On May 13, Israel’s Independence Day Eve, nearly 300 of ISEF’s supporters gathered in Manhattan to celebrate Israel’s resilience and ISEF’s tremendous impact — empowering many thousands of Israel’s immigrant and underserved young people to get an education.  Guests also got to meet 15 of ISEF’s 30 PhD and postdoc International Fellows—extraordinary Israelis from families where no one ever went to college.

Click below to “meet” our students and alumni face to face, and hear their incredibly moving stories in the wake of October 7.

ISEF President Carlos Benaim,  Lifetime Achievement Honoree Michelle Nasser, and ISEF Co-Founder Nina A. Weiner, who flew in from Israel to present the award

 International Fellow Omer Doron Attia—an MBA candidate at Stanford University – shared his moving life journey

The event honored Michelle Nasser with ISEF’s Lifetime Achievement Award.  Learn more about Michelle’s philanthropy here.

ISEF Co-Founder and Chairwoman Emerita, Nina A. Weiner, who has known Michelle and her family for many decades, flew in from Tel Aviv to present her award.

International Fellow Omer Doron Attia, the only Israeli in his MBA class at Stanford University, shared his experiences in the current campus tumult and inspired the guests to increase their support for ISEF’s 430+ current students, B.A. to Ph.D. and beyond.

 Professor Marcelle Machluf of the Technion, world-renowned for her cutting edge research in Biotechnology, recounted her own history as the daughter of impoverished immigrants born in Morocco, raised in Ashdod. She presented ISEF’s inaugural Women in Science Award  to ISEF International Fellow Dr. Natalie Fardian-Melamed, who is breaking new ground  in Applied Physics at Columbia.

ISEF’s incredible results over 47 years—transforming the lives of thousands of first-generation Israeli students, making Israel more united, secure, and prosperous—are only possible thanks to the generous support of ISEF’s many friends. Together we share a powerful vision–that expanding access to higher education holds the key to a bright future for Israel.