Promise Of Return

"Birthright" plan would assure young
Jews a five trip to Israel.

Jerusalem (JTA)
group of Jewish philan-
thropists, led by Wall Street
money manager Michael
Steinhardt and Montreal
industrialist Charles Bronfman, have
announced the creation of Birthright
Israel, a $300 million fund that will
support first-time travel to Israel by
Jews aged 15 to 26 on existing accred-
ited programs.
The plan's organizers hope to enlist
local federations and communities
worldwide in joining the coalition of
philanthropists — there are four addi-
tional partners committed to the pro-
ject to date — and the government of
Israel in providing $20 million a year
for five years beginning in January
1999.
Bronfman, who was also the inter-
national chair of the 67th General
Assembly of UJA Federations of
North America meeting.in Israel this
week, said at a news conference here
Tuesday that he hopes local commu-
nities will provide follow-up program-
ming for the travelers when they
return to build on the Israel experi-
ence, in the hope of forging a strong
and vibrant Jewish identity.
Bronfman said local communities
would be responsible-for deciding
who is eligible for the program.
Natan Sharansky, Israel's minister
of industry and trade and the chair-
man of the ministerial committee on
Israel-Diaspora relations, who spoke
at the news conference, said the
Birthright program is essential for
forging bonds and creating a "com-
mon educational background" among
world Jewry.
Despite enthusiasm for the grand
scope of Birthright, some officials
have expressed skepticism. They point
out that the Israel Experience pro-
grams, which provide partial funding
for teens to visit Israel, have been less
than successful in attracting large
numbers of American teens, suggest-
ing that peer involvement may play a
greater role than the amount of fund-
ing provided.
In an interview with the Neu) York
Times earlier this week, Steinhardt
said, "It's my hope that over time, 10
or 15 years perhaps, the Birthright

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trip can develop into a tradition anal-
ogous to that of the Bar or Bat
Mitzvah. Our hope is that a trip to
Israel will be another rite of passage of
Jewish life."
Speaking to the Times, Bronfman
said he saw the program as "the sell-
ing of Jewishness to Jews" who, at
least in North America, are largely
"free to be whatever they want to be."
In the United States, only half of
all Jews marry other Jews and a small
minority of children of the intermar-
riages are raised Jewish. Diaspora
Jewry, now about 8 million people, is
projected to drop to 4 million over
the next three decades.
Bronfman said under Birthright
Israel, local Jewish Federations would
contact new parents to tell them that
a trip bank account for their child
had been opened with $180 from the
program. Friends, relatives and com-
munity organizations could con-
tribute to the account over the years
to raise enough money for the child's
10-day trip.
A recurring theme of this week's
GA meeting has been the gulf that
divides north American Jews from
their Israeli counterparts, one of the
problems the Birthright trip is intend-
ed to address.
Many GA sessions seemed to sug-
gest that the issues might best be
addressed cross-culturally, through
such programs as organized trips to
Israel, professional exchanges and
social justice and philanthropic part-
nerships.
Representatives from local federa-
tions that have linked up with Israeli
cities through programs such as
Partnership 2000 reported tremen-
dous success in developing personal
and professional connections between
the communities.
Steven Schanes and Michael
Kleinman of Detroit praised their fed-
eration's teen exchange program,
which includes five weeks in Israel for
American teens and one week in
Detroit for Israelis. Schanes said this
year's participants had already estab-
lished "permanent relationships" fos-
tered by e-mail exchanges and long-
distance phone calls.