Birthright Israel Foundation Blog

July 2000 My name is KC Yasmer and I am a junior at Stanford University. It was my good fortune to join the other hundreds of college students on the Birthright Israel 2000 trip. I was raised in Tucson, Arizona, a southwestern town with a small but cohesive Jewish community. Judaism was and is a part of my life, which… 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 daughter loved every minute of the Israeli people, places, food, information and experiences. She went in convinced that while the trip would offer exposure to valuable historical and cultural insights, she'd be bored. Instead, she returned in awe. The group explored from sunup to sundown daily, and my daughter felt like no sightseeing stone was left unturned. The education… Read More 

My No Limits Birthright Israel trip was one of the greatest experiences of my life! A person with a disability can often feel alone and isolated. I have Cerebral Palsy and this trip was so special because I met people who are going through the same challenges and have similar fears and anxieties as I did. I realized for the… Read More 

There’s a difference between being Jewish and being Jew “ish.” I was born Jewish, but I was not raised Jewish. Back in the 1940’s, my Ashkenazi grandmother was born and raised Jewish in Brooklyn, New York. Although it was very unusual for women of her time to receive proper Jewish education, she continued to practice Judaism well into her adulthood.… Read More 

One word that I would use to describe my Birthright Israel trip would be “breathtaking.” My Birthright Israel trip was humbling and very meaningful. Not only did I learn about Israeli culture, but I also discovered a deeper connection within myself that I hadn’t felt before. There’s that saying, “expect the unexpected” and that really rang true on this trip.… Read More 

Israel has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. My father was born in Tehran, Iran, and moved to Israel with his family during the Revolution of 1978. He would later immigrate to the United States, alone and as a teenager, while his family remained in the Middle East. Growing up with half of my… Read More 

These sleights of hands and oversights rest on a bigger distortion – the barrage of claims that young American Jews are abandoning Israel. At this year’s Independence Day ceremonies, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein identified Israel’s – and the Jewish people’s – greatest natural resource, which is pollution-free and ever renewable. “The people of Israel have a story,” Edelstein said, “a… Read More 

Brian Quinn grew up in Wisconsin to an African-American mother who is Jewish and an Irish-American father who is Christian. He always knew his Jewish heritage was part of him, but being the only Jew in his high school, he slowly felt both religions taking a back seat. Fast forward to now, Brian’s younger brother went on Birthright Israel and… Read More 

And here's how the answers have impacted my life. Israel has always held a place of intrigue in my life. It is the place of the patriarchs and matriarchs of Judaism; it has also been a place of significant debate for millennia. Regardless, I consider it to be my second home today. I could list off all the reasons I… Read More 

Tens of thousands of Israel supporters gathered in Manhattan on Sunday for the 55th annual Celebrate Israel Parade – the largest celebration of Israel in the world. Beginning on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street and making their way up to 75th Street, marchers embraced this year’s theme of “Only in Israel” from the 1970s Hebrew classic “Rak B’Yisrael.” The parade,… Read More