An Idea Developed by Two Philanthropists Helps Young Jews Learn About Israel

It was Israel’s Independence Day and the lobby of Manhattan’s Museum of Jewish Heritage looked more like a

singles’ party than anything else. Some 300 young Jews — college students and young professionals — stood eating hummus and schmoozing as they waited for the start of a free concert by David Broza, one of Israel’s most beloved singer-songwriters.

Every few minutes young women would shriek as they found each other in the crowd, their friendship forged while in Israel on a trip provided by an ambitious nonprofit program called Birthright Israel.

The Birthright Israel program is one of the most successful of the many efforts that have sprung up in recent years to encourage young Jews to feel more connected with their Jewish identity. It gives a free, 10-day trip to Israel to Jews ages 18 to 26 who have not already been on an educational peer program there. Since 1999, the program has spent $154-million to take 70,000 young Jewish adults from 38 countries on the trips.

The Birthright Israel project was developed by two well-known Jewish philanthropists and businessmen, Charles Bronfman and Michael Steinhardt.

Instead of the usual approach in Jewish philanthropy, where the network of 155 Jewish federations in North America and the organizations they collaborate with overseas would conceive a program and ask donors to support it, it was Mr. Bronfman and Mr. Steinhardt who came up with the idea and with a financing plan.

Their goal was for the Israeli government to pay one-third and the federations, with the cooperation of their umbrella organization, United Jewish Communities, to pay another third. Mr. Bronfman and Mr. Steinhardt promised that they would provide the rest, giving their own money and raising funds from others.

Near Collapse

Mr. Steinhardt says that so far, he has personally provided $8-million to $9-million to Birthright Israel. Mr. Bronfman declined to say how much he has given in total, but says that he has provided “about $1-million a year” for Birthright Israel. Both philanthropists have agreed to finance the project for another five years.

Yet financial problems, which pushed the endeavor to the brink of failure last winter, continue to be an issue. As a result, only 15,000 trips have been budgeted for 2005, compared with 21,000 this year, Mr. Bronfman says. He says he hopes eventually to send 30,000 people a year to Israel.

The Israeli government, strapped by the costs of dealing with terrorism, has not been able to meet its financial commitment. The Jewish federations, also struggling with budgetary challenges, have provided more than the Israeli government, but have not met their full commitment, says Mr. Bronfman.

The philanthropists, who, beside Mr. Bronfman and Mr. Steinhardt, include several family foundations, “have paid about 50 percent of the total” cost of Birthright Israel to date, Mr. Bronfman says.

“We’ll see, as time goes on, how much they [the federations] can possibly do,” says Mr. Bronfman. “It isn’t easy for any of us. It’s such a successful program that it’s very costly.”

Alumni Clubs

When Mr. Bronfman and Mr. Steinhardt first proposed Birthright Israel, some leaders of Jewish federations and others in organized philanthropy were not persuaded that the project offered the best way to get young Jews to connect with their religious heritage.

Some said that the money would be better spent on Jewish summer camping or day schools, both proven ways to increase Jewish involvement and commitment.

But the critics have been quieted by the success of the program in terms of its popularity among young Jewish adults, and by the enthusiastic testimony they offer upon their return.

To build on the connections young Jews make to their heritage and to one another through the trips, Birthright Israel is moving into a new phase: forming alumni clubs.

The New York event at the Jewish heritage museum was the kickoff of the New York club, and others are being formed in Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Rita Ross, 28, who teaches English in a New York City public high school and went on a Birthright Israel trip in August 2003, is a member of the New York alumni association’s leadership board. The Birthright Israel experience “changed my life,” she says. “It strengthened my sense of connection with Israel 900 percent. It was the gift of a lifetime.”

She isn’t in a position to contribute much money to Jewish organizations on her teacher’s salary, she says, but she has found other ways to volunteer her time on behalf of Jewish causes in addition to serving on the alumni board. This year she started a Jewish club at her high school, and is involving the students in literacy and food-drive projects.

This past summer, “I went back to Israel on my own, and next August I’m planning to take my mom, who’s never been. Maybe one of these days I’ll even join a synagogue,” she says.

Her newfound commitment to Israel and to living an actively Jewish life is typical of those who go on Birthright Israel trips, say the organizers.

“None of us ever, ever dared to dream that Birthright would have been the great success it is,” says Mr. Bronfman. Struggling through the conflicts and the financial problems has been worth it, he says: “It changes people’s lives.”