Jerusalem, May 15, 2012 - Six groups of exhausted Birthright Israel participants walked out of Ben Gurion arrivals terminal to the sound of beating drums, singing IDF soldiers and the welcoming call of the Shofar being blown. The drummers then led the group of 250 young Jews as they made their way to an open area outside the airport terminal where a brief welcome ceremony took place. Each group of participants will share their experience with four to six Israeli soldiers, who are part of the Mifgash (Encounter) program. These were the soldiers who sang songs of welcome on the groups’ arrival. This season, Taglit-Birthright Israel will host about 26 special niche groups in addition to the regular trips, including a “Shakespeare in Israel” group for writers; a “Sound of Music” group … Continue Reading
Learning from Taglit-Birthright Israel: An Academic Conference
Later this month, The Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University will host Learning from Taglit-Birthright Israel, the first academic conference to examine what scholars, practitioners, and policy makers can learn from Taglit-Birthright Israel, the largest single educational program in the Jewish world today. Since it was launched in 1999, Taglit has brought nearly 300,000 Diaspora young adults to Israel and involved another 60,000 Israeli peers. By expanding the number and variety of scholars and public policy intellectuals engaged in the examination of Taglit, the conference will further develop the study of Taglit as a social experiment in educational innovation and elaborate on a wide variety of substantive issues including the following: The impact of Taglit on American … Continue Reading
Taglit Birthright Pioneers an Important “Discovery” for Jewish Philanthropy
by Dr. Jonathan Mirvis In Israel over the past few days there have been two news stories which seemingly are not connected. Galei Tzahal, the IDF radio station, broadcast a report that Taglit had brought a number of non-Jewish participants to Israel who took advantage of the free vouchers offered. A second story was the decision of Prime Minister Netanyahu to hold the Israel elections a year in advance of its due date. One of the commentators explained the PM’s motivation as being his desire to hold the elections prior to the USA Presidential elections. In Israel there are those who believe that President Obama in his second term (if he wins the election) may be far more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and that Netanyahu feels the need to have a strong government in place in … Continue Reading
The Jewish Agency Launches the Jewish World Caucus
A large majority of the Jewish public in Israel believes that there is a sense of mutual responsibility between Jews abroad and the Jews of Israel. The findings come as part of a poll commissioned by the Jewish Agency to mark the establishment of the Jewish World Caucus, launched Monday, Mar. 20th, at the Knesset. The launch event was attended by government ministers, members of Knesset, and representatives of Jewish communities abroad, opening with a moment of silence to mark the murderous attack in Toulouse, in which a schoolteacher and three children were killed. The Jewish Agency poll was meant to examine the importance ascribed by the Jewish public in Israel to ties with world Jewry on a number of different planes, as well as the significance of that connection to strengthening Israel and … Continue Reading
Private Philanthropy as a Builder of Jewish Peoplehood: Observations from the Field
This essay is from The Peoplehood Papers, volume 7 - Reinvigorating Jewish Peoplehood: The Philanthropic Perspective; published by the Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education. by Jeffrey R Solomon It is often said that private philanthropy when done well, is the passing lane of society. Billions of dollars of assets are available for improving the human condition with little external oversight or intervention. Responsibility falls to the philanthropies’ board of directors. Indeed, this is a wonderful condition for attempting new ways of confronting existing societal needs. Many such foundations understand that their role should be one of trailblazing. There is a long and noble history of private philanthropy in action which has provided immeasurable benefits to society. How has this … Continue Reading
Jewish Federations – Jewish Peoplehood in Action
This essay is from The Peoplehood Papers, volume 7 – Reinvigorating Jewish Peoplehood: The Philanthropic Perspective; published by the Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education. by Rebecca Caspi and Lisa Friedman Throughout the generations, the great strength of the Jewish community has been its distinct ability to organize itself. In North America this found expression through securing the rights of minorities; gaining a significant political foothold; setting up a comprehensive system of Jewish charitable, defense and educational institutions; and, providing substantial support to the State of Israel and to Jews around the world. As we witness the current shifting social, demographic and economic trends that impact our long standing communal efforts, we note that the fundamentals of … Continue Reading
Leading By Choice
by Morlie Levin Although I read Martin Levine’s meaty piece last week while on vacation, many of his insights stayed in my mind. One phrase in particular kept reverberating: “Leadership is about facing ... choices head on ... [and] the first step ... must be a willingness to look at our reality clearly.” At NEXT: a Division of Birthright Israel Foundation we have emerged from a period of deep reflection, looking at our reality clearly. And we came to focus on that which the community at large is already experiencing: it’s the numbers. Think about this for a minute. Almost 200,000 20-somethings who live in the U.S. have ALREADY been on a Birthright trip. Tens of thousands more will go this year, and every year going forward. Each has a story to tell. Each is touched, challenged, … Continue Reading
Post 14: Priorities: Focus on Government and Market Failures
[eJP note: This post, by Gidi Grinstein, was originally published on May 13, 2008, as part of a series on Philanthropy in Israel. With this year's Jewish Funders Network conference taking place in Israel, we thought it would be timely to rerun the series.] The philanthropy of Diaspora Jewry in Israel needs to undergo a qualitative leap in its impact on Israeli society. One of the elements of this leap would be to focus on government and market failures and avoiding being ‘diverted’ and ‘seduced’ to do otherwise. The logic has been laid out in previous posts of this series. Jewish philanthropy in Israel is facing a double-challenge of expanding options and diminishing marginal impact (see posts 3-6), which requires a qualitative response (see post 7). One of the elements of this … Continue Reading
Birthright Contributes 2b. NIS to Israel’s Economy
Jerusalem, February 26, 2012: Today, at the height of Taglit-Birthright Israel’s Winter season, the organization announced that the total contribution of Taglit to Israel’s economy through the Israeli tourism industry, since its inception in 2000, is more than NIS 2 billion (over $535 million). This significant contribution comes from providing transportation, lodging, food, training, security, entry to tourist sites and air travel. Since the beginning of the project, over 7,100 groups arrived in Israel, filling more than 2,224,700 hotel beds and traveling around the country for over 71,000 days in buses. In 2011 alone, the arrival of 34,000 Taglit participants meant over 86,000 work days in the tourism sector, and contributed more than 228 million shekels to the economy. Even during … Continue Reading
Taglit-Birthright Participants Cook for the IDF
The vegetable kitchen; photo by Lior Cohen. Israeli Defense Forces soldiers in the Negev desert were treated to a “home-cooked meal” by American and Israeli chefs, bakers and “foodies” this week. The food specialists, a group of 26 Americans joined by 10 Israelis, are participating in a 10-day niche Taglit-Birthright Israel culinary group. This niche culinary tour of Israel has provided participants from all over the US with a very different kind of Israel experience. These participants, who work as chefs, bakers and food critics, or are simply unabashed food enthusiasts (“foodies”), have experienced a wine tour in the Carmel, food tasting in Machane Yehuda (the shuk/market) in Jerusalem, mixed with Israeli chefs, picked fresh vegetables in a greenhouse in the desert and experienced … Continue Reading
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