October 9, 2025
I am from Baltimore, and I went to Israel with the Johns Hopkins Birthright Israel trip. I wasn’t actually a student there. I worked on their medical campus at a gym for alumni, students, and doctors. One day someone who came through the gym said, “Hey, I heard you’re Jewish. Have you heard about the Hopkins Hillel?” Later I saw...
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October 9, 2025
I grew up in Buffalo, New York, in a place where being Jewish wasn’t the norm. Most of my classmates celebrated Christmas, and during Passover or Rosh Hashanah, I was often the only one missing school. My parents had enrolled me in Hebrew school to instill those Jewish values I was missing, and I spent summers at a Jewish camp...
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October 9, 2025
I’m from Texas. I officially joined the Tribe when I was twenty-three. But my journey to conversion began years earlier, at a Jewish day camp in Austin where I worked as a camp counselor. I felt like myself there. Being among Jewish people who shared the same values, and getting to impart those values to the campers, felt like home....
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September 29, 2025
On Thursday, September 18, 2025, the Scarsdale Jewish community gathered at the home of Wendy and Scott Kleinman for Birthright Israel: 25 Years Bold. The evening began with cocktails and heartfelt gratitude to the dedicated Host Committee, followed by opening remarks from Wendy Kleinman, who shared her family’s deep commitment to ensuring a vibrant Jewish future. Wendy reflected on Birthright...
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September 19, 2025
On Tuesday, September 9, 2025, Birthright Israel Foundation’s Chicago Annual Event brought together community leaders, alumni, and supporters for a remarkable 25th Anniversary Celebration. Allyson Greenbaum, Vice President of the Central Region, recognized the extraordinary leadership of event co-chairs Lori Komisar & Morrie Silverman, and Jen & Andy Lucas, along with our most generous supporters in the Midwest. The program...
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September 16, 2025
On September 10 in Los Angeles, our community came together to celebrate 25 years of Birthright Israel. After activist Adela Cojab shared how Birthright Israel shaped her life of advocacy and service, Birthright Israel Foundation President and CEO Elias Saratovsky inspired and updated us on the extraordinary impact of nearly 30,000 Jewish young adults participating in Birthright Israel this year....
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September 3, 2025
I grew up going to Hebrew school three times a week, celebrating the High Holidays, and having Seder with my family. Being Jewish was an important part of my identity, but it was directed and led by my parents. It wasn’t like they were asking me, “Do you want to be Jewish? Do you want to go to Hebrew school?”...
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September 2, 2025
I’m a junior at Cornell University studying mechanical engineering and business. I’m from Fairfield County, Connecticut, and Judaism has always been a strong part of my life. I grew up going to Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, where I learned the prayers and experienced Jewish community. We’d have services every morning and Kabbalat Shabbat all together in a big amphitheater...
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August 27, 2025
I’m a junior at Ohio State from New Jersey. I’m studying finance with a minor in music. Maybe one day I’ll find a way to bring the two together. At school I’m on the Chabad board, and I’m also part of Tamid, a student organization that works with Israeli startups. Through Tamid, I learned about the fellowship that took me...
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August 27, 2025
I am a senior at Harvard studying Applied Math and Computer Science. I was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts. My mom is Ashkenazi Jewish. Her entire family, for centuries, are Ashkenazi Jews from Budapest, Hungary. It was and had always been their home. Of course, this changed with the Holocaust—most of my mother’s family were robbed of their homes,...
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