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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News Birthright Caught Between Anti-Occupation Activists And Hard Right-Wing Donors
Like many Jewish institutions, Birthright Israel is rapidly losing the struggle to remain detached from deep political differences in these divisive times. Over the past months, it has been targeted directly by young activist Jews, angry over what they believe is the program’s refusal to deliver a balanced message to its participants regarding the Israeli-Palestinian…
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Israel News They Walked Out On Birthright To See Palestinians — And Created Their Own Conflict
Katie Fenster says that she wasn’t planning on walking out on her Birthright Israel tour when she arrived. But during the free 10-day trip, she grew increasingly frustrated that the answers to her questions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “all came from one perspective” and did not include Palestinian views. “We felt like we weren’t being…
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Fast Forward Birthright Participants Publicly Walk Off Trip To Visit West Bank
Five participants on a Birthright Israel program left early Thursday in public protest of its education curriculum, which they say didn’t touch on the occupation of the West Bank. Danielle Raskin, one the participants who protested the trip, created a Twitter account to document her experience, which she had been skeptical about upon arriving, according…
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Opinion Our Israel Education Is Failing
Have you ever seen cars from the 1960s? They’re built like tanks, with big, bold chrome fins and solid, unyielding steel frames that look like they could survive an artillery blast. The cars, of course, were death traps. In the event of a collision, all the impact would get transferred to the driver. Modern cars,…
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Fast Forward Birthright Founder Flips Bird At Protesters Outside Gala
(JTA) — Michael Steinhardt, the co-founder and major funder of Birthright Israel, flashed his middle finger at protesters outside a gala dinner in honor of the 18th anniversary of the free trip to Israel for young Jewish men and women. More than 150 students from colleges in the New York and New England areas protested…
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Israel News Birthright Scraps Trip By Uganda Jews After African Convert Is Deported
Plans to bring a first-ever group of Ugandan Jews to Israel on a Birthright trip are in jeopardy following the recent deportation of a member of their community. The group of 40 Ugandans had been scheduled to arrive in Israel in late May on the free 10-day trip available to young Jewish adults from around…
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Fast Forward Groups Pledge $2 Million Toward Strengthening Young Adults’ Jewish Identity
(JTA) — Two international Jewish groups each pledged $1 million toward, respectively, helping Russian-speakers visit Israel in Taglit-Birthright trips, and supporting innovative projects that strengthen Jewish identity. The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, or EAJC, announced its donation toward the Taglit-related goal Thursday. The Olami Foundation announced its fund, called the “The Innovation Incubator,” last week. The…
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Community Has Birthright Been Successful?
Launched in 1999, Birthright Israel was a “disruptive innovation” designed to arrest the assimilation of the next generation of Diaspora Jews by seeking to universalize an Israel educational experience. The program had many skeptics who, though committed to Jewish education focused on children and teenagers, believed that Birthright was too brief, too superficial, and too…
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