June 11, 2019
And here's how the answers have impacted my life. Israel has always held a place of intrigue in my life. It is the place of the patriarchs and matriarchs of Judaism; it has also been a place of significant debate for millennia. Regardless, I consider it to be my second home today. I could list off all the reasons I...
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June 4, 2019
Tens of thousands of Israel supporters gathered in Manhattan on Sunday for the 55th annual Celebrate Israel Parade – the largest celebration of Israel in the world. Beginning on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street and making their way up to 75th Street, marchers embraced this year’s theme of “Only in Israel” from the 1970s Hebrew classic “Rak B’Yisrael.” The parade,...
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June 4, 2019
I went on my first Birthright Israel trip in the summer of 2010, along with many friends through the Chabad Center at the University of Pennsylvania. After an amazing whirlwind experience and 4-day extension on the beach in Tel Aviv, I knew I had to return in the years to come. After this initial experience with Birthright Israel, there is...
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May 28, 2019
When I was in college, a new program started that would allow Jewish young adults who had never visited Israel to go on a free trip as their birthright. Growing up in a very Zionist household, I had already been to Israel several times, and so did not qualify for this new-found opportunity. As I saw the program develop and...
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May 21, 2019
Eighteen years and 650,000 happy participants later, you’d think people would get Birthright Israel right. Yet it’s amazing how many people get Birthright Israel wrong. Few understand Birthright’s secret sauce – what I call the Zen of Birthright. They expect it to be as site-oriented as a grand European tour, as partisan as a Zionist pep rally, as self-involved as...
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May 14, 2019
The alarm yells at me at 4:30am. I wipe the few hours of sleep away from my eyes. I sluggishly make my way into clothing and sneakers and join the team of sleepy walkers to the front door. We take a stroll to a small pathway that opens up to a bigger dirt road. And as I look up -...
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May 10, 2019
My two boys, Lenny and Ben, went on Birthright Israel this past winter and all I can say is THANK YOU from deep in my soul for this opportunity. This WAS the trip of a lifetime and everything I ever wished for; everything I worked hard to develop came to fruition on this trip. I wanted to give my kids...
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May 9, 2019
On May 9, 2019, our NYC Young Leadership Council gathered at GoldBar for a Yom Ha'atzmaut celebration to ring in Israel's 71st birthday! Alumni supporters are an integral part of our annual campaign to ensure that the next generation of young Jewish adults is connected to our rich heritage, traditions and beliefs. Through their shared experiences on Birthright Israel, our...
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May 7, 2019
This Mother's Day, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be a mom, and about the ways that my experience on Birthright Israel changed how I parent. My son Jake was 18-months old when my husband, David, and I went on a journey with Birthright Israel. We were the only parents on the trip, but this was...
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May 6, 2019
Isn't it amazing how when you're young, your life is built around the idea of community? We have community at school with our classmates, community with sports and in my case community with fellow tennis players on my high school tennis team or the dancers, I danced with in college. There are a lot of opportunities to be part of...
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