November 3, 2025
I was born and raised in a suburb of Toronto. Growing up, I didn’t have a conscious sense of Jewish identity. It was just part of my DNA. I had a bar mitzvah, but in high school, I veered off the traditional Jewish path. I didn’t feel deeply connected to being Jewish or to Israel. In my late twenties, though,...
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October 29, 2025
On October 22, 2025, more than 130 supporters, alumni, and community leaders gathered at Lincoln Financial Field to celebrate 25 years of Birthright Israel and the profound impact this life-changing program continues to have on young Jews and the Jewish future. Hosted in the Firstrust Bank Club, generously donated by the Green Family, the evening captured the spirit of Philadelphia’s...
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October 22, 2025
I grew up in Seattle and live in D.C. now. I’m a legal assistant who’s interested in world history and birdwatching. When I was younger, my family wasn’t terribly observant. We'd observe Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, have a Seder, and light a Chanukiah, but not much more than that. When I was fifteen, my parents got divorced, and my...
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October 16, 2025
I’m from Utah—a fourth-generation Shapiro born and raised in Salt Lake City. Being Jewish in Utah means standing out, but it’s made my pride that much stronger. My great-grandpa emigrated to the U.S. from the Ukraine–Lithuania area around 1900 and made it to Salt Lake City about a decade later, where he met and married my great-grandmother—a well-educated Jewish woman...
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October 16, 2025
Birthright Israel Volunteer recently partnered with Hebro, a New York–based organization for gay Jews, to help bring new life to Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, one of the Gaza envelope communities that has largely been empty since October 7th. Now, as residents return, Birthright Israel volunteers are working beside them to restore shared spaces and bring back the warmth and rhythm of...
Read MoreOctober 16, 2025
I’m a trumpet player and teacher based in New York City. I play on Broadway and on tours around the world, and I also perform as a soloist. I love commissioning new works by composers and performing music that’s about the issues I care deeply about—women’s rights, climate change, social justice. I didn’t grow up with any Jewish background or...
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October 16, 2025
David Rittberg is the Senior Director of the U.S. Jewish Grantmaking team at the Schusterman Family Philanthropies, where he oversees Jewish and Israel-related giving alongside foundation leaders and the Schusterman family. After 13 years at Schusterman, he still traces the origins of his career in Jewish philanthropy back to his Birthright Israel trip. David grew up in a family deeply...
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October 10, 2025
I’m from Long Island, New York. I’m in my third year at Binghamton University, majoring in economics, and I love it here. Binghamton has a strong Jewish community, which was a big reason I chose it. I wasn’t very religious when I was younger, but over time, my family became more observant. My sisters and I went to Jewish day...
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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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