Over the past 11+ years, 320,000 young Jewish adults have traveled to Israel on a free 10-day trip funded and regulated by Taglit-Birthright Israel. The organization has come a long way since its inception.

The program got off to a rough start — who back then had ever heard of a free trip anywhere — much less overseas — that didn’t have some sort of catch? The fact that the destination was Israel immediately gave skeptics reason to believe that Birthright would either be an Aliyah promotional endeavor or an attempt to preach assimilated American Jews back into religious practice.

Just as the initial skepticism was giving way to trust in the organization, the second intifada broke out with all its force and terror, driving Israel into its worst ever recession and reducing tourism to all-time lows. Then, just as Israel was emerging from that difficult time, the financial scandals (i.e., Madoff and the housing crisis) threatened the organization’s very foundation – large donations from rich philanthropists used to fund the trips.

But Birthright Israel has surprised the skeptics with its open and pluralistic, accepting approach,  weathered the wars and now experiences high trip demand, and escaped financial damage that nearly wrecked other more established Jewish institutions such as Hadassah.

As Birthright moves into its second decade of activity, its important for a platform such as this to exist whereby those who are alumni of the program, those who are considering joining a trip and those who simply have an opinion about the initiative can share thoughts and information about their experiences. By doing so, and keeping our readers up-to-date with information regarding the trips Birthright In Israel hopes to shed some light on this unique project of, by and for the Jewish People!