Birthright Israel: A Deeper Look

December 26, 2007 - 11:39 PM by Benji

Earlier this week, the Jerusalem Post featured an article about the “collateral damage” of birthright israel, the incredibly successful program to have brought over 100,000 Jewish young people to Israel since the turn of the century. If you hadn’t heard, the program, called “Birthright” for short, is a product of the Jewish superphilanthropists Charles Bronfman and Michael Steinhardt, assisted by the Jewish Agency and Jewish Federations. Birthright runs free 10-day trips for Jewish youth aged 18-26 who have never participated in a peer trip to Israel before, such as a youth group trip (including but certainly not limited to BBYO, NFTY, USY, Young Judaea, and many many more.)

Birthright, from my understanding, was created to strengthen the Jewish identities and connections to Israel for young Jews who had never had an Israel experience before. Since moving here, I have met a handful of other olim (immigrants) who are graduates of this program and Birthright has given thousands of people an experience that they had never and possibly would never have had again.

So what’s the collateral damage? According to the author, the unintended effect is that Birthright has become a program sought after by the masses, rather than a “safety net” for those who “missed out” during their Jewish formative years. Fred Nagler, the headmaster of a Jewish school in New Jersey, describes how his Israel program for high school students is suffering because of the competition Birthright provides and his program’s inability to compete with a free trip. While any Israel trip is a positive one, many programs of greater lengths and educational depth are seeing their registration numbers drop due to their inability to compete with the economic appeal of Birthright.

It’s an interesting article worth a read. (Editor’s note: At the end of the day: no matter what program you choose…just come!)

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