Core Values

Nurturing Impactful Experiences

The Education Department at Taglit Birthright Israel plays a central role in shaping the transformative experiences offered across all of our programs. With a focus on fostering a meaningful, long-lasting connection to Jewish identity and Israel, the department works closely with trip organizers, providing ongoing supervision and guidance to ensure that our program goals are met. Through continuous evaluation and adaptation, Taglit Birthright Israel refines its educational approach, keeping its programs relevant and impactful in an ever-changing landscape.

Positive Identity Education in Times of Crisis

In response to the events of October 7 and their profound impact on Jewish young adults worldwide, Taglit Birthright Israel has carefully adapted its educational program while remaining true to its core mission – connecting Jewish young adults to their heritage, values, and community.

Over the past year, Jewish young adults have undergone a profound shift in how they relate to their Jewish identity. The educational staff has worked to create dedicated spaces for participants to process their emotions and navigate their feelings, while also fostering meaningful dialogue about Israel’s past, present, and future. New discussions and sites visits have been thoughtfully integrated into the existing curriculum, providing participants with opportunities to explore Israel’s resilience and the global Jewish community’s response to this tragedy.

Through peer-to-peer conversations with Israeli soldiers and students, as well as structured group discussions, participants share their experiences and challenges, and gain a deeper understanding of contemporary Jewish identity in both Israel and the Diaspora. This adapted approach ensures that they not only learn about this pivotal moment in Israeli history, but also receive the support needed to reflect on their own experiences.

Two new conversations have been introduced into the program:

• The first, “How Did I Get Here?”, takes place at the onset of the program and provides participants with a safe enough and brave enough space in which to share their experiences since October 7, in an environment built on trust and openness. The response to this conversation has been overwhelmingly positive, highlighting the deep need among young Jews for a space to process, express, and connect. Moreover, we are seeing meaningful discussions emerge much earlier in the program than in previous years.
• The second, “Being Jewish Today,” occurs with the arrival of the Mifgash and creates a much-needed space for Jews from around the world to share their experiences and foster mutual empathy in the wake of October 7. A recurring insight that emerges from these conversations is the profound recognition that each community is facing its own “front” in this war, shaping their experiences in distinct ways.

In addition, new site visits have been integrated into the program, including the Nova site and the Tkuma parking lot of burnt cars. As with all locations directly linked to October 7, we strive to balance confronting the atrocities of the war with highlighting the resilience, spirit, and determination of the Jewish people to build a brighter, hope-filled future.

We will dance again.

The Mifgash program is an educational approach applied across all Birthright Israel programs, designed to foster authentic connections between young Jews from around the world and their Israeli peers. Through shared experiences, cultural exchanges, and deep conversations, Mifgash strengthens Jewish identity, mutual understanding, and a lifelong sense of connection and belonging.

In 2024, the program took on unprecedented significance as Israeli soldiers participated during wartime – an incredibly rare occurrence. This year, 3,117 Israelis joined Birthright groups, including 81% active IDF soldiers, 7% combat soldiers, and representatives from 229 IDF units. Additionally, 8% of the Israeli participants in Birthright Israel Excel were combat officers, marking a first-time milestone for the program.

Lasting Impact

For Diaspora participants, Mifgash transforms Birthright from a tour into an immersive, real-world experience, fostering deep, personal connections. This year, participants described traveling alongside Israeli peers as enabling them to see Israel through their eyes, making them feel more like locals, as opposed to tourists. In addition, they found the trip to be authentic and revealing, offering first-hand insight into Israeli life and a stronger ability to understand and advocate for Israel. Many also expressed a profound sense of safety, belonging, and newfound friendship, calling it a life-changing experience.

For Israeli participants, Mifgash was equally transformative. Engaging with their peers from abroad strengthened their Israeli identity and pride, while offering new perspective on Jewish life outside of Israel – especially post-October 7. They described gaining a sense of mutual understanding and responsibility, as representatives of Israel, with many feeling a newfound motivation to serve in the IDF, thanks to the unwavering support of their Birthright peers.

Powerful Encounters

The 2024 program introduced meaningful Mifgash enhancements, bringing participants closer to Israeli culture, society, and contemporary realities. Among them were:

• Personal stories of resilience: A meeting with a grandmother of a fellow Israeli participant. A resident of Moshav Ein HaBesor, Yael’s grandmother shared how their local guards prevented terrorists from infiltrating the moshav on October 7. As an artist, she helped create the red clay anemones displayed at the Nova site, where participants visited during their tour.
• Home hospitality: Participants were welcomed into the homes of their Israeli peers, where they prepared traditional Israeli meals together.
• Hands-on volunteering: A joint volunteering day took place at Netiv HaAsara, where officers from the Tactical Command College also shared their wartime experiences.
• Hannukah at an IDF Base: After volunteering together, participants visited the officers’ base where they lit Hannukah candles together – a deeply moving moment in which they saw their new Israeli friends in uniform for the very first time.

Cultivating Therapeutic Gardens

In 2024, participants created 60 therapeutic gardens, revitalizing 22,000 m² of urban land. Each garden serves as a “green lung,” sequestering 15-40 tons of carbon, providing shade, cleaner air, and much-needed greenery. Beyond their ecological impact, these gardens strengthen connections between Birthright participants and local communities, creating spaces where people can engage, reflect, and connect.

Creating The Sderot Rooftop Nursery

As thousands of trees were planted across the southern region, Taglit Birthright Israel recognized the need for an educational and logistical hub to support this activity. In response, we launched a regional tree nursery on the rooftop of Sderot’s educational farm.

Once fully operational, the nursery will produce 4,000 seedlings annually for planting in climate forests throughout the region. Participants will take part in hands-on planting, workshops, and educational activities in a dedicated space. In addition, the nursery will provide shade for classrooms, reducing the farm’s energy consumption.

Advancing Professional Development

The Taglit Birthright Israel Training Institute enhances the skills and knowledge of Birthright’s tour educators through specialized training, seminars, and educational resources designed to ensure participants engage meaningfully with Jewish identity and Israel.

This past year, the Institute focused on developing diverse, relevant training programs, particularly surrounding the Gaza Envelope. These sessions emphasized navigating difficult conversations, addressing moral and ethical questions during wartime, and reinforcing Taglit Birthright Israel’s core educational principles.

In 2024, the Institute delivered a range of training programs tailored to educators from across the globe, including:

• 10-day seminar for new tour educators, focused on learner-centered and values-based education, global Jewry, facilitating balanced discussions, and storytelling.
• Training day on diversity in Israeli society, held for the first time in Haifa in collaboration with the Inter-Agency Task Force for Israel and Arab Issues.
• 15 training days for tour educators addressing Jewish-Zionist education post-October 7, featuring visits to Re’im, Tkumah, and Sderot, along with tree-planting activities.
• Greening training at the Sustainability Center in Dizengoff, equipping educators with tools to integrate environmental awareness into the Birthright experience. The Green Booklet, a comprehensive guide on incorporating sustainability throughout the tour, was introduced.
• 3 week-long educator forums for North American staff and Israeli educators, focusing on Jewish identity, tours of the Gaza Envelope, and preparing for the unique challenges facing 2024 participants.
• 4-day seminars for educational staff from Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking countries, as well as France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, tailored to the unique needs of each region’s staff and participants.
• 3 training days at Mt. Herzl addressing the evolving context and sensitivity of guiding Israeli and international participants in the wake of October 7.

ONWARD & Volunteer Staff Training

In 2024, the Institute expanded its training for Onward and Volunteer in Israel staff, implementing:

• Two-day Onward staff training at Tzuba Hotel.
• Four training days for Volunteer in Israel program staff in partnership with Repair the World and Yahel.
• Two training days for Onward staff at ANU Museum.
• Virtual training for Onward volunteer group staff.

Educational Resources & Continuous Engagement

To streamline and enrich the educational experience, the Institute developed several key resources for the benefit of its educators and worldwide staff:

• Educational kit available in multiple languages, incorporating new pedagogies and post-October 7 discussion frameworks.
• David Cards designed to facilitate meaningful discussions about Jewish identity.
• Zoom meeting on recent developments in Syria and their implications, titled “Neighbors Across the Border: Opportunities and Challenges in the Post-Assad Era,” and led by Lt. Col. (Res.) Eyal Dror.
• Monthly online newsletter featuring updates and fostering continued engagement with tour educators worldwide.

Research

Assessing Taglit Birthright Israel’s Long-Term Impact

Since its inception, Taglit Birthright Israel has sponsored independent research to assess its long-term impact on participants. The research is conducted by the Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies (CMJS) at Brandeis University, under the leadership of Professor Leonard Saxe. Evidence from the Brandeis studies indicates that participation in Taglit Birthright Israel positively alters participants’ trajectory of Jewish engagement.

The Jewish Futures Project, CMJS’s long-term research study, measures Birthright’s significant impact – even more than 20 years after participation. The latest findings reveal that Birthright alumni feel a deeper connection to Israel and are more likely to hold leadership roles in Jewish organizations and actively raise their children Jewish, compared to their peers who did not participate.  This measured impact on the next generation further confirms Taglit Birthright Israel’s extraordinary role in shaping Jewish continuity and leadership.

Given the magnitude of the program, and the vast evidence that participation produces meaningful change in Jewish engagement, it is one of the few Jewish initiatives with the potential to transform the course of Jewish life for generations to come.

Evaluation

Measuring Taglit Birthright Israel’s Impact

The evaluation of all Taglit Birthright Israel programs is a core pillar of our educational mission, ensuring that our programs consistently deliver meaningful, lasting impact. Through ongoing collaboration with the Henrietta Szold Institute (responsible for program evaluation), and the Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies (CMJS) at Brandeis University (oversees long-term research), we have developed comprehensive assessment tools to measure program effectiveness both in the short- and long-term.

Key Findings from 2024 Evaluations

Over the past year, a new evaluation project with the Henrietta Szold Institute revealed compelling insights into what participants perceive as personal growth at the end of the program. The findings demonstrated a remarkable impact on multiple dimensions of participant development, with particularly strong results in three key areas:

These results underscore the program’s transformative impact and success in achieving its educational and identity-building objectives, particularly in preparing Jewish young adults to serve as confident and knowledgeable representatives of their heritage in various social contexts.