Birthright Israel Alumni Effort Seeks To Deepen Jewish Identity

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The New York Sun

On the heels of research suggesting that feelings of connection to Israel and Judaism have fallen to an all-time low among young American Jews, a group dedicated to reviving those ties is fighting back with a program it says could dramatically change the way young Jews experience their religion.

The Taglit-Birthright Israel program’s free trips to the Jewish state are regarded as a success story among attempts to revive Jewish identity. The Birthright Israel program sends thousands of young people every year on free 10-day trips to the Jewish state, where groups travel in buses, touring during the day and often staying out late into the night. Nearly 145,000 have visited since the Birthright Israel began in 2000; the only requirements to participate are to be Jewish and between 18 and 26 years old.

Now, saying it is unsatisfied with its track record in keeping alumni active, the New York-headquartered group is preparing a multimillion- dollar effort to extend the effects of its 10-day visits to allow them to become a part of everyday lives.

As explained in a strategic plan now circulating among potential donors, the as-yet-unnamed initiative will build new, fully staffed Birthright Israel program offices in 17 American cities, where alumni would be able to choose from a menu of free subsidized programs including seminars, festivals, conferences, retreats, and trips back to Israel — or obtain seed grants to create programs of their own.

A founder of Birthright Israel, Michael Steinhardt, said the new program will target a common problem: When alumni return from Israel freshly thrilled about Jewish life, they discover no place to apply that energy in their hometowns.

“For most of those places, the Jewish communities are sort of moribund. So it’s not going back to a vigorous, lively, welcoming, enthusiastic community, and continuing in a glorious, exciting tradition. That’s not the case,” Mr. Steinhardt, who is also an owner of The New York Sun, said. “The challenge is going to be to try to create, from the Birthright alumni, a new vital, vigorous, exciting Jewish community.”

The post-trip rush of enthusiasm for Judaism has become legendary in Birthright Israel’s seven short years. Studies by researchers at Brandeis University found that Birthright Israel participants are more likely to participate in Jewish events on their college campuses; more likely to want to learn Hebrew, and more likely to say they want to marry within the Jewish faith and raise Jewish children.

A 21-year-old junior at the New School who went on a Birthright trip four years ago, Robyn Gesoff, said she went to Israel as a former Hebrew school troublemaker looking for a free chance to party but returned a new person.

Now Ms. Gesoff prefers long skirts to short ones, regularly lights Shabbat candles, and attends a one-on-one Hebrew lesson — “So when I’m older I can be at service and follow in the book, and, you know, when my kids go to Hebrew school and when they’re reading Hebrew that I can follow along with them and help them out,” she said.

Her friend Debra Leeds, 28, an Internet ad saleswoman on the Upper East Side who said that, growing up, her Jewish life was limited to three or four holidays a year, plans to move to Israel in November. She said she hopes the move will be permanent.

Another Birthright Israel alumnus, Scott Markovitz, 27, said his trip four years ago is also behind his decision to make aliya , moving to Israel from the Upper East Side, in December.

Mr. Markovitz called Birthright “the second greatest thing to happen to the Jewish people in the last 2,000 years, besides the foundation of Israel,” and he added that cases in which the trip’s effect is lasting are rare.

“There’re so many people, when they come home, all they want to do is give back. They’re not being used,” he said. “You get thousands of brand-new faces every year and by next year maybe 1% of them are still involved, if that. It’s sad, because Birthright could be doing huge, huge things. And it’s not.” A newly hired vice president who is leading the new outreach effort, Rabbi Daniel Brenner, estimated the portion of Birthright Israel alumni who do not now engage in Jewish life at 60%.

But he said his new program presents an “amazing window of opportunity” — both for the Jewish community and for the many who have lost touch with it.

So far, he said, the new initiative has enough funding to support a $3.3 million annual budget, which it hopes to double next year, as well as a growing pool of interested young Jews. Online social networking is one recruitment device outlined in the strategic plan, and Birthright Israel already has one victory.

Rabbi Brenner said that a YouTube video modeled after the well-circulated “Obama Girl” video — this one is titled “Rosh Hashanah Girl,” which features a Birthright alumna, singer-songwriter Michelle Citrin — has been watched by 402,000 people.

“You really cannot argue with 402,000 views,” Rabbi Brenner said.


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