Looking for opportunities that will help me grow as a professional, intellectual, and individual. I am invested in Public Global Health and issues around capacity and policy building in Low and Middle Income Countries.

Since Israel’s foundation in 1948, the Chief Rabbinate has solely overseen the matters of divorce, marriage, and inheritance for all Israeli Jews irrespective of their religiosity. According to Pew, a plurality of Israeli Jews, almost 40 percent, self-identifies as secular. Nonetheless, state-appointed religious authorities regulate some of the most intimate matters of this nonreligious plurality. My research will revolve around this duality. As a Laidlaw Scholar, I will explore how the secular segment of Israeli society has submitted to disproportionate power of the Rabbinate for the past 71 years. The conflict between secular and religious forces sparks my intellectual curiosity as I myself experienced it growing up in a secular family in Iran. Contrary to Israel, Iran is a repressive theocracy with rogue elections and a totalitarian government. These factors enable religion to suppress secularism. In every contest, religion defeats secularism. However, Israel and Iran have two radically different systems of government. Unlike Iran, Israel is a parliamentary republic with free, contested elections. Theoretically, the largest portion of the populace, the 40-percent secular segment, should wield the most power. But that is not the case. For 72 years, the Rabbinate has exerted a profound influence on the daily lives of both 40-percent secular and the rest of Israeli Jewry. Yes, one can say, similar to Iran, religion defeats secularism in Israel as well. But it makes sense that a theocracy, Iran, would prefer religion to win. What is incredibly perplexing, and intellectually provocative, is why and how a liberal democracy, Israel, with a secular plurality, would allow religion to prevail. The causes behind and the future of the Rabbinate’s disproportionate power in democratic Israel greatly entice my intellectual curiosity. As a Laidlaw Scholar, I am seeking to examine this religious-secular conundrum in Israel.

I am a rising sophomore at Columbia University where I study Human Rights and Latin American studies, with a focus on migration. My research focuses on the Venezuelan Migration crisis, the second-largest mass exodus in the world behind the Syrian refugee crisis. I will be looking at the evolution of Venezuela, as a country of immigrants to a country to emigrants, caused by the humanitarian crisis facing the nation today. My focus is on the effects of the crisis and the experiences of women, children, and families who face some of the greatest difficulties. Exploring data and accounts from surrounding Latin American nations like Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru as well as high-income European nations like Spain and Italy, I will be investigating the evolution of the family structure in Venezuelan migrant and refugee communities as well as the impact of the recent COVID-19 pandemic on resources, experiences, and for many, the forced return journey to Venezuela.

I am a First Year in Columbia College interested in majoring in either History or Anthropology—my interests are pretty much exactly in between the two. I am interested in combining my two fields of interest while looking at the legacy of notorious urban planner Robert Moses and his counterpart Jane Jacobs. I am interested no in what Moses built, but looking at myth created around him, and in particular the debates created between him and Jacobs. Through this research, I wants to reexamine how this debate was constructed and how it informs modern day planning discussion.