Birthright Israel

The official logo of Taglit-Birthright Israel

Taglit-Birthright Israel (also Birthright Israel or Birthright) is a not-for-profit educational organization that sponsors free ten-day heritage trips to Israel for Jewish young adults. Its stated goals are to diminish the division between Israel and Jewish communities around the world and to strengthen participants' personal Jewish identity and connection to Jewish history and culture.

Since trips began in the winter of 1999, nearly 350,000 young people from 62 different countries have participated in the program. About 80% of participants are from the United States and Canada.

History

Taglit delegation, Winter 2012

The Birthright Israel program was initiated in 1994 and founded in cooperation with Charles Bronfman and Michael Steinhardt, as well as the Israeli government, private philanthropists, the Jewish Agency for Israel, and Jewish communities around the world. Top educators, historians and tourism professionals were recruited to plan the program, for which demand is very high. Tours are held in the winter and summer. Registration is conducted online and each round there are thousands more applicants than spots available.^{[citation needed]}

In 2007, annual capacity was increased to 37,000 participants a year. Taglit is the Hebrew word for discovery, and participants, most of whom are visiting Israel for the first time, are encouraged to discover new meaning in their personal Jewish identity and connection to Jewish history and culture.^{[citation needed]}

In 2011 Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson pledged an additional $5 million toward the effort that would allow one out of every two young Jewish adults to participate. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also announced an increase in the government's budget for Taglit-Birthright Israel, pledging $100 million to Taglit-Birthright Israel over the next three years. To match this commitment, the Israeli government expects a corresponding increase in funding from Birthright Israel’s partner organizations—the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Agency for Israel—and from individual donors.^{[citation needed]}

Eligibility

Eligible individuals are those who have at least one parent of recognized Jewish descent and who do not actively practice another religion, between the ages 18 to 26, post-high-school, who have neither traveled to Israel before on a peer educational trip or study program nor have lived in Israel past the age of 12. As of August 2009 persons who turn 27 before December 1 are not eligible for trips during the next year.

A Taglit-Birthright Israel trip includes airfare from major cities, hotels, most meals, all transportation within Israel, and costs associated with touring the country for the ten-day trip. A US$250 deposit is required (C$250 in Canada), which is refunded upon return from the trip. Airfare or transportation from a participant's home to the gateway city is not included, although the trips depart from multiple cities.

Trip organizers

Trips are organized by different organizations and companies accredited by Taglit-Birthright Israel, which sets the logistical, educational, and security standards. All groups are led by licensed Israeli tour guides, all groups are accompanied by an armed security guard, and include visits to the Western Wall and Yad Vashem, as well as other sites determined by Taglit-Birthright Israel. Tours may vary according to age group and the religious background of the participants. Trips may be geared for graduate students, undergraduates at a particular university, participants from a particular city, participants who identify with a particular stream of Judaism, hiking enthusiasts and so on.^{[citation needed]}

Itinerary

Bedouin camp with Birthright tourists

Registration is conducted twice a year, in the winter and summer, and during each round there are thousands more applicants than spaces available. Trips are conducted throughout most of the year.

A Taglit-Birthright Israel trip includes airfare from major cities, hotel accommodation, most meals, security, all transportation within Israel, and other costs associated with touring the country during the ten-day trip.

Tours travel throughout the country to religious and cultural sites, including in Jerusalem, the Western Wall, and the Dead Sea. Trips also often include a Mega Event, which unites thousands of participants from around the world together with Israelis for a celebration featuring speeches by dignitaries and musical performances.

A major feature of the tours is a 5 to 10 day mifgash (Hebrew for encounter) with Israeli peers, usually soldiers serving in the Israel Defense Forces, who join the tour. The stated purpose for the mifgash is for the participants and the soldiers to get to know each other and to better understand each other's world view and Jewish identity. Guided discussion sessions are claimed to aim exploring topics such as the Jewish tradition in the modern world, how Jewish life in Israel differs from Jewish life abroad, and how mandatory military service impacts young Israelis' perceptions of service and commitment to their country.^{[citation needed]} More than 65,000 Israelis have participated in the program since 2000.

Birthright Israel extension options

Participants have the option to extend their plane ticket for three additional months and use the time to explore Israel and the region. The optional extension is not part of the Birthright trip, and the participant is in that time like any tourist.

In 2013, Taglit-Birthright Israel launched Birthright Israel PLUS, a 4-day trip extension. This special add-on program offers participants the opportunity to take part in unique experiences including visits to Israeli technology start-ups, observing an Israeli Defense Force simulation, and a retreat for body and soul in Tzfat.

Security measures

Birthright has policies in place during the trip that it claims "ensure a comprehensive safety umbrella":

• The program does not travel to the West Bank, Gaza, or East Jerusalem other than the Jewish quarter of the old City
• Participants in each group remain together at all times and follow a set schedule of activities
• Participants do not leave the groups to travel, explore or visit with Israelis on their own during the ten-day trip
• Public transportation is not allowed at any time
• At least one highly-trained, armed escort will accompany each group throughout the entire trip

Funding

Through the end of 2011, more than $680 million has been raised, and the program had an operating budget of $660 million. More than half of the program's funding comes from philanthropists, including Charles Bronfman, Edgar Bronfman, Sr., Daniel Och, Marlene Post, Lynn Schusterman, Sheldon Adelson, and Michael Steinhardt. About one-quarter of funding comes from the Government of Israel, and about one-fifth is contributed by Jewish organizations and communities, such as North American Jewish Federations through the United Jewish Communities (UJC), Keren Hayesod, and the Jewish Agency for Israel; and many leading private philanthropists through the Birthright Israel Foundation, including Charles Bronfman, Michael Steinhardt, and Lynn Schusterman. The program also receives funding from the German government (through the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany).

In 2007 Miriam and Sheldon Adelson pledged $25 million to Birthright Israel to take applicants off waiting lists and to increase annual capacity from 25,000 to 37,000 in 2007 and 2008. The Adelson Family Foundation has contributed over $100 million to Birthright Israel since 2007.

According to the organization, Taglit-Birthright Israel has contributed more than 2 billion NIS to the Israeli economy.

Sex and romance

"No problem if there’s intimate encounters," an Israel Outdoors employee told American staffers during training. "In fact, it’s encouraged!"

One participant said that "the outside perception of Birthright trips being giant drunken orgies is actually grossly exaggerated ... the vast majority of people participating in Birthright do not have sex on the trip. The amount of sexual activity taking place may be slightly above average, but not by that much."

Criticism

The Birthright Israel program has been criticized for its pre-trip screening process. According to Rachel Shabi in Salon.com, political opinions may be taken into account: "Potential candidates who are discovered to have a 'hidden agenda' are not allowed onto the [Birthright] trips". Shabi discussed people who use the Birthright program to obtain free transportation to Israel, then leave the group to work with Palestinian groups.

Group discussions do not encourage political discussion.

An article in The Nation claimed that Birthright invites travelers to "explore Israel without being force-fed ideology", but the author claimed the trips were ideological.

Similar trips

Birthright Israel has inspired similar programs for other diasporas with similar goals, including Birthright Armenia for the Armenian diaspora, Reconnect Hungary for young adults of Hungarian heritage and Birthright Greece for the Greek Diaspora.

Birthright Unplugged was founded to counterbalance Birthright Israel, with the goal of exposing Jewish and non-Jewish visitors to Palestinian communities inside and outside of Israel.

There is also an opportunity for young Palestinians of the Diaspora to visit Palestine in a program called "Know Thy Heritage". However, Palestinians with dual citizenship, foreign nationals of Arab heritage, and potential Palestinian activists entering through the Jordanian border are frequently interrogated for hours, and sometimes denied entry into Israel for security reasons.

See also

• Israel
• Israeli government
• Diaspora politics
• Diaspora politics in the United States
• Birthright Greece
• Birthright Armenia

External links

• Birthright Israel
• Kelner, Shaul, Leonard Saxe, et al. Making Meaning: Participants’ Experience of Birthright Israel (Waltham, MA : Brandeis University, Nov. 2000)
• The Birthright Israel Program: Present and Possible Future Impacts - Interview with Leonard Saxe at the Institute for Global Jewish Affairs
• Saxe, L. & Chazan, B. (2008). Ten Days of Birthright Israel: A Journey in Young Adult Identity. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England
• Avi Herring discusses the merits of Birthright Israel in The Current, a Columbia University journal
• Jordan C. Hirsch investigates how Birthright has affected the American Jewish community in Presentense.
• Research on Taglit-Birthright Israel