For the last six years, as executive director of RootOne — an initiative that provides vouchers for and coordinates immersive Israel experiences for high schoolers — Simon Amiel has been at the center of conversations about how young American Jews connect to Israel.

As of last month, he’s been taking on that work at a larger scale, succeeding longtime educational leader Liz Sokolsky as Birthright Israel’s executive vice president, North America.

The move comes at a fraught moment for Israel travel in particular and more generally for the broader project of Jewish identity-building among young Americans. Last year, under Sokolsky, who spent 26 years at Birthright, the organization marked 25 years of trips and more than 900,000 participants brought to Israel. But in recent years, Birthright has also weathered the sharp drop in participation after Oct. 7, 2023, and further disruption amid the conflict with Iran. Its goal now, Amiel said, is to bring 200,000 more participants over the next four years.

Amiel arrives having lived through a version of that same volatility at a younger, more experimental organization. One month into his new role, Amiel spoke with eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim in Tel Aviv about his decision to leave RootOne, the lessons of steering an organization through a period of collapsing and rebounding participation, and his vision for how Birthright and RootOne might work together to build a more continuous set of Israel experiences across a young person’s life.

Nira Dayanim: You’ve stepped into the role of executive vice president, North America, at Birthright after a number of years at RootOne. Why did you decide to make the move?

Simon Amiel: Have you heard of Founders Syndrome? After six years of launching and growing an initiative, at some point you look around and say, “I think it’s actually time, potentially now for a new set of ideas, some new energy.” Things are hopeful there, with what’s going on here, as best as anybody can survive. So, it felt like this was the right time for me.

Not by rule, but it’s been a bit of a trend for me every five, six years, to look around and say, “It might be time for something really interesting.” I could have certainly stayed there and been happy, because it’s still challenging and exciting and important. And — this job came up, and I believe strongly in Jewish identity formation and the future of the Jewish community, that’s just what drives me in my career, and I believe Israel is the most accessible anchor for Jewish identity formation. So I looked at this as an opportunity to be with the largest, most powerful and significant organization that can impact and serve the Jewish People and thought, “I’ve gotta go.”

ND: There’s a lot of overlap between the two organizations, but a notable difference is the age groups they serve. How do you see these two experiences connecting, and what has your time catering to the younger demographic taught you? 

SA: So, I’ll answer the second part of that question first: More Israel is better. So I didn’t need to go and work [at RootOne] to know that and understand that, and then, by the way, there are a few other differences, right? It’s not just the age group, it’s also the amount of time spent on a typical experience, right? The lead experience for Birthright is 10 days, and there are three other programs that are different or longer, etc.

RootOne is explicitly looking to push for three weeks, so that they can do a pretty significant deep dive. And the primary reason there is that they want to be able to connect those kids not just to Israel and not just to the Jewish identity, but to Israelis, before they set foot on college campuses. 

I think the next step is for both of our organizations is to figure out a partnership where we look globally at what it means to have a normative set of Jewish experiences as a young person and say we’re committed to the idea that normative Jewish experiences includes an Israel experience, and it’s a deep dive of learning experience in high school, college, that you’re there doing some pre-professional work as an intern, that you go and volunteer as an adult, that it continues to be an important part of your Jewish identity and the future of the Jewish People. 

ND: Is that vision for partnership you mentioned also a natural development from your transition, as well, like having been at RootOne before and now at Birthright?

SA: Of course. I’m seeing both ends of that experience. In high school kids, you’ve got young people whose intellectual capacities are certainly much more developed than, let’s say, seventh or eighth grade. Once you’re in high school, you have a bit more capacity to do things that sets you up for a better understanding of your own relationship to your own Jewish identity that not only strengthens you when you get to college, but it allows you to say, “I can go for 10 more days, and I can actually now deeply experience this with my peers, hopefully on my same campus, if not these people around my age, build that community then that will likely stay with you beyond college.” I don’t know about you. I mean, I’m still friends with the people I went to school with, but I don’t necessarily live near them. It’s a different feeling. 

ND: You’re also succeeding Sokolsky, who spent more than two decades building Birthright’s North American educational operation. I’m wondering what you see as her biggest legacy, and also what you hope to build on, or do differently?

SA: If there’s a Mount Rushmore of immersive Jewish experiences, Liz is up there. Her legacy is gigantic; it’s everywhere. She is the most connected to what this experience is and what it means, and she’s the most connected person I know to all the major players within this world. She cares incredibly deeply about it, and she’s a total force. When you have that capacity to know just about everybody, to understand this work inside and out, to be incredibly passionate about this work, and to be a serious character, that’s a recipe for really positive success professionally, and those are giant, giant shoes to fill.

ND: You stewarded RootOne through a particularly tumultuous time in Israel travel. What are the biggest lessons you have from experiencing that while working at an organization positioned more like a startup, and how do you bring that to Birthright, which is more established?

SA: At RootOne, everything was on the table all the time. That was a choice that I made as its leader. Maybe it was the right choice, maybe it wasn’t the right choice. I felt we’re learning so much about really established practice within the Jewish community that has never really been studied deeply, that it would be unwise to say no to ideas at that point. We were also building out a community and a partnership, so we were much more open, at least at first, to the different approaches that folks were taking.

Birthright is already there. Birthright actually has a clear outlook in terms of what it’s doing. So, there isn’t a lot of room for variation, and that’s actually part of their success. Because they’ve been very clear on what it is that they want to do and where it is that they’re going, and how they’re going to get there.

One of the major things that I learned — which Birthright has done and is ready to go back into — is the value of creating experiences in Israel that are far more relevant to young people who are not necessarily connected Jewishly, but looking at ways to advance their own, pre-professional interests or even personal interests. And one of the things that happened at RootOne, and is happening here at Birthright, is that right now as we’re dealing with all of this, it doesn’t allow for us to move forward into that model successfully. We have to wait until things lighten up a bit, and young people and their families are willing to say, “Yes, I’m going to go to Israel, I feel safe going to Israel.”

The one thing I regretted in leaving RootOne is that I always had this vision of creating really intensive, high-level experiences that focused on pre-professional aspirations. Because American Jews don’t all do one Jewish thing — they don’t all keep Shabbat, they don’t all keep kosher — but something like 90% send their kids to college, they’re interested and want their kids to be successful educationally and professionally. I think that there’s a massive population of young Jews who aren’t necessarily looking at Israel sideways, they might not even be looking at Israel at all, and I think that’s the bigger problem. So, for us to create opportunities that are relevant to these folks, not because it’s necessarily Israel, but because it’s something that they think would be fun or productive for their lives, if we can now widen that scope, that would be a nice step. Birthright’s goal is to bring 200,000 people within the next four years, a sort of lofty, lofty goal. But it’s not just on the 10-day trip, right? If we can begin to leverage those things, especially Onward and Excel, we could see a really significant impact in terms of both the number of young people participating and the overall impact on the future of the Jewish People, so it’s an exciting place to be, but you know, unless you know somebody on the board of… Iran, it’s hard to figure out how to change something. 

ND: You mentioned how the goal isn’t to target the people who are looking at Israel sideways, but those who view it more ambiguously or don’t really have an interest. But what do you think should be the approach for those who might be teetering on looking at it sideways?

SA: Look, I think it’s fair to say among young people in North America, most of them are learning about Israel in a post-literacy environment. They’re not reading about it necessarily, they’re not having intellectual discussions about it. They are, especially if the American college system is relatively excited, so they’re learning about things through TikTok covering this. There’s no nuance, there’s no patience for nuance, and there’s no capacity for it. So, to me, I think among the most important things that we could be doing is connecting North American Jews, that notion of peoplehood, feeling like… we’re the same people and being able to see Israel for Israelis, and not necessarily for its policies, or its military action, or any of those things, I think opens up doors for people listening.

I don’t really get what this is, but I don’t like it, or it doesn’t. It doesn’t jibe with my progressive sensibilities. Okay, like the policies that are happening in the U.S. may or may not jibe with your sensibilities either, but the people there represent a much greater level of diversity in terms of their approach, their understanding, and once you spend time with somebody, you begin to look at things a lot differently. So, from my perspective, I think that the most important approach is to be able to feature and to be able to increase real connections and relationships between Israelis and North Americans.

ND: What excites you most about the opportunities that come with this role? We’ve spoken a bit about Birthright’s size and history. Also, on the flip side, what will you miss most about RootOne?

SA: What excites me most is that this is a preeminent organization in terms of impacting the global Jewish future. It’s not just about Jewish identity. Especially given what’s going on right now with elected officials in New York City and beyond voting power, interest, support both financial and political, I mean all of those things are now teetering on the edge, and if we’re not successful in creating relevance and connection and honesty and knowledge and literacy about what Israelis and who Israelis are among those people, I think we’re lost. So to me it feels like not only this great opportunity to have an impact, but I feel the pressure right now to be able to build my experience and talents to have the greatest impact on the future of the Jewish People. So it’s amazing to me that I get to do that, and I get to work, so that’s what’s really exciting about it. They’ve got a really passionate and assertive vision, and I love being part of that. What I miss about RootOne is, first and foremost, my team. I mean, I built the team, right? Anytime you help launch and grow something, you have an almost irrational love for it, right? It’s your baby to some degree. And I really hope to be flexing some of the entrepreneurial muscles that I was able to flex every day. I believe that, especially as we continue to strengthen our base, hopefully in the near future, we’ll be able to be far more entrepreneurial and risk-taking in what it is that we’re doing. I was doing that every day there. Here, it’s more like, “let’s build out the base again.” Let’s now figure out how we can make this significantly powerful Jewish future machine come at the highest level again in terms of participation. And then I think there’ll be plenty of time for innovation and diversity. 

ND: What has the last month looked like since you started?

SA: It has been completely and utterly overwhelming. I mean, this is a 26-, 27-year-old organization, so learning everything and everyone. There’s just so much to take in, so it’s been overwhelming, which is a lot better than being boring, that’s for sure. Any significant change, you have a little bit of doubt in the back of your mind. Is this the right time? Is this the right move? There’s always a risk there, and if I’ve learned anything in the last four weeks, it’s been the right risk to take. It’s been the right move for me, and I’ve just been so incredibly impressed with the level of professionalism, the level of commitment on both the North American side and the Israeli side, especially after spending time here. This is a group of incredibly talented people. 

By the way, this was something new I learned that I think I should share with you, but I didn’t expect to hear. What I’ve heard a lot in the U.S. is, “I’ve been working for Jewish organization X for the last two years, because after Oct. 7, I decided I wanted to take my talents to the Jewish community.” I must have heard that 10 times in Israel. I don’t know why, it’s silly in retrospect, to not think that I would also hear that here, but I hear it all the time. So you’ve got people who are incredibly accomplished who are stewards of the future of the Jewish People. So I feel incredibly confident being part of this group. After one month, I feel great about the people, I feel great about the direction, I feel great about the future for both Birthright and the Jewish faith.

ND: Anything else?

SA: I see this as the last job I’ll ever have. Both, because I can’t imagine an environment in an organization I could work with that would have a greater impact on the thing that is most impactful, and I intend to stay here as long as I’ve got the energy to do this. We started with this a little bit in our conversation, but I think the idea of strategically connecting Israel experiences is going to be pretty key for our future. I think the idea of the price incentives makes it really compelling for a lot of people, but I think part of our responsibility, and I don’t mean Birthright’s responsibility, I mean collectively our responsibility, is to figure out ways to be able to widen that funnel, so that young people are turning into older people by going to Israel over and over again as a primary basis of their Jewish experience. I want to be part of that. The future is not just in our own growth and impact. The future is in being able to lead the way for other organizations to come with us and to be able to maximize the impact that Israel can have on the future of the Jewish People. There’s always going to be some siloing of Jewish organizations based on their geography, maybe based on their ideology, whatever it is for Israel. I don’t know that we can afford that, given the importance of Israel in its place as a potential anchor for Jewish identity in the Jewish future, and of course, because right now, Israel is the tip of the spear of antisemitism for people who hate it. I mean, this is it, this is the platform, so we need to be able to go deep here and ensure that we’re figuring out ways for as many young people to come to Israel as many times as possible.