[23], The Birthright Israel program has been criticized for its pre-trip screening process. The standard trip, an all-included 10-day vacation set in Israel and available only to qualifying Jews, brings a few dozen young people together on a private bus, along with a guard, a hired Israeli tour guide, and two young staffers, who are compensated with airfare. Looking back, says Kassie, “You should not have people in their early 20s running a trip of 18 year-olds.” What former participants and staff on various trips say—including those who had experienced or witnessed harassment or assault—echoes Kassie’s comments: the responsibility can’t rest with young staffers alone. “You can’t prevent everything, but you can put structures in place to mitigate a situation.” She also says that midway through her most recent trip, a Birthright staffer came to check in on the trip staffers to make sure they understood and were following policies on alcohol, and sexual harassment and assault. © Type Investigations document.write(new Date().getFullYear()). Peck says that the same month she was diagnosed with PTSD. For Julia Peck, that lack of critical thinking has had repercussions even four years later, making her question a Jewish community bent on on ”Jewish continuity.” In the effort to produce more Jews, “we forget who bears the brunt of this sexual pressure,” she says. Make sure your trip is a good fit. The handbook includes detailed instructions to the staff about how to brief the Israeli participants on their role on the trip emphasizing the codes of conduct: “be assertive and clear and do so in a manner that is unambiguous,” it advises staff, identifying “red lines” such as drugs and alcohol use, violence and sexual harassment (“Remember cultural differences,” it exhorts in the section about sexual harassment). Most staffers we spoke to recollect an exhausting ten-day sprint, focused almost exclusively on keeping people with the group, preventing dehydration, alcohol poisoning, and illness, and answering constant questions. In part, she blamed her reaction on classic self-blame: in a crowded public place, in a bikini, what else would they expect? The note read, “I’m Sorry.”. In addition to discussing behavioral “red lines,” the same “mifgash” manual cited above includes a getting-to-know-you game called “Speed Dating” and another in which staff are instructed to “encourage them to reveal juicy details.” A Winter 2016-2017 Bay Area Federation staff manual discussed the rules around nights out: “Due to recent incidents of nights out getting out of control, Birthright has been limiting them, especially during the mifgash with the Israeli participants,” but the manual does not specifically discuss sexual assault. Soldiers and staffers aren’t allowed to drink at all. Many of those staffers acknowledged that if such issues were covered, their trainings did not dwell on the subject long enough for them to recall it with any specificity; others say they were fairly certain there were no such discussions. Not every birthright trip is created equally; each has a different focus and different types of participants. She said no, and he was unfazed. In addition to the nine incidents of alleged harassment or assault, six discussed inappropriate or coercive games, some of which were initiated by staff or soldiers. [25][26][27], Michael Steinhardt, co-founder of Birthright Israel, is a major supporter of The Alumni Community and a primary provider of post-Birthright Israel programs in the New York area. Founded in 1999 after a decade of panic within the organized Jewish community about rising intermarriage rates and young Jews’ declining communal involvement, Birthright is the ne plus ultra of organizations devoted to “Jewish continuity.” According to its own website, the program exists “to ensure the future of the Jewish people” through tours that promote Zionism and Jewish identity. [8] In 2011, he pledged an additional $5 million toward the effort. He apologized again. Birthright Israel Foundation holds a platinum rating on Charity Navigator and Guidestar. Encouraged by campus Hillel staff, the central location for Jewish life on many campuses that also ran and organized her Birthright trip, she filed a report. Birthright did not to respond to questions about the issue of alcohol policies being routinely violated. Our interviews spanned 14 years with more than 20 trip leaders; of 15 who led trips before 2016, only one remembered sexual assault training. “It’s nice that have these policies in place, but I don’t think there’s a ton of follow-through,” says another student who was present on the trip. If you’re Jewish, between the ages of 18-26 and have never been on a peer-based trip to Israel, this is your opportunity to enjoy a free 10-day trip to the Land of Milk and Honey! We have also instituted, in the wake of last year’s incident, a practice of signing each Israeli mifgash participant on a written commitment, in which they declare that these issues have been explained to them, and undertake to abide by the rules of conduct. [1], Taglit is the Hebrew word for 'discovery'. While they appreciated that staff tried to intervene, the women felt the reaction was hardly one of zero-tolerance. When presented with a list of behavior identified by our interviewees as problematic, Birthright responded: “It is wrong to make inaccurate generalizations from a handful of incidents that were not [officially] reported and are not a representation of either the experience we provide or our values,” a spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement. A Taglit-Birthright Israel trip includes airfare from major cities, hotel accommodation, two meals per day, security, all transportation within Israel, and other costs associated with touring the country during the ten-day trip. “My memory after this picture is black again for a while.” Her roommates, fill in the picture: “Julia then became visibly upset, and began to cry, running into the bathroom and locking herself in,” one roommate wrote in her witness report. Israeli soldiers pray at the Western Wall in the the Old City in Jerusalem on November 25, 2014. This expectation is communicated before the trip even begins by official social media, and on the trips is expressed most directly around American women and Israeli soldiers. “Everyone freaks the hell out when the soldiers come, and inevitably, there are hookups,” says Chanel Dubofsky, a feminist writer, activist and former Birthright staffer who led three trips between 2008 and 2011. About a year after Julia Peck filed her report, her parents reached out to Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli politician who was instrumental in launching Birthright, as well as to Birthright CEO Gidi Mark. Feldman mentioned, in their conversation, that she’d dated someone she met on the Birthright bus. A 2014 staffer told of a game played with visiting soldiers where “you have to come up with the most outrageous things that would make someone sexually unappealing.” Two participants on a winter 2013-2014 trip both told Jewish Currents about an activity in which, mandated to stay in their hotel, they were asked by staffers to pair up and ask each other personal questions. Privacy Policy | © Israel Outdoors | Website Development by Web Symphonies | Contact Us. Eventually, she says, she ended up crawling out between the man’s legs to safety. Peck says her assailant later stood over her, and she thought he was about to attempt unwanted intercourse. Eligible individuals are those who have at least one parent of recognized Jewish descent, or who have converted to Judaism through a recognized Jewish movement, and who do not actively practice another religion. One described the sleep lack as akin to “cult hazing.” “There’s so much pressure on you to not let people binge drink that any other aspects of bodily safety fall to the wayside,” says Lascoe, who led ten trips. “You’re their peer,” she says of participants. Trips are organized by different organizations and companies accredited by Taglit-Birthright Israel, which sets the logistical, educational, and security standards. The trip turned into a nightmare during a big party towards the end, she says, when a number of Birthright groups were mingling in a hotel bar. The letter noted that Birthright encourages participants to report problems to the police (a step Peck says she didn’t feel up to) and said they had reported the incident to the Israeli army, adding that, “We are not an investigating body, and do not have either the tools or the authority to determine facts and take steps against those accused.”. A US$250 deposit is required, which is refunded upon return from the trip. Participants have the option to extend their plane ticket for up to three months to explore Israel and the region. to Israeli economy', Come, see Palestine! “It’s different than in 2015,” one recent staffer says, “Every year, people are a little bit more sensitive.”. The caption reads, “Bring home a soldier to your Jewish mama?”. “There were participants who acted incredibly inappropriately towards each other and me,” says this former staffer, who asked not to be named because of her Jewish communal involvement. [24], The pro-Palestinian Jewish Voice for Peace runs a campaign called Return the Birthright, which criticizes the Birthright Israel program and urges young Jews to boycott it, stating: "it's unjust that we get a free Birthright trip, while Palestinian refugees can't return to their homes". She says a friend poured Peck, who had already had some wine, a green drink which she now thinks was absinthe. Potentially, then, multiple layers of Jewish institutional involvement can be wrapped around a given trip, muddying the question of who is ultimately accountable for issues that arise. This raises Adelson's total support of the program to over $250 million as of February 2015. [5], In 2007, annual capacity was increased to 20,000 participants a year. She says she put the documents, including witness accounts and texts, together, and emailed the package off. This Trip is a gift from birthright israel. “I’ve appreciated the feeling of ‘this isn’t a joke’,” another staffer who has worked three trips in recent years says. Only one provided the latter—the rest either did not respond or referred us immediately to Birthright PR. The manuals reflect the contradiction between the trips’ sexually pressurized culture and the efforts to prevent sexual misconduct. Jewish Currents reached out to the soldier. When Ilana expresses doubts, her counselor lays on some Jewish guilt: “Would it kill you to try?”. Her two roommates later filed detailed witness reports. Consider a sampling of recent headlines on stories about Birthright sex: From Cosmopolitan’s sex and love vertical, “The 15 Things That Really Happen On Birthright,” a list that encompasses sex with a soldier and with co-participants and learning to say “I think you’re sexy” in Hebrew; from Vice, a subheadline reads, “Without question the best thing about being Jewish is the free sex vacation to Israel.” A third post, from a blog called Jewlicious, gets more specific, as its “Unofficial Guide to Sex on Birthright Israel” includes this gem: “For the male soldiers the possibility of uncomplicated sex with their choice of dozens of exotic foreigners serves as added incentive to join the trip...But approach with caution. “I remember feeling like I was in an emergency and that the anxiety felt painful,” she wrote in her report. But part of it was reinforced by the tenor of the trip itself, she says, which reinforced a “longstanding cultural idea that American Jews are sheltered and soft and don’t know how hard it is to be an Israeli,” and by the fact that they didn’t recall any serious discussion of consent or what to do about unwanted sexual contact. [33], Taglit-Birthright Israel CEO Report (2001), Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, "Birthright Israel Raises Eligibility Age to 32", "The Birthright Challenge - Jewish Review of Books", "Taglit-Birthright Israel celebrates 400,000th participant", "New Israeli Plan Could Effectively Double Number of Birthright Participants", "Richest US Jew pledges USD 25 million to Taglit - birthright israel", Adelson Foundation Gives Taglit An Extra $5 Million Boost, "Adelson, Azrieli Foundations Award $45 Million to Birthright Israel", "Manufacturing Innovation: Birthright Excel Ventures - Jewlicious THE Jewish Blog", "Taglit-Birthright Israel: Frequently Asked Questions", "El Al to fly in 5,000 under Birthright project", "Taglit-Birthright Israel How to Choose a Trip Organizer?