Israeli Master's Degree Fellows

Gal Ben Haim received her LL.B. in Law, Summa cum Laude, from Bar Ilan University. During her studies, Gal served as editor-in-chief of 'Mechkarei Mishpat' – Bar-Ilan Law Studies Journal, and worked as research and teaching assistant for various professors. Upon graduation, Gal served as a law clerk to the Hon. Justice Uzi Vogelman of the Supreme Court of Israel. Gal currently works as an attorney at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Gal was awarded the Fulbright scholarship to pursue her LL.M. studies at Columbia University, focusing on international criminal law.

Nir Gonen received his LL.B in Law and B.A in Philosophy, magna cum laude, from Tel Aviv University. During his studies, Nir worked as a research and teaching assistant in the areas of legal theory, public law and legal history. Upon graduation, Nir served as a law clerk and a senior law clerk to the Hon. Justice Esther Hayut, President of the Supreme Court of Israel. Nir was awarded the Fulbright scholarship to pursue his LL.M at Yale University.  

Nitsan Plitman was awarded a Fulbright Master’s Fellowship to pursue her research project titled “A Religion Shaped by Government: Examining the Place of Israeli Government in Designing and Changing Jewish Religious Law”.

Nitsan holds an LL.B. in Law and Jewish Thought from the Hebrew University) magna cum laude) where she also worked as a teaching assistant and as editor-in-chief of ‘Mishpatim’ law review. She is currently finalizing an M.A. degree in Jewish Thought at the Ben-Gurion University for which she received the ‘Michel Halperin Prize’ in the fields of ethics, law and policy, Ben-Gurion University, in 2018 for promising thesis research proposal “The State of Israel as a Halachic Adjudicator”.

Nitsan is interested in the overlapping realms of religious and secular law and sees Israel as a unique study case for examining how religions change when becoming institutionalized and how secular structures discourse in religious terminology.

Before her current Fulbright grant Nitsan worked as a Legal advisor for the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) in the department of Supreme Court litigation. 

Tal received her LL.B. in law, magna cum laude, from Tel Aviv University. During her studies, Tal served as Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious Tel Aviv University Law Review ('Iyunei Mishpat'), and as a research and teaching assistant in various courses. Today, Tal clerks for the Hon. Deputy Chief Justice Hanan Melcer of the Supreme Court of Israel. Tal's areas of interest focus on the intersection between corporate governance, public administration and technology.

As a Fulbright fellow, Tal will pursue her LL.M. at Harvard University, focusing on the effects of big-tech monopolies (like Facebook, Google or Amazon) on various civil rights and liberties.

Israeli filmmaker Tamar Baruch (b.1987) graduated from the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University and from York University in Toronto, and was a student of Jewish Studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. Her short films, including Gloria (2013), Power of Attorney (2014), and Stranger of the Dunes (2017), have been screened at film festivals worldwide, and received First Prize at the Jerusalem Film Festival and Amazon Most Promising Director Prize at the Montreal World Film Festival, amongst others. She has also been nominated for an Israeli Academy Award (Ophir), earned a MacDowell Fellowship, and is a recent laureate of the Israeli Ministry of Culture's Early Career Film Award.

At NYU Tamar will pursue a Master's Degree in documentary filmmaking as a Fulbright Fellow.

Mika Bak received her B.A. in Education and International Relations from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2017. She will be studying towards her Master's Degree in International Education Policy at Harvard University. Mika served as a Hebrew teacher in Gondar, Ethiopia, working with the local Jewish community, leading her to be interested specifically in education of immigrant children. Nowadays, Mika works for a non-profit, JDC Israel, which works towards reducing socio-economic gaps and creating a strong and effective civil society through increasing coordination and collaboration among important government sectors.

Roni Belenki received her B.Sc. in Neuroscience, cum laude, from Ben-Gurion University. During her studies, Roni was selected to be in the ‘Ashalim’ honors program. Upon graduation, Roni worked at the Be Free Israel national movement to promote the separation of religion and state in the country. Today, Roni works as the Vice President of the Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel, where she established the Public Policy Department. As a Fulbright fellow, Roni will pursue her Master’s degree in Public Policy at Columbia University, focusing on Human Rights and Humanitarian Policy.

Amit Haim received his LL.B in Law and B.A in Humanities, cum laude, from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. During his studies, Amit worked as research assistant at the Hebrew University, the Israel Democracy Institute, and the Israel Ministry of Justice – Attorney General Criminal Division. Upon graduation, Amit served as a law clerk to the Hon. Justice Uzi Vogelman of the Supreme Court of Israel. Amit's areas of interest focus on the intersection of public administration and technology, and specifically automated decision-making. As a Fulbright fellow, Amit will pursue his JSM at Stanford University as a SPILS fellow, focusing on the implementation and the effects of automation and Artificial Intelligence in administrative decision-making.

Tal Koren has earned his B.Sc. in Computer Science and Cognitive Science (magna cum laude) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2013. During his studies, Tal worked as an evaluator of quantitative reasoning questions at the National Institute for Testing and Evaluation, and as General Motors' first research intern in Israel, as part of a human-machine interaction research group. After graduating, Tal joined a start-up company in the field of interactive TV as a product manager. In the last three years, Tal held several product management positions at Twiggle, a start-up company developing artificial intelligence and natural language understanding technology for e-commerce. Over the years, and especially through his volunteer work as a private math tutor, Tal became increasingly fascinated by education as a catalyst for human development, which spurred his academic interest in the learning sciences. This led to his decision to pursue graduate studies in education, with a joint focus on the cognitive foundations of learning and educational technology. Tal was awarded the Fulbright scholarship to study an M.A. in Learning, Design, and Technology at Stanford University.

Shir Wisenberg received her LL.B in Law, magna cum laude, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. During her studies, Shir served as Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious Mishpatim Law Review, and served as research and teaching assistant in various courses. Upon graduation, Shir clerked at the Israeli Supreme Court for the Hon. Justice Uzi Vogelman. Shir works as an attorney at the State Attorney's civil department. Shir was awarded the Fulbright scholarship to pursue her LL.M at Harvard University.

Gilat Abraham Zaefen clerked at the Israeli Supreme Court, both for the Hon. Chief Justice Miriam Naor and for the Hon. Justice Daphne Barak-Erez. Gilat currently works as an associate in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department at Herzog Fox & Neeman, Israel’s largest law firm, ranked 'Top Tier' in all international and domestic legal guides. Gilat received her LL.B (summa cum laude) in Law and her B.A. in Psychology from Haifa University in 2012. Gilat was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to pursue her LL.M. at Columbia Law School, with an emphasis on administrative and constitutional law.

Yaron Covo received his LL.B in law, cum laude, from Tel Aviv University. During his studies Yaron worked in Orna Lin & Co. Law Offices, a prominent Israeli law firm specialized in labor law. Upon graduation, Yaron served as a law clerk to the Hon. Justice Daphne Barak-Erez of the Supreme Court of Israel. Yaron's areas of interest focus on the intersection of sports and the law. As a Fulbright fellow, Yaron will pursue his LL.M at Columbia University, focusing on the role of sports in promoting human rights and social change.

Eran Margalit received his BA (B.mus) in Music Performance (percussion) from the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel-Aviv University where he currently studying in the Vocal class. He will study towards his Master’s Degree (Performance – Vocal) in the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music in New York. Eran started his studies while serving in the Israel Defense Force as an "Excellency Musician" at the Education and Youth Corps (2012-2015). During his career, Eran has played with Israel's top orchestras including the Israel Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony and The Israeli Symphony – Rishon Letzion and sung in many choirs including the "Thelma Yalin" Alumni Choir and currently in the Israeli Opera Choir. He performed under international conductors like Zubin Mehta, Dani Ettinger, Daniel Oren, Manfred Honeck and more. In the last years, He also started teaching and instructing young musicians in "Hassadna" Conservatory in Jerusalem, The Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, etc'.

Yafit Shalev received her LL.B/BA in Law and in "Amirim" (The Honors Program in the Humanities) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2013. Upon finishing her studies, Yafit served as a Legal Intern in the Ministry of Justice, and later on as a law clerk for the Honorable Deputy Supreme Court President Justice Elyakim Rubinstein. Today Yafit works as an attorney in the litigation department at Agmon & Co. Rosenberg Hacohen & Co., where she deals with civil and administrative cases with emphasis on class actions, liquidation cases, derivative suits, and administrative petitions. Yafit was awarded the Fulbright scholarship to study for an LL.M in administrative law at Harvard University.

Nahum Shemi received his BA in psychology and the “Amirim” humanities honors program from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He then proceeded to work as a psychometric tests developer at the National Institute for Testing and Evaluation, a risk analyst for a Swedish online payment company and an editor of Hebrew poetry translations. Nahum was awarded the Fulbright Fellowship to pursue MA studies in philosophy at Northern Illinois University. He hopes to research intersection areas between philosophy and psychology and possibilities of inter-disciplinary fusions. The first attempt at which would be research into ethical implications of psychodynamic theory.