It’s not all bad news

by on January 4, 2009 21
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Ha'aretz - "Birthright Jewish project admits: We are broke"

About Adam Horowitz

Adam Horowitz is Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Posted in Israel/Palestine

{ 21 comments... read them below or add one }

  1. Steve R says:
    January 4, 2009 at 12:12 am

    It's just a fundraising ploy.

  2. Rowan Berkeley says:
    January 4, 2009 at 4:55 am

    look, people: there is an overall probability that the dollar will cease to be the world's reserve currency, and hence lose half its world demand and most of its value. When that occurs, Israel and all the apostles of westianity will become absolutely unable to continue their extortions.

  3. Richard Witty says:
    January 4, 2009 at 8:09 am

    http://www.birthrightisrael.com/site/PageServer

    Taglit-Birthright Israel is one of the boldest educational ventures in the modern Jewish community. Just nine years have passed since our launch and in that time, more than 190,000 young Jewish adults have received the gift of a lifetime. The free, 10-day educational trips have connected these young Jews to the land and people of Israel and to their own identity. It has also touched the lives of thousands of Israelis. Each session there are thousands more applicants than spots available to bring them. Taglit-Birthright Israel is the only program in Jewish North America that has such a gap between supply and demand.

    Allison Gorsky Photo Fall 2007
    What is it about Taglit-Birthright Israel that makes it so distinctive?

    The Taglit-Birthright Israel trip has a transformative impact on participants. For many, this intense, 10-day microcosm of a tightly-knit community is a first opportunity to connect Jewishly. The trip takes place during the critical young adult years of 18-26. Participants bond passionately with Israel, basic concepts of Jewish life and each other. The scale of our outreach is exponentially greater than any other effort taking place in the Jewish community. Taglit-Birthright Israel attracts more than 55,000 applicants each year. As our funding support grows, a Taglit-Birthright Israel trip will become a normative experience for young Jewish adults, accomplishing nothing less than a transformation of the American Jewish community over the next few decades.
    Impact on Israel
    Yoni Benshlomo Fall Photo 2007

    An integral element to each and every Taglit-Birthright Israel trip is a mifgash — a structured encounter with Israeli peers. Each busload of participants spends several days traveling with Israeli peers, creatings a strong bond of recognition and understanding that becomes the living bridge between Israeli and Diaspora Jews. Since the beginning of the trips, more than 30,000 Israelis have taken part. Taglit-Birthright Israel has made a significant contribution to the Israeli economy. Since the program launched in 2000, more than $300 million dollars has been pumped into Israel’s essential tourism industry.
    Benjamin Loomsteir Fall Photo 2007
    Next: Post Trip Engagement
    As the Taglit-Birthright Israel trip program has grown, we have the opportunity to enable young Jewish adults returning from Israel trips to continue their "Jewish journeys." The goal of our Birthright Israel Next Program for trip alumni is to empower these young people to pursue diverse Jewish experiences and activities which will strongly connect them to the Jewish community, perpetuate their link to Israel, and inspire them to find personal meaning in their Jewish lives. We have an unprecedented opportunity to engage young Jews in Jewish life.

    Donate Now!

    Jews have always put their faith in the future. Through Taglit-Birthright Israel trips and the Next programs that await participants on their return, we are ensuring a vibrant future for American Jews. But demand far exceeds capacity and timing is everything. Every time applicants are turned away, we risk not attracting them back to the program. You can help us seize the moment when young Jews are interested and ready to participate. Help us make sure that these young Jews do not miss out on the gift of a lifetime. Each donation reunites young Jews with their identity, their community and their heritage, and establishes personal and communal roots to Israel that last a lifetime.

  4. Jim Haygood says:
    January 4, 2009 at 8:39 am

    Rowan B. has got it right. Birthright's financial woes are merely the first mogul on a long, black-diamond ski slope.

    A few months down the road, Phil's lede can read –

    'US foreign aid project admits: We are broke.'

    Don't be surprised to see some taxpayers dancing in the street at this news. One more monkey off our backs — YAY!

  5. Eva Smagacz says:
    January 4, 2009 at 8:47 am

    And what sort of Identity do they take on after being told that Palestinian land is their "birthright"?

    Maybe teaching of Eliyahu?

    Eliyahu ruled that there was absolutely no moral prohibition against the indiscriminate killing of civilians during a potential massive military offensive on Gaza aimed at stopping the rocket launchings.

    The letter, published in Olam Katan [Small World], a weekly pamphlet to be distributed in synagogues nationwide this Friday, cited the biblical story of the Shechem massacre (Genesis 34) and Maimonides' commentary (Laws of Kings 9, 14) on the story as proof texts for his legal decision.

    According to Jewish war ethics, wrote Eliyahu, an entire city holds collective responsibility for the immoral behavior of individuals.

    Did anybody said anything about these mad religious fundamentalists that infiltrated Israeli army? Here are few on their way to Gaza:

  6. Rowan Berkeley says:
    January 4, 2009 at 8:58 am

    That's what I am saying, Eva: JHVH is a demon. The true God of Abraham called himself Elohim, clearly a dialectal variant of the general semitic god-name, El.

  7. Richard Witty says:
    January 4, 2009 at 9:15 am

    God is ONE, same as in Arabic, same as in Sanskrit.

  8. Jim Haygood says:
    January 4, 2009 at 9:34 am

    Not Eva's god, it seems. I've said this before, but it's amazing how unreflective and deep her jew-hatred is. She spends her days waiting for Jews do do wrong, so that she can expiate her guilt over having stolen from them and killed them. "You see!" her primitive conscience tells her, "it's not just us Poles, everybody hates them, they're evil, we were right!"

  9. Rowan Berkeley says:
    January 4, 2009 at 9:36 am

    Yes, Richard, but JHVH ain't him, OK?

  10. Richard Witty says:
    January 4, 2009 at 10:18 am

    You want to get into theology Rowan.

    I subscribe to a rather unconventional one, a Jewish flavor of Tanta/Vedanta.

    Based on the assertion/attitude that God is Subject, not object. Names are oriented to naming objects, so are at most only a reference.

    It is a confusion when anyone sites "God said", and there are only VERY FEW of those assertions that I accept even as suggestion.

  11. Richard Witty says:
    January 4, 2009 at 10:20 am

    Then, there is another attitude, constructed out of lifetime of spiritual practise (rather than single epiphany or psychosis) that is that G-D is intimate and doer of ALL.

  12. anonn says:
    January 4, 2009 at 10:30 am

    Birthright Unplugged offers opportunities for people to gain knowledge through first-hand experiences and to use that knowledge to make positive change in the world.

    We reject the notion of a “birthright,” as embodied in Jewish-only fully-funded trips to Israel. Israel has ignored the internationally recognized right of return for refugees, but has created a “Law of Return” which extends citizenship benefits to any person of Jewish heritage, excluding millions of Palestinians born in the land that has become Israel.

    Our programs attempt to address this injustice by facilitating access typically denied to the communities with whom we work, and by bringing forward Palestinian voices which have historically been suppressed and ignored. North American and Jewish people often face obstacles of fear and lack of knowledge which can deter them from pursuing this kind of experience on their own. Palestinian people face movement restrictions and other human rights violations which limit their ability to visit places we travel to during our trip and often their access to communities abroad. As international people with knowledge of Palestine/Israel, we are able to work with both communities to contribute to understanding and addressing these obstacles and restrictions.

    Visit birthrightunplugged.org

  13. annon says:
    January 4, 2009 at 10:33 am

    Another good program from Birthright Unplugged:

    Our Re-Plugged trips are for Palestinian children living in refugee camps. In two to three days, we visit Jerusalem, the sea and the villages their grandparents fled in 1948. The children stay with families who are Palestinian citizens of Israel. They document their experiences with cameras and create exhibits in order to contribute to the collective memory in the refugee camp and to share their stories with people abroad.

    This experience is nearly impossible for most Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, who receive identity cards at age 16 which Israel uses to control their movement. As internationals we are able to move with relative freedom and so, unlike the children's parents and grandparents, we can take them on this trip.

    In January-February 2008, Birthright Re-Plugged ran workshops for Palestinian children in refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, and incorporated their photography and writing about their experiences and their family histories into our exhibitions.

    Birthright Unplugged has three exhibits of photography by children in living in refugee camps in the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria that are available to tour.

  14. anon says:
    January 4, 2009 at 10:36 am

    yet another good program for diaspora jews:

    Mission Statement

    Encounter is an educational organization dedicated to providing Jewish diaspora leaders from across the religious and political spectrum with exposure to Palestinian life.

    Motivated by the relentless Jewish pursuit of hokhma (wisdom) and binah (understanding), Encounter programs bring participants on journeys to engage with Palestinians face-to-face and witness realities first hand.

    Within a supportive, uniquely caring, and pluralistic framework, Encounter invites participants to ask questions and grapple with fresh perspectives, in order to create human connections across lines of enmity, and expand personal and political understanding.

  15. Rowan Berkeley says:
    January 4, 2009 at 10:43 am

    Richard, you are typical lying jewish prevaricator. You demand the right to claim ownership of 'g-d' and use him as bludgeon to beat the world up with. Forget it. There is one and only one real God, and your 'g-d' ain't him.

  16. anonn says:
    January 4, 2009 at 10:43 am

    Greek newspaper says world Jewish plutocracy behind what's happening in Gaza: link to haaretz.com

  17. rabbi kook says:
    January 4, 2009 at 10:54 am

    The Birthright Israel indoctrination trips for young Jews is paid for by the American people–donations are fully tax-deductible.

    I don't know if such donations are also deductible in those western nations other than the USA.

    The strategy is to cement international jewry as a nation within all nations devoted to the state of Israel.

  18. rabbI kook says:
    January 4, 2009 at 11:13 am

    RE: "Not Eva's god, it seems. I've said this before, but it's amazing how unreflective and deep her jew-hatred is. She spends her days waiting for Jews do do wrong, so that she can expiate her guilt over having stolen from them and killed them. "You see!" her primitive conscience tells her, "it's not just us Poles, everybody hates them, they're evil, we were right!""

    Any Pole helping a Jew was killed instantly if discovered. Poland
    has more individual Righteous Gentile awards from Israel than any other nation.

    Eva deserves an apology.

    PS: How many American Jews would risk their own and family's life or even economic security to help in the situation Poland
    found itself in back then–subject to the red regime, then the fascist regime? How many would even bring up the Palestinian
    POV with anyone in their own family, or to a neighbor? Talk about
    risk-avoidance.

  19. Richard Witty says:
    January 4, 2009 at 12:04 pm

    Birthright is a good program.

    It is a good effort to inspire a connection to the rest of one's community.

    It is entirely up to the participants to determine their politics and relationship to Israel and Judaism following the trip.

    My son reported that there was a minor amount of rah-rah presented, but only in one meeting, that the rest included communicating with a variety of Israeli Jews and non-Jews, with a variety of opinions and attitudes.

  20. rabbi kook says:
    January 4, 2009 at 12:29 pm

    Anyone who wants to see how much truth there is in Witty's statement about Birthright should check out what is left out of
    the Birthright trips by comparing them with the trips sponsored by
    Birthright Unplugged. You can google that information from young Jews who have taken those respective trips on the internet. As an American, I have much less objection to
    giving a tax exemption to donors to Birthright Unplugged.

    Birthright Unplugged is in the American tradition. Birthright is not.

  21. morris says:
    January 4, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    The title is wrong

    anything else is too little tooo late

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