In recent days and weeks, much ink has been used and many electrons have been generated to bemoan the status of Taglit-Birthright Israel trips. The current kerfuffle is the result of the walkout from their Birthright trip of students affiliated with the group IfNotNow (a horrible play on the wise words of the rabbinical sage Hillel) who are opposed to the “occupation.” They left their group early to meet with Palestinians because Birthright doesn’t offer a better explanation or allow a discussion of the “Palestinian narrative.”
Concerned about the return of Jewish college students to their campuses, Martin Raffel wonders if participants in Birthright trips to Israel will be prepared to confront Israel’s detractors (“What’s the story with Birthright?” Aug. 16). While disagreeing with the methods employed by the IfNotNow students, Raffel believes they make a good point. I do not.
Conceived as a program to provide young Jewish adults the gift of an educational trip to Israel, Birthright has come under attack because it doesn’t “equip young Jews with a nuanced understanding of the complex Israel-Palestine conflict,” Raffel writes of his conversation with Rachel Zaurov of Cliffside Park, a member of the Israel Policy Forum. But Birthright trips are designed to introduce young adults to Israel as the home of the Jewish people, to instill a sense of pride in being part of the Jewish people, and to increase awareness of who they are in the mosaic of Jewish life. It was not designed to, in a period of 10 days, give an understanding of the “complex Israel-Palestine conflict,” which is something Israelis and those who care about Israel have been trying to comprehend for 70 years.