in Israel.
Hattie Bolchover, Yael Miller and Nillie Langermann, who were studying at Ohr Torah Stone’s Midreshet Lindenbaum in Jerusalem, along with American teammate Kyra Weisberger,,won the Nitzavim Fellowship’s Jewish Campus Life Initiative this year.
The quartet will receive $5,000 (£3.900) towards implementing their winning idea - an Instagram account that can respond to halachic questions and help observant students on campus. "We want to provide easily accessible information to help Modern Orthodox students remain observant on campus," said Yael, who is heading to Imperial College.
The fellowship is designed to encourage diaspora students to develop leadership skills.
“Nitzavim was a wonderful initiative that allowed me to further explore Israel’s history and political situation,” said Hattie Bolchover, who will be going to Oxford University in autumn. “Alongside our discussions in class about Jewish identity as Modern Orthodox teenagers, we were challenged to think creatively in constructing our project to further Jewish unity on university campus.”
The third Briton, Nillie, is off to Cambridge University.