Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Taglit-Birthright Israel, a free 10-day trip to Israel for young adults with Jewish heritage.
Birthright
The Latest
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Israel News Business Students Get View of Protests
As the largest social protest in Israeli history engulfed the streets of Tel Aviv last summer, a small group of American Jewish students witnessed the commotion from a unique vantage point: the Israeli business world that was one of the protest’s broadly defined targets. Twenty students spent the summer in Tel Aviv as part of…
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Food Hosting a Sustainable Shabbat Dinner
One day out of seven, we have the opportunity to stop creating and start being. To enjoy the world around us, including friends and family, beautiful places, enjoyable activities. To rest and recharge. If sustainability is about meeting the needs of today without compromising the needs of future generations, Shabbat is a great place to…
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The Schmooze Why Branding Judaism Is a Bad Idea
I blame Heeb. Launched in 2001, “The New Jew Review” iterated a sharp, satirical take on Jewish culture. The idea was to edify through mockery: Thus a 2005 cover featured Sarah Silverman displaying her cleavage through a hole in a sheet. Although it can try too hard to shock (remember Roseanne Barr as Hitler baking…
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Food Balancing Food Traditions at Your Tu B’Shvat Seder
Tonight, Jan 19th, there’ll be a full moon in the sky: the full moon of the Hebrew month Shvat. The indigenous Israelites from whom we descend celebrated this as the start of the year for the natural world. Like lots of elements of Jewish tradition, we never forgot it, even as its meaning has changed…
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Books Notes From the Tour Bus
How can young people’s first experiences of Israel be at once profound and revelatory, yet predictable and banal? This conundrum was well in place before 2000, when Taglit-Birthright Israel began offering free 10-day trips to Israel to qualifying diasporists aged 18 to 26. But the Birthright machine mass-produces the phenomenon — and now showcases it…
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Life A Peace Process… for Birthright and MASA
Peace might be just around the corner. Peace in the Jewish communal world, that is. According to Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, while world leaders are talking about promoting the peace process, he is in fact engaged in such a process. The peace Sharansky was speaking about, during a brunch reception…
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Life Iran’s Cartoonish Prexy Pretender on Israel: ‘I Heard the Falafel Is Amazing’
Birthright Israel continues its tear as the world’s leading purveyor of clever Jewish viral videos: Hat tip: Jewish Robot UPDATE: I should add that the Israeli MASA program is giving Birthright Israel a run for its money in this department.
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Life Birthright’s New High-Profile Flak
Birthright, a respected organization that sends young adults ages 18-26 on educational trips to Israel, recently hired the public relations firm 5W Public Relations. The fast-growing firm’s CEO, Ronn Torossian, is among the ranks of celebrity publicists who sometimes make the news — or at least the gossip pages — themselves. 5WPR, as it’s known,…
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Opinion What a remarkable Torah rescued from Iran — then LA’s fire — can teach about community amid devastation
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News Why pro-Palestinian groups are being charged with fraud — and could pro-Israel groups be next?
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Fast Forward From the ashes, a forgotten mural — and a new mystery for a Pasadena synagogue
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Yiddish World Psychologist, writer and Yiddish culture activist Michael Fox has died
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