Alisa Flatow, z”l, would have turned 50 in November.
“I often imagine what she would have been like,” mused Stephen Flatow, her father. “I know she would have been caring, inquisitive, dedicated to the Jewish community, and a great mother. If she were living in the States, she may even have sent her daughter to Jerusalem to study at Nishmat or another seminary for the year.” But Alisa’s life ended tragically in April 1995 at the age of 20, when the Israeli bus on which she was traveling was attacked by terrorists.
Alisa grew up in West Orange and attended the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in Livingston and Frisch High School. She was a junior at Brandeis, studying in Israel for the semester, when she was killed.
In her memory, the Flatow family in 1995 established the Alisa Flatow Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater MetroWest NJ (JCF), the planned giving and endowment arm of Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ. “Alisa got so much out of her time in Israel, connecting with Jewish learning and with the people and land of Israel. We knew a gap year for Torah-learning can inspire and change a young person in significant ways,” Stephen Flatow explained. “We also knew this is a financial hardship for many families, so we created the scholarship program.”
Over the years, the Alisa Fund, as it is known by the family, provided financial awards to more than 150 students attending yeshivas or seminaries in Israel. But the scholarship program went dormant in 2017 as the family reconsidered its operational goals.
Then, in mid-2023, the Alisa Fund began to receive the first of two major donations from the estate of a donor unknown to the Flatow family or to the JCF.
Through research, the JCF staff learned that the donor, Edith J. Lowen, z”l, had left a bequest in her will to honor the memory of Pearl Stein, z”l, a longtime friend. Lowen never knew Alisa or her family and, at the time of her death, lived in South Carolina.
According to her estate attorney, Edith was a person of independent spirit and means who wanted women to have access to an array of academic and career opportunities. To meet the interests of his client, the attorney had done an online search of funds that support Jewish girls and women studying in Israel and found a website of the Alisa Flatow Memorial Scholarship Fund of JCF. His client added the fund to her estate plans.
“It was a reminder that Alisa’s life and legacy have touched so many people—even those who never met her or her family,” said Kim Hirsh, executive director of the JCF. “And it was quite a pleasant surprise to know that we could restart the fund and its vital grant-making for a new generation of girls and young women studying in Israel.”
Today—in time for what would have been Alisa’s 50th birthday—the Alisa Fund is relaunching with $75,000 in grants to support women’s study in Israel in 2025. In keeping with the requirements of the bequest, there are two grant cycles: one to support young women from Greater MetroWest doing a year of study in Israel, and another round of grants towards educational institutions in Israel that provide scholarships for women experiencing financial hardship.
The Flatow family is deeply engaged in making the grant decisions for the reinvigorated Flatow Fund. In the inaugural year, the family decided on four grants of $15,000 each towards these programs:
- The David Yellin Academic College of Education, which has been providing extra academic support since October 7th, 2023, to women who are juggling student life and motherhood while their husbands are serving long stretches in the IDF reserves.
- Kemach to support ultra-Orthodox women in Northern Israel in their bid to become Driver’s Education instructors, a field that is not typically open to them.
- Amit to support students in a pre-army preparatory program which focuses on obtaining vocational or technological certificates for future careers.
- La’Ofek to support Ethiopian-Israeli women from the periphery to train as nurses or occupational therapists.
“At the approach of what would been Alisa’s 50th birthday, I thought of the good that the Alisa Fund has done over the years by helping young Jewish women and men have a life changing experience by attending post-high school programs in Israel. Now, as Israeli society struggles with the aftermath of 10/7, I believe the Alisa Fund will have a vital role in alleviating those struggles by helping to educate Israeli women through its financial assistance and, here in America, provide much needed scholarship aid for gap-year students,” Stephen remarked.
The application process is now open for girls applying for scholarships for gap year programs. The application process is competitive, and three grants will be awarded. Eligible applicants are girls who live or go to school in Greater MetroWest’s catchment area. Applications for the $5,000 awards are due on February 11th. For more information on the Alisa Flatow Memorial Scholarship Fund, contact Pam Greenwood at [email protected]