Birthright Israel Foundation Blog

On Tuesday, May 9, 2023, Birthright Israel Foundation board chair Phil de Toledo and his wife Alyce opened their home to our Los Angeles donors. Guests had the honor to hear from Los Angeles Leadership Cabinet Chair Simon Mendelson, Birthright Israel alum and Senior Advisor to Former Special Envoy Noa Tishby Eden Cohen and Phil de Toledo. Simon opened the… Read More 

A year ago, I would have never expected to be writing this blog post here in Israel to discuss the immensely positive impact Birthright Israel has had upon my Jewish identity. My story is unconventional, to say the least, but I feel profoundly fortunate to have ended up where I am today — and that Birthright Israel has left an… Read More 

Birthright Israel Foundation has sent over 800,000-plus young Jewish adults on the classic 10-day trip to Israel. And, with that, many alums have gone on to be famous and make their mark on the world. This includes the newest Netflix hit, Jewish Matchmaking featuring six of our very own alums who hope to find their beshert. Dani Bergman, 2014 Birthright… Read More 

Jewish mothers come in all shapes and sizes. They smash stereotypes in nearly every profession and show us what can be accomplished with talent, determination, and a little chutzpah. To honor Jewish mothers everywhere, Birthright Israel Foundation created the perfect quiz. Find out if you can name these famous Jewish mothers! More for Mother's Day Treat your mom to something… Read More 

Where I grew up, there was a church on every street corner, and the nearest synagogue was 30 minutes away. Israel felt like a country too far away for me to reach and full of people who I didn’t think were anything like me. I grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta, GA, in an interfaith family and spent the… Read More 

I thought this blog post would be a lot easier to write. Now, what makes it hard isn't my inability to share my experiences but my inability to not publish a novel about these experiences. If you had asked me just a year ago today that I was writing MY STORY from MY Birthright Israel trip, I probably would have… Read More 

As Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, my role is to defend the Jewish State in the international arena – and this is no trivial task. Each year, the UN condemns Israel more than all other countries in the world combined. Israel, the only liberal democracy in the Middle East, is singled out, held to absurd double standards, and targeted… Read More 

Growing up, I remember being told I was Jewish and celebrated the holidays with my family but nothing else. I didn’t go to Hebrew school, nor did I have a Bar Mitzvah like my brother did. I knew I was Jewish, but I would always make the joke that I was “Jew-ish” and didn’t know much more about Judaism or… Read More 

My journey with this organization started way before my Birthright Israel trip. As a Persian Jew growing up in Beverly Hills, I was raised Jewish and surrounded by a Jewish community. For all my life, my parents had instilled a Jewish value system in me, but I didn't really know what my true Jewish identity meant — I had never… Read More 

Every Birthright Israel experience incorporates a meaningful and well-contextualized encounter with the Shoah (Holocaust, from the Hebrew word for “catastrophe”), introducing its place in Jewish life and Israel and its relation to the Jewish narrative in today’s world. Many groups learn about the Holocaust by visiting Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center. While at Yad Vashem or another approved… Read More 

Are you ready for Passover? The Jewish festival begins at sundown on Wednesday, April 5, and ends at sundown on Thursday, April 13. This year, to help make your seder special, Birthright Israel Foundation produced a short and sweet Passover Haggadah. Our Haggadah is complete with the story of Passover, blessings, and a guide to the seder plate. Plus, there… Read More