Driven by Values

Operational Excellence

Operational Excellence

The safety and well-being of our participants remain our highest priorities. Each year, Taglit Birthright Israel successfully operates programs for thousands of participants across the country, including during peak seasons when many groups are traveling simultaneously. To ensure their safety, the organization maintains comprehensive emergency protocols and works in close coordination with Israeli authorities and security agencies.

In times of crisis, these systems enable rapid and decisive action. Taglit Birthright Israel has consistently been the first organization to take action and safely evacuate its participants when security conditions require it. During the escalation of the Iran conflict in 2025, the organization activated its emergency response framework, relocating participants to protected locations and coordinating complex sea and air evacuations.

These efforts demonstrated Birthright Israel’s ability to operate at scale while responding swiftly, responsibly, and effectively under challenging circumstances. Thousands of participants were brought safely home, and many have since chosen to return to Israel.

Education

Education at Birthright Israel

The Education Department plays a central role in shaping the experiences at the heart of Birthright Israel programs. Working closely with trip organizers and educators, the team designs and guides the pedagogical framework that enables participants to engage deeply with Israel, Jewish identity, and the global Jewish story. Through ongoing mentorship, oversight, and program evaluation, the department continually refines the educational journey to remain relevant and responsive to the evolving needs of young Jewish adults.

Achievements in 2025: Strengthening Community, Identity, and Resilience

In 2025, the Education Department focused on stabilizing and strengthening the program, following the profound challenges that reshaped Israel and Jewish communities worldwide. Educational components introduced in response to the events of October 7 have now become fully integrated pillars of the Birthright Israel experience.

An emphasis on togetherness and belonging now shapes programs across the 10-Day Classic trips, Volunteer initiatives, and Onward internships. Birthright Israel participants seek connection—to one another, to Israeli society, and to the broader Jewish story. Shared experiences such as Shabbat, Mifgash (encounters with Israelis), and group dialogue are central to the journey and create spaces for community, solidarity, and collective reflection.

Within this framework, Shabbat has taken on renewed significance as an anchor of Jewish identity and joy. Around the Shabbat table, through song, conversation, and shared reflection, participants experience a sense of belonging and renewed Jewish pride.

Resilience has also emerged as a defining dimension of the educational journey. Participants leave not only with lasting friendships and memories, but with greater confidence navigating complex conversations about Israel and Jewish identity on campus and within their communities. Encounters with individuals and communities across Israel who continue to innovate, rebuild, and remain hopeful help to deepen participants’ understanding of perseverance and collective responsibility.

In this way, resilience is not framed as a reaction to crisis, but as an expression of Jewish strength, pride, and joy. Cultivating this spirit—rooted in identity, community, responsibility, and optimism—will remain central to Birthright Israel’s educational vision.

Looking Ahead: Strengthening the Educational Framework in 2026

Looking ahead, the Education Department will continue strengthening the educational foundations of Birthright Israel programs while supporting new areas of growth.

A central priority is developing a cohesive educational framework for Birthright Israel Volunteer programs. As volunteering becomes an increasingly significant part of the Birthright platform, the team is articulating a shared pedagogical language centered on community, solidarity, responsibility, and active participation.

This framework positions volunteering not only as service, but as a formative educational experience that strengthens identity and deepens connections between global Jewish communities and Israeli society. Emphasizing partnership and mutual learning, the framework moves beyond a one-directional service model and highlights how Diaspora participants and Israeli communities contribute together to shared goals and collective responsibility.

By establishing a clear educational approach, Birthright Israel aims to ensure that volunteering serves as both a meaningful experience in Israel and a gateway to continued, long-term engagement. Together, these efforts will reinforce Birthright Israel’s vision of nurturing young Jewish adults who feel connected to their identity, to Israel, and to one another.

THE MIFGASH

The “Mifgash”

The “Mifgash” is a defining element of the Taglit-Birthright Israel experience, bringing young Israelis together with Jewish participants from across the globe for an intensive, 5-day encounter. Through shared experiences, cultural exchanges, and deep conversations, “Mifgash” strengthens Jewish identity, understanding, and a sense of connection and belonging. In just five days, the magic of “Mifgash” transforms strangers into lifelong friends—and that magic goes both ways, impacting Israeli participants just as deeply as those from abroad.

In 2025, despite the challenges of wartime, nearly 3,000 Israeli participants joined Birthright groups, representing a wide range of backgrounds across Israeli society. Among them were active IDF soldiers and participants from more than 170 military units.

Lasting Impact

For our participants from around the world, the “Mifgash” transforms the journey into something deeply personal. Conversations about identity, service, and daily life during wartime offer a nuanced understanding of Israel, revealing not only moments of hardship but also the resilience and vitality of everyday life. Many describe the experience as life-changing, strengthening their sense of belonging and their confidence in advocating for Israel.

Israeli participants benefit just as much. Meeting their peers from around the globe offers insight into the realities faced by young Jews, including the rise in antisemitism and the challenges many experienced after October 7. In the intimate setting of the “Mifgash,” Israelis find a safe space to share their own experiences more openly, deepening mutual understanding and connection.

Mifgash Enhancements

Throughout the journey, the “Mifgash” creates moments that bring participants face to face with the human stories behind Israeli society, through exposure to the lives and perspectives of their Israeli peers in the group. Going far beyond simply sharing a seat on a bus, these encounters embody the heart of the “Mifgash” experience.

2025 highlights included:

Personal stories of resilience: At a kibbutz in the Gaza Envelope, participants were hosted in the home of Yaniv. He shared his personal story of October 7 and the loss of his father, offering a deeply human perspective on the events of that tragic day.
Home Hospitality: Participants were hosted in the home of Amichai, one of their Israeli peers in the group. Together, they prepared a traditional Israeli meal—falafel, eggplant salad, and hummus—and enjoyed an informal conversation with Amichai’s family.

A Mifgash Beyond Israel’s Borders

In 2025, Birthright Israel expanded the “Mifgash” experience beyond Israel, sending two delegations of IDF officers (Birthright alumni) to the United States for a “reverse Birthright journey.” The officers met with Jewish communities, educational institutions, and Birthright alumni, gaining deeper insight into Jewish life in the Diaspora. They also visited a military base, where they met with senior American military commanders and held engaging discussions with their American counterparts. For the officers, the experience deepened their connection to the American Jewish community while reinforcing their role as representatives of Israel and the IDF.

Mifgash

Looking Ahead

In 2026, the “Mifgash” will continue to grow as a central pillar of the Taglit Birthright Israel experience, cultivating meaningful encounters between young Jews from around the world and their Israeli peers. Efforts will focus on expanding the diversity of Israeli participants, fostering rich and open dialogue, and nurturing lasting friendships between Israelis and participants from abroad, thereby strengthening the vital bridge between Israel and the Diaspora.

“Today we met with fifteen Holocaust survivors in a synagogue. One of them, a 95-year-old man who served in the U.S. Air Force in 1948, hugged me for nearly an hour. I felt deeply moved, as if we are the continuation of their story, the enduring story of the Jewish people.”

Delegation Participant

GREENING

Support from Ellen Bronfman Hauptman and Andrew Hauptman, together with the Claudine & Stephen Bronfman Family Foundation, has been instrumental in advancing the Greening Birthright Israel initiative. Their partnership has enabled meaningful progress in environmental restoration, strengthened community resilience, and helped embed sustainability more deeply into Taglit Birthright Israel’s organizational mission.

Now in its third year, Greening Birthright Israel positions the organization as a leader in climate responsibility within the Jewish and Israeli landscape while creating meaningful, hands-on opportunities for Jewish young adults. To further scale this work, Birthright Israel leadership strategically integrated sustainability initiatives across the organization, enabling additional philanthropic dollars to advance the initiative’s broader goals. Notably, three new donors joined in supporting the Greening Birthright Israel initiative this year.

Triple Impact Strategy

In the aftermath of the war, Israel remains focused on recovery and renewal. Taglit Birthright Israel’s Triple Impact Strategy responds with a comprehensive sustainability approach built on three integrated pillars:

Strengthening communities affected by the war through green spaces and environmental rehabilitation, with a focus on areas near the Lebanon border and the Gaza Envelope.
Delivering meaningful environmental impact by planting hundreds of thousands of trees and regenerating damaged ecosystems.
Empowering young Jewish adults worldwide through hands-on participation in sustainability and resilience projects.

greening 2025 achievments

Advancing Carbon Reduction

advancing Carbon reduction

Planting

Training Institute

Birthright Israel Training Institute

The Birthright Israel Training Institute plays a critical role in ensuring the quality, relevance, and impact of the educational experience delivered to participants worldwide. In 2025, the Institute expanded its focus on educator resilience, pedagogical excellence, and contextual readiness, equipping staff to meet the evolving needs of young adults engaging with Israel during a complex time.

Across its programs, the Institute strengthened educators’ capacity to foster meaningful connection to Israel, integrate emerging themes such as sustainability and volunteerism, and address rapidly changing geopolitical realities. These efforts ensure that participants continue to benefit from relevant and impactful educational experiences throughout their journey.

2025 Achievements: Strengthening Educational Excellence

Resilience Training equipped 200 educators in 4 overnight seminars with wellness tools and enhanced their ability to convey Birthright’s spirit through a workshop-based format. Our Voice was introduced, framing Birthright as a personal identity journey and a call to collective responsibility.
Greening Birthright Israel introduced sustainability as a core Birthright theme, exploring the connection between people, land, and society while equipping educators with tools to integrate sustainability into daily touring.
Otef Training prepared educators to guide in Israel’s southern border region, emphasizing emotional readiness and educational framing to help participants process and engage with the post–October 7 reality.
Onward Staff Training focused on educational management of long-term internship groups, equipping staff to build community, highlight key learning moments, and address the unique dynamics of young international adults living in Israel.
Volunteer Staff Training enhanced the volunteer experience by highlighting themes of mutual responsibility and Tikkun Olam, equipping educators to frame volunteering as a powerful vehicle for Jewish identity building.
Geopolitical Trainings prepared 60 Birthright lecturers to address current events with accuracy, balance, and relevance, in ways that are both accessible and engaging for young adults from across the globe.
The North American Madrichim Training Seminar, offered in partnership with the Shalom Hartman Institute, equipped madrichim with the pedagogical tools to address challenges facing the Jewish people and deliver high-impact educational experiences.
The Worldwide Madrichim Seminar provided international madrichim with comprehensive training in Israel, combining site visits in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, practice tours, and facilitation simulations to boost their skills and confidence.

Training institute

Looking Ahead: Expanding Educator Capacity and Readiness in 2026

The Institute will reach approximately 1,085 educators and staff in 2026, while advancing professional development through the following initiatives:

Resilience Training: Strengthening wellbeing and advancing the Our Voice framework

Greening – Level 2: Deepening environmental and social responsibility

12-Day Tour Educator Seminar: Preparing new global educators for the journey

Northern Supplementary Training: Equipping 100 staff with context-sensitive tools

Onward Staff Trainings (new 2-Day format): Focusing on group management and community

Volunteer Staff Training: Supporting northern programming and community resilience

Worldwide Madrichim Seminar: Providing international staff training in Israel
North American Madrichim Training Seminar: Training 300+ madrichim

RESEARCH

Jewish Pride and Identity, Engagement in Jewish Life, and Connection to Israel

At a time when Jewish identity is increasingly challenged on campuses and in public discourse, Birthright Israel plays a critical role in strengthening Jewish pride among young Jews worldwide.

Independent research conducted by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University surveyed more than 2,000 applicants to Birthright Israel’s Summer 2025 trips, both before and several months after the experience. By comparing participants with applicants who did not attend, the study demonstrates that Birthright Israel deepens Jewish pride and identity, strengthens connection to Israel, and increases long-term engagement in Jewish life.

During a period when many young Jews experienced declining connection to Jewish life, Birthright participants moved in the opposite direction, returning home more confident in their Jewish identity, more connected to Israel, and prouder to be part of the global Jewish community.

Jewish Pride and Identity

Birthright Israel empowers young Jews to embrace their identity with confidence and pride.

Among Summer 2025 participants, the share who said being Jewish was “extremely important” to their identity increased from 39% before the trip to 57% after the experience.

Beyond identity alone, participants maintained strong connections to Jewish values, traditions, and the worldwide Jewish community, even as these connections declined among comparable young Jews who did not participate in the program.

For many participants, the Birthright experience transforms Jewish identity from an abstract label into a lived source of pride, belonging, and community.

Strengthening Connection to Israel

Birthright Israel continues to be one of the most powerful experiences for strengthening the connection young Jewish adults feel with Israel.

Increased Long-Term Engagement in Jewish Life

Birthright Israel also strengthens participants’ long-term active engagement in Jewish life (Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Jewish Futures Project, L’Dor v’Dor: Birthright Israel’s Impact Across Generations, January 2025).

Twenty to twenty-five years after their Birthright experience, participants were 100% more likely to have chaired a Jewish event (6%, vs. 3% for nonparticipants). They were also 55% more likely to attend Jewish religious services at least monthly (17%, vs.11% for nonparticipants), and 42% more likely to participate in a Shabbat meal (17%, vs. 12% for nonparticipants).

This increase in long-term active engagement reflects a deeper connection to the Jewish people, and a stronger sense of pride in being part of a global Jewish community.

In a time of uncertainty and growing challenges to Jewish identity worldwide, Birthright Israel remains a powerful catalyst for Jewish pride, connection, and engagement.

being Jewish extremley important

very much connected to Judiasm

very much connected to Jewish History

very much connected to worldwide Jewish community

very much connected to customes and traditions

very much connected to Israel

"Never before in our research on Birthright Israel have we seen such notable declines among nonparticipants"

—Birthright Israel Participant Survey, Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University

EVALUATION

Measuring Taglit Birthright Israel’s Impact

Evaluation is a central component of Taglit Birthright Israel’s educational mission, ensuring that every program continues to deliver meaningful and lasting impact. Through ongoing collaboration with the Henrietta Szold Institute, responsible for program evaluation, and the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, which oversees long-term research, Birthright Israel continuously assesses participant experiences and outcomes.

Mutual Responsibility

Findings from the Summer 2025 surveys conducted by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies indicate that Birthright participants experienced significantly greater increases in their sense of mutual responsibility than comparable young Jewish adults who did not attend the program. Following the experience, participants reported stronger feelings of responsibility toward fellow Jews and toward Israel.

Survey findings show that the share of participants who strongly agree that Jews have a responsibility to help one another increased by 27%, four times the increase observed among non-participants. Participants also showed a 14% increase in the belief that Jews have a responsibility to contribute to Israel’s future, while non-participants showed no increase.

Togetherness and Connection

Evaluation findings from the Henrietta Szold Institute highlight the growing importance of shared experiences that foster a sense of togetherness among participants. Since the outbreak of the war, elements such as group programming, Shabbat celebrations, and the Mifgash encounters between Israelis and participants from abroad have taken on even greater significance in shaping the experience.

Participants consistently identified these moments of shared learning, conversation, and celebration as central to their sense of connection to one another and to the broader Jewish community.

These insights reinforce Birthright Israel’s role not only as an educational journey, but as a powerful platform for strengthening a sense of shared responsibility and belonging among young Jews around the world.

Strongly agree Jews ought to help other Jews

responsibility to betterment of Judiasm

“A sense of community and home. I come from a town with no Jews and had never been anywhere surrounded by Jewish people. I watched friends visit places their families came from, something I never felt I could relate to-until now. For the first time, I feel connected to my ancestry and that there is a place in the world where I belong.”

Choose Your Country

Driven by Values

Operational Excellence

Education

THE MIFGASH

GREENING

Training Institute

RESEARCH

EVALUATION

Operational Excellence

Education

Looking Ahead: Strengthening the Educational Framework in 2026