Are Birthright participants more likely to marry Jews? A study says yes
A new study used data the Pew Research Center collected for its 2020 study of American Jews

A tourist looks at Masada. Photo by iStock
American Jews who go on Birthright Israel trips are more than twice as likely to marry a Jew than Jewish peers of similar backgrounds who have never been to Israel.
That’s one of the findings of a new study from the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University that relied on data from the Pew Research Center. It showed that while 15% of Jews who did not go on Birthright trips went on to marry other Jews, 39% of those who went on the trips did.
Years of Birthright’s own surveys had shown that the young American Jews who go on the free trips enhance their feelings of belonging to the Jewish people and their attachment to Israel. Birthright officials say the Cohen Center, which analyzed responses from Pew’s 2020 study of American Jews, for the first time validated the nonprofit’s own surveys with independently collected data.
Gidi Mark, CEO of Birthright Israel, said the new analysis confirms that “Birthright Israel is the most successful social Jewish venture and one of the programs with the greatest impact on the Jewish people’s future.”
The study did not consider whether Birthright participants might be a self-selected group with preexisting attitudes about marrying within the faith or a favorable predisposition toward Israel.
Founded 22 years ago, Birthright provides 10-day trips to Israel for Jewish young adults between the ages of 18 to 32, though starting next year the upper age limit will be 26. So far it has sent 800,000 Jews to Israel. Its goal, according to its website, is “to ensure the future of the Jewish people.”
Among other findings from the Cohen Center study, Birthright participants, compared to Jewish peers who had not traveled to Israel, were:
- 85% more likely to feel “somewhat” or “very” attached to Israel
- 54% more likely to feel a “great deal” of belonging to the Jewish people
- 58% more likely to feel “a lot” in common with Israeli Jews
- 45% more likely to have attended a Seder the previous Passover
Birthright is funded in the U.S. by individual donors and partnerships with, among others, the government of Israel and the Jewish Federations of North America.
A spokesperson for the Pew Research Center, Anna Schiller, declined comment on the Cohen Center study: “As a matter of policy, we don’t comment on other people’s analysis of our data because it’s a big time commitment to understand and then replicate their analysis.”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Naftali Bennett is back: Former Israeli prime minister will make another run at Netanyahu
-
Fast Forward Citing post-Holocaust doctrine, Germany seeks to deport 4 pro-Palestinian protesters, including one American
-
Fast Forward Trump administration freezes research funding to Princeton amid antisemitism investigations
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.