Celebrating Birthright's return to Israel post-October 7 - comment

Taglit-Birthright Israel announced that it is resuming trips to Israel in January after suspending them due to the war against Hamas. While the war is still raging and the country is burying soldiers and praying for the return of the hostages, Israel itself is relatively safe and welcomes visitors from abroad with open arms at this difficult time.

“Birthright Israel’s upcoming trips will operate under strict safety and security standards set by the Israel Defense Forces’ Home Front Command,” the organization said in a statement issued on December 19. It said from now on, all Birthright groups would undergo a pre-trip orientation that includes safety and security instructions.

Some 350 participants – students and young adults, the majority of them from the United States – are expected to travel to Israel from the week of January 5, 2024, for a free, 10-day trip, the statement said, adding that by the end of March, Birthright expects hundreds more to follow. A Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA) report on the resumption of the trips noted that Israeli universities were gearing up to reopen at the end of December, and that the government has raised the limit on the size of gatherings, citing reduced concerns about Hamas rocket attacks.

Birthright CEO Gidi Mark said that while the trips would continue to prioritize the organization’s goals of “positive Jewish identity building,” they will also now focus on the Hamas attack and its impact on Israeli society and Jewish communities around the world.

“Everything is different post-October 7 from an educational perspective. The people of Israel are different, and the young adults arriving to Israel are different,” Mark told JTA. “We are preparing the educational teams to deal with broad discussions and an open dialogue. We believe that participants will come to explore and learn about what happened and what is occurring now, and also share about the reality back home and the rise of antisemitism.”

The importance of Birthright

Birthright has brought 850,000 young Jewish adults to Israel since its launch in 1999. In November, it announced the launch of its Onward Volunteer Program, which runs through February for participants aged 18 to 40, after it canceled its scheduled trips for December amid security concerns. More than 3,300 of its alumni had applied to volunteer in kibbutzim and other Israeli communities “to harvest crops in the absence of the thousands of foreign field workers,” the organization said.

Participants who volunteer to work for four to six hours daily in Israel are responsible to pay for their flight, food, and travel insurance, while the program – a partnership with Mosaic United and the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism – covers most other expenses. One of the volunteers, 26-year-old Melissa Liberson from Louisiana, told Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) that she jumped at the chance to give back to Israel after coming on a Birthright trip in 2019. “I have always felt very connected to Israel,” she told JNS. “I have close friends in Israel, so I wanted to support and help in any way I could concretely.”

JNS pointed out that volunteerism has played an important role since Israel’s establishment, when 4,000 Machal volunteers helped defend the new state in 1948.

Birthright is not the only organization facilitating trips to help Israel during its time of need.  Others, such as Sar-El (The National Project for Volunteers for Israel) and Leket Israel (Rescuing nutritious surplus food for those in need), have done exceptional work. In addition to official guests from abroad, celebrity visitors – from Elon Musk and Douglas Murray to Michael Rapaport and Jerry Seinfeld – help boost national morale.

We urge those who can to visit Israel too. As my niece posted on Facebook, our love is stronger than their hate, especially if we are united. Together we will prevail in 2024.