Of course, Birthright (known in Israel as “Taglit”) – the famous free, 10-day trip to Israel for Jewish youth – never “died” per se, and so needs no resurrection. However, this year – Birthright’s 25th! – marks a type of “re-birth,” nonetheless.
Since 1999, Birthright has been running 10-day free trips, offering an introduction to Israel and Jewish life. To date, over 900,000 alumni from 68 countries, plus more than 138,000 Israelis, have participated in its programs.
From being ridiculed (too expensive, not realistic, etc., etc.) when first conceived in 1994 by then-deputy foreign minister Yossi Beilin, the impact on Jewish youth has been clear and evidence-based. For a while, the program seemed so successful that many wondered where they would find students who hadn’t yet done the trip!
Birthright overcomes many challenges
Then COVID-19 hit. For two summers, trips were almost impossible. The impact lasted even longer; instead of having 40,000 alumni still in college to “spread the word” and “vouch” for the experience, there were far fewer.
And then, when things started to rebuild, came the October 7 massacre in Israel by Hamas terrorists. The 2023-24 winter season, which is always smaller, was cancelled; the 2024 summer season, in the midst of the war, was extremely small as well, for obvious reasons.
While attending a two-day preparation seminar this week for Birthright guides, I was happily surprised to learn that despite the war and the “matzav” (the situation), over 9,000 participants came to Israel in 2024. Under the circumstances, that’s not bad at all. The numbers for 2025 look even higher.
Why are students starting to come back on Birthright programs? There are many reasons. October 7 and its aftermath ignited the identity of many thousands of Jews around the world and coming to Israel is a natural result of that process.
Furthermore, since the crippling of Hamas and Hezbollah, and the destruction of Syria’s military capabilities, things in Israel seem much safer to Jewish students – and their parents.
One of the biggest reasons for the return of Jewish students and other young people is that Birthright itself has changed. No surprise there, since the creation of Birthright itself was a change.
Dr. Spencer Johnson taught the world this in his famed business book Who Moved My Cheese? (published in 1998, interestingly enough, the year before Birthright launched). Its main characters are two mice, Sniff and Scurry, who are so used to finding cheese in the same place that they struggle to adapt when it no longer appears.
The book’s main message is that change is inevitable, and those who adapt quickly and proactively will thrive; those who resist or fear it will struggle.
The idea change is inevitable and adaptation is a must applies to all areas of life, including Jewish education. For this reason, Birthright trips have changed. They now include an October 7 component, since the heartbreaking events of that day cannot be ignored.
Furthermore, new programs are being offered. Birthright’s new and growing volunteer programs are now bringing in roughly as many participants as its classic 10-day touring experiences.
Birthright's message has changed
Most importantly, Birthright’s very message has begun to change. Of course, there never was one Birthright message. Hundreds of different guides, and thousands of different groups, all had their own particular “view” of things. In the many group discussions on the trips, participants would share vastly different views. That is good and healthy.
However, historically, in most groups, there were certain themes that appeared regularly. Israel as the Start-Up Nation. Israel as the ultimate response to antisemitism and the Holocaust. Israel as the center of Jewish peoplehood and Jewish history.
It wasn’t all about Israel, either. One central theme was that Judaism (and Jewishness) belongs to all Jews. These themes still appear in Birthright’s educational components, as they should.
However, I was happy to learn this week that a new theme has been added to the Birthright teaching repertoire: resilience. The message focuses not only on Hamas’s barbarism of October 7, but on the heroic response of hundreds of “average Israelis” on that day – and hundreds of thousands ever since. A nation of resilient citizens. A nation of heroes. A 3,700-year history of resilience. A strong, unbreakable, and idealistic people.
This message is national, historical, religious, personal, inspirational, and empowering: the Jewish people throughout history – and in their nation-state today – are the world’s teachers, examples, and role models of resilience. We bounce back.
As Birthright VP for Educational Strategy, Dr. Zohar Raviv, put it recently: “We must move beyond the mindset of ‘Never Again’ as a foundational identity-forming mechanism and embrace a more empowering, forward-thinking ethos of ‘Back Again.’”
The appeal of this approach is wide and promising. It acknowledges Jewish suffering but isn’t motivated solely by it. Its role models are not simply victims but individuals throughout history – and today – who moved beyond tragedy to give to their families, communities, nation, and the world.
It is a message that the Jewish world desperately needs in the face of open hatred, and that individuals need in their own struggles in their personal lives.
Too often, Jewish education has been centered on victimhood. Directly and indirectly, the story was about death. With hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza and Israel still reeling and suffering greatly from the massacre on October 7, it seems difficult, and perhaps even insensitive, to offer a simplistic “everything is great, Israel is the place to be” narrative.
With the message of resilience – the theme of the Birthright seminar this week – Jewish educators have new access to a deep, authentic, painful, yet inspirational theme: We are not just the People of the Book, but the People Who Come Back. It is an inspiring and empowering message, and we can only hope that – like Am Yisrael and Israel itself – (Re-Born) Birthright will once again reach its pre-pandemic numbers.
The writer is an international lecturer, author of Why Be Jewish? and Raising Kids to LOVE Being Jewish, cofounder of Mosaica Press, and a licensed Israeli tour guide.