While all Laidlaw Scholars will be presenting their research at the Columbia Undergraduate Research Symposium in the fall, what are the more immediate expectations that you have for your research? Are you writing a paper? Will your research be part of a larger scientific study? Do you hope to produce an annotated bibliography that you reflect on down the line? Is your research now the first phase of a project you’ll continue to work on throughout the year, and/or next summer? Now that we are nearing the one-month mark of the program, please write about your expectations for your research.

While I do have aspirations of sharing this research in a journal and would be grateful for the opportunity, this scholarship has always been a passion project. At its core, it has never been just about German philosophy or Ashkenazi Zionism alone. It has been part of a broader vocation: a desire to better understand myself, the traditions that shaped me, and to attempt to resolve some larger human questions that give meaning to our lives.

Growing up, I often felt mystified by the identity and obligations I inherited. I knew that I wanted to build a life as a Jew, but I was never fully sure what that meant or why it mattered. The commitments that shape my will, my aspirations, my beliefs, and my loves were not things I consciously chose. They arrived before I did. My effort to understand myself has therefore required that I understand the world and history that produced me.

As the project has developed, I have come to appreciate that my ability to approach these questions with curiosity is itself a privilege. The freedom to ask who I am, what obligations I owe to others, and how a people ought to govern themselves is not guaranteed. Many communities have had those questions answered for them by force. The problem of self-determination, which first drew me to Ahad Ha'am, has therefore become much more than an intellectual question.

In the immediate future, I hope this research culminates in a substantial paper that I can continue refining throughout the academic year. I expect the bibliography, notes, and archival materials I am assembling this summer will remain useful long after the program ends. More importantly, I hope this project becomes the first stage of a larger personal effort to understand how people preserve dignity, culture, and political agency under conditions of uncertainty.

In my Leadership in Action Summer, I hope to find a position in Europe that engages with that same vocation. Whether in a university, a public institution, or an international organization, I hope to contribute to work that helps people exercise greater control over their own lives. Looking further ahead, I would like to pursue a career as an advocate, using education, language, and law to help others articulate grievances that might otherwise go unheard.

Why does your research matter? Explain the significance of the question you are investigating, and why you are interested in it.

I began this project because I felt that I had a great deal to say, but I did not yet know how to say it. The more I read, the more I discovered that many of the thinkers I admired were wrestling with uncertainties that felt familiar to me. We all wanted some way to define ourselves, justify a potential national identity, even attempt an explanation of some sort of national rights. Often, they too felt starved of answers, and in reading with them, I felt as though they were holding up a mirror to me; they often offered a reminder that mystification is part of the human experience. 

As a Jew in New York, I have often felt pulled into conversations that are larger than myself. The actions of Israel are sometimes treated as though they demand an answer from me. Acts of antisemitism against strangers can feel strangely personal. Public debates about Jewish history, power, belonging, and victimhood often leave little room for individual people. At times, I have felt less like a person than a representative, as though I were expected to wear a suit of armor fashioned by history and speak on behalf of a world far larger than myself.

Questions of self-determination matter because they shape how people understand themselves and how communities understand one another. The political life of Jews in America presents a particularly vivid example. Jews are often asked to balance particular attachments with participation in a broader democratic society. The language available to describe that experience is frequently inadequate. But we all have something at stake when it comes to the question of self-determination. 

By studying thinkers who confronted similar problems, I hope to better understand the relationship between identity, obligation, and political belonging. More than that, I hope to develop the intellectual tools necessary to enter classrooms, courtrooms, and public institutions with greater clarity. If people can better understand the forces that shape their own condition, they are better equipped to advocate for themselves and to recognize the dignity of others.