Taglit-Birthright works
TAGLIT-BIRTHRIGHT is the largest Zionist project in the Jewish world today, according to Professor Ada Spitzer, the vice-president of Community Relations and Resource Development at Taglit-Birthright Israel.
TAGLIT-BIRTHRIGHT is the largest Zionist project in the Jewish world today, according to Professor Ada Spitzer, the vice-president of Community Relations and Resource Development at Taglit-Birthright Israel.
And, according to Spitzer – who visited Australia last week – studies conducted by Brandeis University in the US confirm that the free 10-day educational trip for young Jewish adults aged 18 to 26 is achieving its aims.
“Taglit has brought over, in almost 14 years, 360,000 young Jews from 67 countries,” Spitzer told The AJN.
“We asked Brandeis University to follow our graduates from day one, so now we have research looking at the results of the program five, eight, 10 and 12 years after.”
Taglit-Birthright’s three main goals are to connect participants with their Jewish identity, connect them with Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people and to connect them with their local Jewish communities.
Spitzer said it has delivered on all three.
“In terms of assimilation, people who came with us, upon returning back, 71 per cent of them married Jewish [partners] as opposed to 40 per cent who stayed on the waiting list,” she said.
“As far as relationship with Israel, 30-40 per cent of all participants either extend their ticket when they are in Israel and stay up to three months or they come for a second and third visit … these people tend to return to their own countries and communities as goodwill ambassadors for Israel.
“And then when people come back they are much more connected – they volunteer in the community, when they get married they send their kids to early Jewish education and they really keep much more involved in the community than before.”
In conjunction with the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA), 4000 young Australians have participated in Taglit-Birthright in the last 14 years.
“Our challenge here is to really increase numbers,” Spitzer said. “We are sending about eight groups from here every year, with the support of Keren Hayesod and Gandel Philanthropy, and we would like to increase the numbers so that we will have about 450 young people going to Israel every year.”
ZFA president Danny Lamm said the ZFA was looking for increased financial support from donors who have seen the results.
“They’re getting real value for their money because it actually provides the results. It’s not an untested exercise,” he said.
“The exposure of seeing Judaism within the framework of the State of the Jewish people is a critical element in the building blocks of Jewish identification.”
For more information, visit www.zfa.com.au/tag/taglit-birthright.
GARETH NARUNSKY
Professor Ada Spitzer.
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