Named for JDC's honorary executive vice president, who served as the organization's top professional leader for several decades and was instrumental in the birth of the State of Israel, the Goldman Fellowship is awarded for demonstrated excellence and commitment to Jewish communal service either in a professional or lay capacity. Goldman fellows are required to have earned at least a master’s degree or an equivalent credential and to have demonstrated superior leadership qualities.

Ezekiel will begin her fellowship in New York City with an orientation in September. Following her orientation, she will be sent overseas where she will work alongside JDC field professionals, assisting in the organization’s community development efforts.

Born in Israel to parents who immigrated from India, Ezekiel developed a keen appreciation for her Indian-Jewish heritage while visiting family on a trip she took to India as a teenager. She has spent much of her student and professional life seeking to merge her interest in the diversity of Diaspora Jewish culture and her connection to Israel.

"Although the traditions and customs of my Indian-Jewish heritage were part of my day-to-day life, I was raised and educated in Israel, a country about which I care deeply," Ezekiel wrote in her personal statement to JDC.

After she finished her Israeli army service in 1995, she was selected to work in a JCC summer camp in Central New Jersey. It was during that time when she realized the need for better dialogue between Israel and the Diaspora.

"This was the first position in which I was confronted with the realities of Israel-Diaspora relations, and I learned the importance of a strong and positive relationship between these two communities," Ezekiel said.

Ezekiel has a B.A. from Tel Aviv College of Management and an M.A. in political science and communications from Bar Ilan University. As a student, she played a key role in campus activism, organizing general strikes for lower tuition, building bridges between Jewish and Arab students and facilitating dialogue between Diaspora Jews and Israelis. As a professional, she has worked as a spokeswoman in the Knesset for Labor Party MK Salach Tarif and as a political consultant. Ezekiel has also worked as a field coordinator and instructor for several prominent Diaspora volunteer programs, including Project Otzma, NFTY, Birthright Israel and World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS).

"My Diaspora experience was particularly helpful when, at the start of the current Intifada, I was sent to Europe and the US as part of a student delegation to work with campus groups and discuss the situation in the Middle East," Ezekiel said.

While awaiting her fellowship, Ezekiel is currently finishing a term as Madison, Wisconsin's first-ever Jewish Agency emissary.

"Shirin truly represents the creme-de-la-creme of young Jewish communal professionals," said Billie Gold, the chairperson of the JDC’s Ralph I. Goldman Fellowship committee. "She has earned this fellowship through her demonstrated commitment to the Jewish people and her track record for success wherever she has been. Everything she touches seems to turn to gold and we are delighted to welcome her into the JDC family."

To apply for the 2006-07 Ralph I. Goldman Fellowship, applicants must submit a letter of advocacy to awards@jdc.org. no later than December 15, 2005. The letter should include details of educational and work experience, plans for the future, reasons for interest in this fellowship and examples of leadership qualities. For more information, please visit: www.jdc.org/who_awards_rig.html