I Recruited 300 Students for Birthright Israel. Then I Got to Lead the Trip

My name is Jeremy Galante, and my Birthright Israel story is a little different than most. I'm a junior at Indiana University, one of the presidents of Chabad on campus, and an active member of AEPi. Before coming to IU, I went to Israel for the first time in my gap year in 2023. When the war began that fall, the experience deepened my connection to Israel and to my Jewish identity in a way I never could have expected. 

Growing up, Judaism was part of my life, but it never felt personal. I went to synagogue, had my Bar Mitzvah, and observed the High Holidays, but it felt more like something I was supposed to do than something I truly connected to. That changed when I decided, somewhat spontaneously, to spend my gap year in Israel. By the second night, I already felt at home. Being there, and then experiencing the start of the war surrounded by such a strong sense of community, transformed the way I saw both Israel and myself. 

When I got to IU, I wanted to return to Israel with my friends. I'd already had an experience there that changed my life, and I wanted to share it with people I'd grown close to on campus. Because I had done a gap year program, I wasn't eligible to go on Birthright Israel as a typical participant. But I knew I still wanted to be involved. I spoke with Rabbi Cunin at Chabad about staffing a trip, and around the same time, he asked me to take charge of recruitment. He knew there would be strong interest that year, and I was excited to help lead the effort. 

I signed up through the Birthright Israel recruitment portal and worked closely with the recruitment team, but on campus, I became the person students could come to with questions. My name and phone number were on the flyers, and I put together a plan to reach students through the communities I was already part of. 

Recruiting felt like a natural extension of my leadership role on campus, but it was also personal. I built a recruitment plan from the ground up: organizing representatives from different Greek houses, creating a group chat so outreach could happen peer to peer, and using the large Jewish student GroupMe networks at IU to spread information quickly. I also reached out directly to Jewish fraternity and sorority houses and helped organize speaker events at Chabad where students could come, ask questions, and feel connected to the experience before the trip even started. 

I knew there would be interest from sophomores, who are often at the right point to go, but also from seniors who had missed earlier chances. I tried to take every approach I could, and in the end we recruited around 300 students—which made me the top student recruiter at Birthright Israel that year. Even though the trip itself ended up being much smaller because of the war-related constraints and cancellations, I'm still incredibly proud of what we built and how many students we were able to reach. 

Being a Madrich on the trip made that work feel full circle. A lot of the participants were my friends, and because I had spent significant time in Israel, they naturally looked to me for guidance. On the first day, I got to take them to some of my favorite places in Tel Aviv and Jaffa. Throughout the trip, I was able to help the staff understand what the group needed and help my friends make the most of their time there. 

More than anything, what stayed with me was seeing students connect in real time. Some of the IU students who hadn't really been involved in Jewish life before were saying by day five that they wanted to come to Chabad every Friday night. A few who wrapped tefillin for the first time at Masada are now coming regularly. Watching that felt like watching my own transformation happen in front of me and knowing I had a hand in helping them connect to their Jewish identity is incredibly rewarding. Staffing and recruiting for Birthright Israel showed me there's truly no better feeling than watching your friends experience what you've experienced. 

For me, this was never just about getting people to sign up. It was about helping my friends and other students have an experience in Israel that could stay with them and deepen their connection to Jewish life. Being able to help bring students onto the trip and then be there with them as a staff member made the whole experience especially meaningful. I got to see the impact from start to finish, and that's what made it all worth it. 

Editor's note: Jeremy is one of more than 2,000 student recruiters nationwide helping power Birthright Israel's recruitment efforts — a program that has become a key way the organization reaches new participants and reflects the energy behind the Birthright Israel movement today. Students interested in becoming a recruiter, or alumni who want to help us reach the next generation, can learn more at briportal.birthrightisrael.com/recruiters.