Investing in leadership: twenty years of the Israel at Heart scholarship program

The Center's founder and president, Prof. Uriel Reichman, and its vice president, Jonathan Davis, quickly became two of the program's strongest champions, building a comprehensive support system that combined academic excellence with mentoring, leadership development, internships, and personal guidance.

The program was built on a simple yet ambitious idea: identify exceptional young Israelis of Ethiopian descent with demonstrated leadership potential, remove the financial and institutional barriers standing in their way, and help prepare them to become the next generation of Israeli leaders.

A community that had already come so far

At the time, the idea was both innovative and deeply optimistic. Israel's Ethiopian community had already overcome extraordinary challenges. Many families had risked everything to reach Israel through dramatic rescue operations, after generations of isolation from the Jewish world. Yet despite these remarkable journeys, many young Ethiopian-Israelis still faced significant social and economic obstacles to entering Israel's most competitive universities and professions.

Applicants were evaluated not only on academic promise, but also on meaningful military or national service, community involvement, personal initiative, resilience, and their potential to make a lasting contribution to Israeli society. Full-tuition scholarships were paired with living stipends, mentoring, academic support, tutoring, internships, leadership development, and access to professional networks designed to help students succeed long after graduation.

The vision was to cultivate a new generation of Ethiopian-Israeli professionals who would take their place at the highest levels of Israeli society.

Twenty years later

The results speak for themselves. More than 220 graduates have completed the program, while dozens of additional students continue their studies at Reichman University in undergraduate, graduate, and medical programs.

Today, alumni can be found throughout Israel's public and private sectors. They serve as diplomats in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, advisors in the Knesset and the Prime Minister's Office, attorneys at Israel's leading law firms, prosecutors in the State Attorney's Office, journalists, psychologists, physicians, entrepreneurs, investment professionals, and senior figures in Israel's high-tech industry.

Military service has remained another defining characteristic of the program. A remarkable number of participants have served in some of Israel's most elite units, records that reflect not only personal achievement but a profound commitment to public service.

Academic excellence has been equally striking. Students from the program have consistently appeared on the Dean's List, earned Fulbright scholarships, and pursued graduate studies at institutions including Harvard University. One participant made history as Reichman University's first-ever Rhodes Scholar, continuing his studies at the University of Oxford.

Measured in more than success

The program's twentieth anniversary, in 2026, carried an added weight. Since October 7, 2023, Ethiopian-Israeli soldiers have been disproportionately represented among Israel's fallen. Many students in the program carry deeply personal family stories: of grandparents who walked for weeks across Africa to reach Jerusalem, parents who rebuilt their lives in a new country, and siblings serving on the front lines in defense of Israel. Their achievements are measured, therefore, not only by professional success, but by resilience, responsibility, and service.