I’ve Led More Than 40 Birthright Israel Trips—It’s My Life’s Work 

I grew up in Houston, Texas. I went to Jewish day school at one of the largest synagogues in the country. I was very proud as a young Jewish kid. I went to Camp Ramah, Camp Tel Yehuda, I was in BBYO—I checked all the boxes. I had a huge passion for Judaism and for Israel. But I didn’t think I was going to do anything Jewish professionally. My dream was to be a lawyer. I was working in politics, working for a state senator when George W. Bush was governor, running campaigns, really immersed in that world. 

At the same time, I was teaching Hebrew school, serving as president of Hillel at the University of Texas, doing Jewish education on the side. And then I met a rabbi on campus and started learning more deeply about my Judaism. That was when I went to Israel for the first time, in 1996—before Birthright Israel existed. 

That trip changed everything. I met my wife on that trip. We dated for three years and got married in 1999. So, for me, the power of an Israel trip is not theoretical—it’s my life. 

That same summer, I had another experience that really transformed me. I was at a Jewish education conference in Israel, and I literally bumped into Debbie Friedman, who had been my music teacher growing up. She remembered me immediately—my school, my family, everything. And then she asked me if I would sing with her that night because her accompanist was sick. 

So suddenly, I’m on stage in Jerusalem, in front of 5,000 people, singing with Debbie Friedman. Everything kind of fell together in that moment. I realized this is what I’m passionate about—Judaism, Israel, Jewish education. I came back to campus and told my rabbi, “I need to learn more. I feel Jewish, but I don’t know what that means.” 

From there, I went back to Israel, studied at a yeshiva in Israel for a year, and then in America for four years. And eventually, I became a rabbi. 

Birthright Israel came into my life almost by accident. In 2003, I was working in St. Louis, and someone called me and said, “The person who was supposed to lead this Birthright trip just canceled two weeks before. Can you do it?” I said, “I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve never led a trip before. But I’ll try.” 

For ten days, I had the chance to be with these students in a kind of cocoon. The experience was incredible. The students loved it. I loved it. I came home and told my wife, “This is probably the most effective form of Jewish education we have today.” 

From that point on, I was hooked. I was addicted to Birthright Israel. Most years, I’ve led two trips a year—winter and summer. And there is no question in my mind that in 2,000 years of exile, there has never been a tool to bring Jews from the diaspora back to their homeland more effectively than Birthright Israel.

People ask me—what is it about Israel that awakens young people’s Jewish identity? There’s something fundamentally different about taking a Jewish student to the Jewish homeland. When you take them to Poland or Germany, you’re showing them where Jews used to be. When you take them to Israel, you’re taking them home. And if you tell that story effectively, they feel it. They understand it. It becomes theirs.  

The biggest mistake educators make is turning the trip into a checklist of sites. “Today we’re going here, tomorrow we’re going there.” The participants couldn’t care less about the history of the site. If all we do is tell them facts, they’ll forget everything the moment they get on the plane home.  

What I do instead is try to evoke something personal and emotional. I want them to come to a site and connect it to their own lives—their past, their present, their future. I might bring them to a rooftop overlooking the Kotel and ask them to talk about something they’ve lost in their lives. Only after they’ve shared their own stories do we connect that to 2,000 years of Jewish loss—and hope. That’s when the place comes alive. That’s when it matters. By the end of the trip, they’re not moved because they saw something. They’re moved because they felt something. 

Throughout the ten days, I’m pushing them to ask the big questions: Why should I care? Why Israel? Why be Jewish? If Judaism is something other people do, and they’re just watching from the outside, then we’ve failed. Most Jewish young adults today see themselves as spectators instead of captains of their own Jewish journey. They don’t see themselves as the authors of their own story. My job is to change that. 

One of the ways I do that is through a Shabbat exercise where participants rank different aspects of Jewish identity—God, history, ethics, community, and so on. But I don’t just let them go through the motions. I make them argue. I make them defend their choices. Why is this at the top? Why is that at the bottom? 

And then we come back to it later in the trip. How have your priorities changed? What do you think now? That’s where the growth happens. 

As the Director of Hillel at William & Mary, I have the advantage of seeing students before, during, and after the trip. And what I see is that Israel goes from being a destination to becoming part of their identity. That’s the goal. They come back and start showing up. They come to Shabbat dinners. They light candles. They engage. I’ve had students come back years later and ask me to officiate their weddings. You see the transformation over time. There’s nothing like it. That’s why I do what I do. 

Of course, students today are different than they were 20 years ago. There’s more impatience, more expectation of instant gratification. Social media has made everything immediate and simplified. People see something online and accept it as truth, without nuance. And Israel is all nuance. 

Part of the challenge now is helping students slow down. I tell them at the beginning of the trip: your instinct is to plug in, but I’m asking you to unplug. Be open. If you stay closed—headphones in, talking only to your friends—you’re going to miss the experience. But if you open yourself up, this can be something much bigger. 

Over time, I’ve also changed. The biggest shift for me has been moving to a learner-centered approach. It’s not one group of 40. It’s 40 individuals, each with their own story. My job is to help each one connect to Israel in their own way. And I’ll say this: it never gets old. 

Donors want to know that their investment is making a difference. And I believe there is no organization in the Jewish world that can change a person’s perspective faster, more effectively, and with more lasting impact than Birthright Israel. 

In ten days, you can take someone with one set of assumptions and send them home with another. You’ve changed their life. You’ve changed their priorities. You’ve made Judaism and Israel part of who they are. If you can show me another organization that can do that in ten days, go invest in them. But I haven’t seen it. 

If we’re serious about Jewish education, about inspiring the next generation, then we have to use this tool to its fullest potential. Because at the end of the day, it’s about helping each person discover that the Jewish story belongs to them.