Arutz Sheva met with several participants of the trip to Israel sponsored by Taglit-Birthright Israel for Jewish young adults.
Taglit-Birthright Israel offers the gift of a free, ten-day trip to Israel for Jewish adults between the ages of 18 to 26. The trip aims to strengthen each participant’s identity as a Jew; to build an understanding, friendship and lasting bond with the land and people of Israel; and to reinforce the solidarity of the Jewish people worldwide.
“I’ve learned a lot about Israel, but to see it first hand and to be able to go home with the correct information, to know the right websites to go to, to know the right people to talk to – that’s just what I want to do,” said Marissa Belinfante of California. “I definitely want to go home and advocate for Israel as much as I can, everywhere that I can.”
Belinfante said that seeing Hebrew everywhere is something that particularly excited her.
“I went to a Jewish day school and there are a lot of Hebrew speakers in my area who open restaurants, but seeing every single place have it, seeing the Israeli flag waving everywhere, just hearing the language is something that gave me that sense of connection,” she said.
The participants said they would definitely like to visit Israel again, and perhaps even make aliyah.
“At first I thought that maybe it wouldn’t be such a great thing to move to Israel straight out of America because it’s not as developed and there aren’t as many opportunities,” said Danny Lezerman of California. “I don’t think that anymore. There are plenty of opportunities here.”