Birthright Israel Foundation Blog

Growing up in Kiev, Ukraine, I knew absolutely nothing about Israel, Jewish culture, and I definitely had no sense of belonging to the Jewish people. As a post-Soviet Jewish girl, you can imagine all of these were things my family never spoke about. So, when I signed up for Birthright Israel, I never dreamed I’d meet my husband. Of course,… Read More 

Jewish moms love Birthright Israel for thousands of reasons. They see the impact of the program on their children, and now, 20 years since its inception, many of our alumni are now moms! So many had a life-changing experience on the trip. With more than 800,000 Birthright Israel alums across the world, many Jewish children now have moms who are alums. And, more than… Read More 

In the winter of 2012, a girl from Seattle, WA, and a boy from Charlotte, NC, both signed up for Birthright Israel hoping to get more connected to their Jewish heritage and have a fantastic experience, but little did they know they'd end up meeting their soulmate. This is the Birthright Israel Love Story of Ruthie Schorr and Simon Menaker.… Read More 

My last name might confuse you, but I am, in fact, an American Jew through my mother. My mother’s maiden name is Robin and she was born and raised in Pittsburgh a few generations after our ancestors fled the pogroms of Czarist Russia. And my father came from an Episcopalian background. There was little religion in our home in New… Read More 

In 2016, Jenna McCoppin from Dallas, TX, decided the time was now or never to sign up for Birthright Israel. She knew this would be her last chance to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime gift, "It was important to me to take advantage of the opportunity, but there was also hope to find something that I had been searching for… Read More 

Carly Rapaport and Alex Vargas met on their Birthright Israel trip back in the summer of 2014. Although they lived under 6 miles from each other in Boston at the time, they didn’t meet until their trip when they were over 5,000 miles from home! Carly explains, “Alex had wanted to go on a Birthright Israel trip for years, but… Read More 

In May 2015, neither Tori or Dylan thought when they signed up for Birthright Israel, they'd meet their soulmate. Now, a few years later, they're engaged and can't wait to start their life together. We had an opportunity to catch up with them and learn how their Birthright Israel love story played out! Did either of you think you'd meet… Read More 

Finding Love in a Holy Place Back in 2013, I received a call that I could go on Birthright Israel, and of course, I took the opportunity and booked my flight to NYC. I had never traveled alone, and the anxiety and excitement were outrageous. When my peers and I arrived at the airport on the morning of our trip,… Read More 

My husband, Danny and I went on Birthright Israel in 2001 during our last year of undergrad. We immediately became good friends and maintained contact well after the trip was over. At the time we were both in relationships, but deep down we knew there was something special. Nearly two years later we had moved on from those relationships and… Read More 

For Ian Persits and Mackenzie Samet, Birthright Israel was much more than a free trip—it was where their love story began. Although both from New York, the two of them were brought up in very different homes. Ian was born and raised in Brooklyn in a Russian-Jewish household. His parents immigrated to the United States in 1975 to build a… Read More