Birthright Israel will welcome 12,658 enthusiastic participants from US and Canada for its upcoming summer session, running from mid-May until September. The program, which is a gift of a 10-day educational tour of Israel, will welcome an additional 3,058 participants from 24 other countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Australia, France, Russia, England, Italy, Hungary, Germany and Ukraine.
Birthright Israel announced last year that due to inflation and higher travel costs, it would cut – by up to one-third – the number of participants it can bring to Israel beginning with the 2023 summer season. As a result, the number of this year’s American participants is almost 40 percent lower than last summer’s 18,358.
Birthright Israel’s American participants this summer come from New York, California, Florida, New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, Texas, Georgia, Michigan, Connecticut, Colorado, Arizona, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Washington, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia, Minnesota, Missouri, Indiana, Nevada, Oregon, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Delaware, Kentucky, Rhode Island, Utah, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Kansas, Vermont, New Mexico, Montana, Idaho, Hawaii, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Alaska, Arkansas, Maine, Wyoming, Iowa, Mississippi and West Virginia.
"I am very excited to be going to Israel for the first time ever this summer with Birthright,” said Portia Carney, a 21-year-old student from Juneau, Alaska. “I treasure the opportunity to learn more about my ancestry and Jewish culture and have many new adventures that I will never forget." Portia attends Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, and is majoring in Cell & Molecular Biology, and also pre-med.
Birthright Israel will also welcome about 3,000 participants of Onward Israel, the leading mid-term internship program, and the prestigious fellowship in business and technology.
“We are excited to bring so many participants from around the world for life-changing programs to Israel in the coming months. We are experiencing unprecedented demand in enrollment to Birthright. On top of the 16,000 participants for our classic 10-day trip, the 3,000 Onward participants and 60 Excel fellows, we had expected to come this summer, we have a waiting list of 20,000 young Jewish adults from North America and around the world,” said Birthright Israel CEO Gidi Mark.
“The inflation that has hit much of the global economy, and the rising costs of travel post-Covid, have driven up Birthright Israel’s expenses,” he added. “Without offsetting donations, thousands of applicants in the future will be denied the chance, as were thousands this summer, to experience a Birthright Israel trip. We feel terrible about that, but we had no choice. Extensive research has revealed that young Jews have a significantly stronger connection to Israel and a far deeper Jewish identity following their participation than non-participants.”
Mark called Birthright “a winning formula for a vibrant Jewish future,” with participants “returning to their communities more educated about Israel, more involved in Jewish life, prouder of who they are as Jews.” He cited a recent Brandeis University analysis of Pew’s 2021 study that found Birthright participants to be substantially more likely to marry Jews and raise their children Jewish. Nearly 60 percent of Jewish-communal professionals in the United States are Birthright alumni, Mark said.
“They feel part of their communities and tend to make up to 40 new Jewish and Israeli friends from their trip. Birthright is the key to ensure a stronger Jewish community,” he said.