(Courtesy of Maharat) Maharat has announced the second cohort of emerging scholars awardees. This award, funded by Maharat, celebrates young women who are high school seniors and who excel in leadership, spirituality and Torah learning. The award acknowledges these young women for their accomplishments and dedication to the Jewish community, while supporting their continued growth. Dozens of applications were received from across the United States, representing the diversity and dedication of today’s young women.

An independent selection committee reviewed each application and ultimately selected these impressive leaders. One committee member remarked, “It was incredibly gratifying to learn of the accomplishments and lofty visions of all of the nominees and proved extremely challenging to reduce the pool of enormous talent to just three awardees. The entire adjudicating committee was uplifted by the knowledge that so many young Jewish women and future leaders care so deeply about our Jewish future.”

Mazal tov to these remarkable awardees who have engaged in deep Jewish learning, shown leadership in tefillah, camp, social justice and political environments, and support their peers and family members in beautiful ways.

Miriam Fisch, Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls, Teaneck

Noam Goldberg-Kellman, SAR High School, Riverdale

Elitsa Sklar, Rochelle Zell Jewish High School, Deerfield, IL

Miriam Fisch is a senior at Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls in Teaneck. She has a passion for learning and teaching, and keeps busy in a myriad ways, from working as the first female editor-in-chief of international Torah publication Kol HaNe’arim to learning new takedowns in her krav maga class. She has also worked her way through an independent study of Tanach over the course of high school. When not spending her summer growing glow-in-the-dark bacteria at the Touro College of Pharmacy, Fisch has participated in both the Tikvah Scholars and Dr. Beth Samuels Drisha High School program. Over the course of her life, she has also been a bubble fairy, a sushi chef in a Manhattan restaurant and brushed her teeth in preschool TV show SeeMore’s Playhouse. She is incredibly excited to be spending next year in the Nishmat Shana Ba’Aretz program and to see what else Hashem has in store for her.

Awardees will receive a $2,500 stipend towards university or gap year education. They will connect with other prominent Jewish leaders and Torah scholars, including Maharat faculty, alumnae and students.

“The future of the Jewish community is bright!” said Rabba Sara Hurwitz, president and co-founder of Maharat, “We read applications from young women who are invested in shaping a Jewish future that is dynamic, committed to Torah values, and striving towards greater equity. We are thrilled to honor three stellar women who will surely impact the Jewish community and beyond.”