With the summer travel season fast approaching, providers of Israel programs for teenagers are bracing themselves for what several say could be a season of historically low travel in a year unaffected by major security concerns.
Registration began this week for Taglit-Birthright Israel, the program offering free 10-day trips to Israel for Jews ages 18-26 that was created to connect young people to their heritage. This year, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles is co-sponsoring a variety of opportunities: With nine trips and room for 40 people on each, there are 360 spaces available, however many trips fill up quickly.
Since its inaugural trip in the winter of 2000, more than 340,000 participants ages 18-26 have traveled to Israel for the first time through Taglit-Birthright Israel. The 10-day excursions have attracted people from 62 countries, bringing together Jews from virtually every cultural and socio-economic background in the Diaspora.
The participants gather outside the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s old city for a group photo. They look like any group of college students visiting Jerusalem on a summer trip. The photographer counts to three. “Free Palestine!” they yell in unison, and laugh.
Israel\’s prime minister called on participants in the Birthright Israel program to become advocates to for Israel when they return home.
Does Taglit-Birthright Israel have a political agenda? Questions about Birthright’s content have come to the fore, magnified by intense debate about Israel and, perhaps, as a consequence of the program becoming a rite of passage for Diaspora young adults. The questions are not new, and from the time the first planeload of participants landed in Israel, observers have been looking for the political agenda. But political agendas are more in the mind of the spectators than a part of the program itself.
The impact of a Taglit-Birthright experience is significant and lasts for years, according to a new study. Participants in the 10-day Israel trips are more confident advocates for Israel, are more likely to feel very connected to Israel, and are 51 percent more likely to marry a Jew than their peers who applied for but did not go on a Birthright trip.
Birthright Israel received a record-breaking number of North American applicants for its free, ten-day trip to Israel. The organization, which provides all-expense-paid trips to Israel for Diaspora Jews aged 18 to 26, received 40,108 applicants during the seven-day registration period ending Tuesday.
Storahtelling has tapped former Birthright NEXT executive Isaac Shalev to become its next executive director. Isaac Shalev, who helped launched Birthright NEXT and served as COO to the official follow-up program for Birthright Israel, will assume his new post on Feb. 15.
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