This year, three winning essays were selected in the annual essay contest. First place was awarded to "Our Participle Present" by Noa Kali (Class of 2024). Noa chose to donate the prize money to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. About her decision, she wrote: There are many admirable social initiatives in Israel that I would be happy to donate this modest contribution to. They promote such important causes: preserving cultural and biological diversity, advancing values that I personally treasure such as sustainability and community, protecting the precious wildlife. But as long as there are people held hostage in Gaza, and their families are fighting to rescue them from the hellish clutches of a monstrous terrorist organization that has been holding them – underground, undernourished, tortured, terrified – for nearly two years, there is no more important cause than bringing all of them home.

Second place went to "A Feminine Redemptive Alternative to the Biblical-Modern Martyrdom Myth of the Akedah" by Roni Bodenstein (Class of 2023). Roni chose to donate the prize money to Eden association - an organization specializing in the support and treatment of at-risk girls and women coping with trauma in the Gaza Envelope. The association operates a school, a preparatory program for girls lacking family support, and a post-hospitalization boarding facility. In the past year, Eden has also established a dedicated therapeutic center that provides trauma-focused care to girls and women from the region.

Third place was awarded to "The Moon Loves Yotam Reuveni: a forgotten poem by a forgetting poet" by Nir Binyamini (Class of 2025). Nir chose to donate the prize money to The Alliance of Bukharan Jews in Israel- association that is dedicated to promoting and encouraging higher education among the younger generation of the Bukharan community. Through educational initiatives, financial support, and cultural and academic projects, the association fosters both intellectual and social development for young members of the community. 

The full essays (in Hebrew) are available at the bottom of the page.

Thank you to the judging committee - Itay Corem (class of 2025), Soul Michaely (Class of 2023), Asaf Beeri (Class of 2023),  and to the contest organizers, Noga Goldstein (class of 2024) and Evyatar Sella (class of 2024)!