← Back Home

Birthright: What to Expect

Last summer I went on Birthright, a (free) ten-day sightseeing / cultural trip to Israel. I wanted to provide a clear rundown of what to expect, and share a few reasons why the experience was so meaningful to me.

This is divided into three parts:
1. Logistics: group setup, routine, example locations
2. Expectations v. Reality: safety, partying, religious activities, etc
3. Mifgash: time with Israeli soldiers/students

But first, a disclaimer: I am just one person, all trips are different, all groups are different. Basically, your results may vary.

Logistics

The Israeli word for Birthright is Taglit, which means Discover. The trip is an opportunity to discover the history, land, and culture of Israel, discover its people, and discover your Jewish identity.

Different trip organizers have different itineraries and goals, but the basic group setup will always be the same: 40 participants, two "staff" members, an Israeli tour guide, a combo security guard / medic, and a bus driver.

The staff will meet you at the originating airport and accompany you throughout the trip. They work together with the tour guide to keep on schedule, set expectations, reprimand when necessary, communicate to Birthright HQ, etc. The tour guide sets the day-to-day agenda, leads the group through the various sites and activities, and serves as the on-the-ground expert of the group.

The days are long, and packed. You typically report for breakfast at 7AM, and you sometimes don't finish up until 10PM. Some days we did 4–5 distinct activities at different locations, so the frequent bus trips double as critical nap opportunities.

Though it's busy and sometimes frenetic, it's absolutely never boring. You're consistently seeing amazing, historic, culturally-rich, and beautiful sites. A non-exhaustive list from our trip included:

You are going to be damn tired from running around and spending all day on your feet. The unrelenting sun won't much help matters either. But it's fun and rewarding if you can buy in and embrace the experience.

Expectations v. Reality

A few major themes of the trip.

Security: I anticipated spending a lot of my waking time and energy in Israel worrying about safety — feeling aware of my surroundings, staying alert and on edge. That expectation of fear couldn't have been further from my actual experience. There's no denying that Israel is a target of terrorism, and that violent incidents do occasionally happen, but during the course of my trip I never felt threatened or even aware of a need to stay vigilant. There is a strong attitude of "Keep Calm and Carry On," and I got the sense that Israelis refuse to be intimidated or live in fear. That attitude rubbed off onto all of us — I asked my fellow participants, and consistently heard the same thing: no one ever felt unsafe or on edge.

Friendship: The trip is an opportunity to meet ~50 new people in your age range, who share an ancestral background, and presumably an interest in traveling and exploring Israel. You're constantly moving through epic locations, sharing in unique and emotionally-fulfilling activities, so it's unsurprising that friendships blossom quickly. One participant commented that "Birthright-time is like camping-time; one day here with someone is like spending ten days with them in normal life." Obviously there's a honeymoon period and corresponding come-down, but the fact remains that the trip is a fantastic opportunity to build new friendships. At the very least, it's a rare chance to immerse yourself fully with an entirely new group of people. Everyone I've spoken to about Birthright is still in contact with at least one person they met on the trip — some are engaged!

Partying: Our group was comprised of folks 22–26, so everyone was over the (US) legal drinking age, and could pretty much handle their alcohol. We had to follow some basic guidelines: only drink after activities are done for the day, no buying liquor bottles and drinking them in the room, etc. We had the opportunity to drink (typically at the hotel bar) probably 6–7 times throughout the trip. On 3 nights we were allowed to go to a bar/club as a group; these outings were more "wild," but we still typically re-convened by around midnight and everyone was in control. You'll definitely have opportunities to have fun and let loose, but don't expect a ten-day alcohol-fueled bender.

Hooking Up: related to the previous two themes (friends/partying), there is definitely a culture of hooking up on the trip. New people, different continent, meaningful experiences ("new you"), etc. I'm sure this is even more pronounced on the younger trips, and it was still absolutely a factor with our group. We even explicitly outlined our relationship status one of the first nights: Green Light (single); Yellow Light (it's complicated); Red Light (in a committed relationship). The running joke was that "Green is Green; Red is Red; Yellow is Green."

Religious Activities: a core goal of the trip is to expose participants to Jewish Culture — it's inseparable from Israel. That said, there weren't very many explicit activities focused on the Jewish Religion. Most people prayed at the Western Wall, we visited King David's tomb, everyone participated in a Shabbat dinner, but there weren't very many activities hinged around religion. I was really blown away by this aspect of the trip — seriously, there was zero pressure to embrace the religious elements. I realize that all trips are different and I suspect my specific trip fell closer to the "less religion" side of the spectrum, but it just wasn't a big deal. Basically, you were encouraged to be an observer, but there was no pressure to become a participant.

Mifgash — Meeting Israelis

Mifgash means "encounter," and refers to the addition of 8 Israeli soldiers/students into the group about halfway through the trip. The Israelis are also on Taglit, they are there to have fun, see the country, go on a cultural experience — they are not there to protect you (as I naively assumed before the trip).

They are in the same age range, and — shocker — are not all that different from the main set of participants: they like to have fun, party, goof around, talk about sports, take Snapchat selfies, share their experiences and learn from the rest of the group.

It's an awesome opportunity to have a true cultural exchange through osmosis. It's the type of give/take that happens when sharing a meal, teaching someone a new drinking game, shooting the shit late at night, chatting while meandering up a hiking trail, learning and teaching new words and slang, and trying favorite snack foods.

The majority of these new participants serve in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). They have real responsibility, to their unit and to their country. They might serve in a combat role, as an instructor, in intelligence, or IT, but everyone participates and contributes during their mandatory service. That experience offers a perspective that most of us American participants had never seen up close.

The context and appreciation for service is heightened when seeing how Israelis view and treat the IDF. In America, something like 5–7% of the population is either in the military or is a veteran. In Israel, that number is more like 80%+. There's a culture of service, discipline, order, and respect that is visible in unexpected ways.

You also see and feel the impact of conflict and war. One soldier asked about Memorial Day in America. We explained that to many folks it was just a day off from work, an opportunity to eat and drink and relax. She explained that Memorial Day in Israel is serious, and somber; a time for them to reflect on the very real consequences of conflict.

We visited Mount Hertzl, the Israeli national cemetery, which stirred raw emotion and pain. The portraits of young fallen soldiers on tombstones stared back us; they looked just like our new friends and fellow participants.

As one soldier remarked: "I hate war. To lose a brother or sister? As a country, to lose a son or daughter? It's the worst imaginable pain. We all know people who have been hurt or who have died. But this is the only country on earth where Jews can be truly free, so we all have to defend it, there is nothing more important to me."

Without getting into politics, these interactions offered life-changing perspective and context. The opportunity to meet and befriend Israelis was easily the most enduring and impactful element of the Birthright experience.

Take Aways

As one organizer explained our first night: "If you're here, it's because you have some ancestral connection to Israel. Maybe it's from a parent or a grandparent, maybe it's from a family member thousands of years ago, but you have a thread to our homeland."

If you're eligible to participate, just go. Don't make excuses, don't tell yourself that you're too busy, just say yes to an incredible opportunity.

I'm so glad that I did.