Mention a Birthright Israel trip in today’s climate, and you may be met with surprise. They’re sending buses now? During the war? And young Jews are choosing to go, even with all the protests, the blatant antisemitism?

Yes to all of the above, and yes because of all of the above. Now more than ever it’s crucial for Jewish young adults to connect with their identities, with their homeland and with each other. It’s exactly what Birthright Israel is meant to do, and what it’s doing.

“It was hard. Many of my family members thought I was crazy,” said Emily L. of embarking on her 2024 Birthright Israel trip. “This trip meant so much to me for many different reasons…The events of October 7th were horrendous, and going on this trip after that just made me more proud to say ‘Am Yisrael Chai.’”

It’s a common sentiment among the 17,000 Birthright Israel participants traveling with us this summer.

“This trip was truly instrumental in strengthening my own connection to Israel, and I feel as if the context of it being post-October 7th played a part,” said Anne S. “I was able to see firsthand both the ongoing effects and pain left by the terrorists’ attack, as well as the strength and resilience of the Jewish people in the face of it, and was able to feel connected to that same strength in a more tangible way than I ever had before.”

Another 2024 Birthright Israel participant, Ian. T., put it simply: “After a tough year on campus, this trip was overwhelmingly refreshing.”

In its 24 years of sending Jewish young adults on an immersive 10-day trip to Israel, Birthright Israel participants have always come home speaking of a certain magic. Though October 7th and its fallout inevitably colored this year’s visits, that classic Birthright Israel magic hasn’t waned.  Shabbats in Jerusalem, visits to the Kotel, time spent with Israeli peers — this year’s participants came home transformed by it all.

“It’s a testament to the trip when a simple question like ‘what was the best experience?’ is a challenge to answer,” said Bennett H. “If forced to pick a day that was the most meaningful, I would choose the day my trip spent touring Yad Vashem and then Mount Herzl, accompanied by our Israeli Officers.”

For Joseph B., it was becoming a Bar Mitzvah on Masada during his 2024 Birthright trip. “I was not raised particularly Jewish, but after a week with other Jews and downloading a Torah passage on the way to the desert,” he said, “I felt more connection to my Jewish heritage than ever before.”

Establishing this connection is a main aim of Birthright Israel, and participants find it all over the country in many different ways.

Lazer H. came home from his 2024 trip inspired by his visit to the Western Wall. “The warm rush I felt when visiting the Kotel was unimaginable,” he said. “It’s a sense of belonging that no words can describe… Standing there, looking around, I see a mixture of Jews from all kinds of demographics… That’s when it hit me: we are one nation! We are one people! We may dress differently, we may speak different languages, but we are all children from the same family, and we have the same place we call home.”

Austin T. had a similarly transformative experience. He called his 2024 Birthright Israel journey “a genuinely life-changing, eye-opening, and heartwarming trip. I made friends for life with both the Americans and Israelis in my group…I met strangers that embraced me like family just because I was in Israel. I had the most spiritual moment of my life at the Kotel on the night of Shabbat. I was absolutely moved by the IDF soldiers’ stories… It was honestly the most powerful 10 days of my life.”

But it’s not just the spiritual moments that stand out to participants and instill a sense of unity and connectedness.

“I will always remember splashing around in the Mediterranean Sea with all of my trip mates,” Kiaya H. said, “enjoying the sun and taking in Tel Aviv.”

Sarit L., another 2024 participant, also credits her fellow Birthright Israel travelers with making her trip that much more impactful and memorable.

“I didn’t expect to connect with Israel as much as I did on this trip, and I think I owe that to my bus mates,” she said. “They just made the trip so much more meaningful, especially having Israelis as a part of the trip.”

Sharing the trip with Israeli locals, mifgashim, was a part of the Birthright Israel program Sarit said she was unaware of, and one many 2024 participants came home talking about.

“Although the Israelis had endured unfathomable hardships in their relatively short lives, they were all sweet, passionate people with a zeal for life,” Orel H. said. “They gave me a new perspective on Israeli people and culture, and my trip wouldn’t have been nearly as fun and impactful without them.”

It was participant Joseph B.’s interactions with Israelis and other diaspora Jews that he said will inform both his point of view and his actions as he moves through life after his 2024 Birthright Israel trip.

“Everyone on the trip and in Israel was so welcoming. That has also been true of the few Jewish people I have known throughout my life,” he said. “This attitude really helped me feel connected to other Jews. I will make more of an effort to connect to other Jews in the future and to pass on this attitude.”

Ultimately, that’s what it’s all about — immersive, impactful experiences for Jewish young adults in the present to make for a strong, connected Jewish people in the future.

To that end, Sofia D., like so many Birthright Israel alumni, is also looking ahead after her 2024 trip.

“My connection to both Israel and my Judaism has definitely grown immensely,” she said. ”I’m excited for where it will lead me.”

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