Nina Wiener, 93, says she is still fully involved in the scholarship foundation she helped create, and is already planning its next stage. She recalls that soon after marrying lawyer Walter Wiener in New York, banker Edmond Safra offered him a role as his right-hand man. Wiener saw an opening to pursue a goal she had carried since her student days in psychology in Switzerland and her volunteer work with Jewish youth from Morocco who were preparing to immigrate to Israel: using education to narrow the gap between communities.
She says she told Safra, “Our Sephardim are suffering and we both want things to be good in the country.” Safra then gathered ten wealthy friends, had her explain her idea, and ultimately told her, “Nina, you have a million dollars.” The foundation launched in October 1976, and since then it has awarded thousands of scholarships to students from the periphery, totaling $150 million.
Wiener was born in Alexandria to a Sephardi mother and an Ashkenazi father from Ukraine, spoke Hebrew at home, and was expelled from Egypt in 1949 when the family came to Israel as refugees. She studied in Switzerland, later earned a master’s degree in New York, and decided not to have children, saying that once the foundation was founded, the students became her children, “and indeed, I have thousands of children.”
Today the scholarship program is open not only to Mizrahim but also to Druze applicants and immigrants from Russia and Ukraine, though most recipients still come from the periphery and are Mizrahi. Each year about 1,000 people apply through media announcements, and roughly 200 are chosen after interviews and review by the office staff, a professors’ committee, and alumni. The foundation raises about $4 million annually, including $1 million from the Safra foundation.
Wiener, who became honorary chair after serving as president, moved to Israel a decade ago after her husband died following 49 years of marriage. She says brain drain “hurts” her and that she would like to add a contract clause preventing scholarship holders from leaving the country, though she knows it would not be legal. Her future plan is to establish the Nina Wiener Foundation to fund outstanding teachers with master’s degrees in the periphery. She has also received major honors, including the 2025 Israel Prize for lifetime achievement, and is due to receive an honorary presidency from Tel Aviv University in September.
