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At our opening Shabbat dinner for
on campus now are ready to commit
second semester, every Israel 2000
themselves to participation and, in
participant who was available came.
some cases, leadership positions. Two
Their conversation and laughter filled
of the participants signed up for my
the building. As they greeted one
Jewish Thought class. Six or seven stu-
another, pulled out photos, shared sto-
dents are interested in learning
ries and reminded themselves of inside
Hebrew informally through Hillel.
jokes, it was plain that a bond existed.
There exists an air of enthusiasm
It was a remarkable scene.
about their Jewish selves
Riding a Jeep on
The question we have to
and their opportunity to
the Golan Heights: grow as Jews on campus.
ask ourselves is: How can we
Stacy Rothenberg,
take these students and help
Now, we have to work
them help us build a stronger Joey Bigelman,
with our students to find
Rob Rose, -Lora
Jewish community at
further moments where
Weberman and
Michigan State University
they can stay in touch with
Hillel? The answer has to be Jodi Weiss.
each other and continue
as varied as the student body
their Jewish growth.
who traveled with us.
The challenge we face at Hillel, the
Most satisfying is the simple fact
challenge we all face, is to work cre-
that we are now seeing many of these
atively and immediately, to take the
students naturally coming into the
romance and education of Israel 2000
building and participating in our pro-
and grow-the relationship — the rela-
gram.
tionship between the Jewish homeland
Students who had not previously
and the home that these Jewish stu-
connected with the Jewish community
dents live in. ❑
yet on what type of scientific survey
will be conducted to measure the
impact of Birthright Israel.
Joel said the first measure of its suc-
cess would be whether the students will
plan another, longer trip to Israel. Also,
he said, he'd like to see "some . manifes-
tation of a more serious and passionate
involvement with their Jewishness,"
even if they just contact the Hillel pro-
fessionals they met on the bus.
He said the Jewish community has
always measured its success by affiliation.
But he said the Jewish world is learning
that it's not about affiliation, but partici-
pation: "People can be Jewish if they 'do
Jewish,' not if they 'join Jewish.'"
Bronfman said he needs data on
this first trip both to answer the pro-
gram's critics — who say, among other
things, that the money would be better
spent on Jewish education in the
United States — and to see how to tai-
lor the program in the future.
He said Birthright Israel will spend
a lot of time, energy and money on
research to follow up, especially
because local communities, philan-
thropists and the State of Israel are
being asked to spend quite a bit on the
program. They want to see what kinds
of results they are getting.
❑
fa ,
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