Birthright, or Taglit as it is known is Israel, announces that 21,000 visitors affiliated with the program are expected to visit Israel this summer, marking a decade since the program was launched. This represents a significant increase compared to the summer of 2009, when 10,500 Birthright visitors arrived in Israel. 10,300 Birthright visitors arrived in Israel since January 1, 2010.

The organization’s budget for this, the decade year, stands at $80 million. Birthright provides a ten-day educational visit to Israel for youths between the ages of 18-26. This includes meetings with Israelis of the same age group, generally IDF soldiers. To date, over 250,000 people from over 50 countries took part in Birthright trips. 40,000 Israelis were part of those trips, meeting with their counterparts from around the Jewish world. An estimated 17,000 Birthright ‘graduates’ are living in Israel today.

Officials hope that half of the Birthright participants move to Israel within 7-10 years following their trip.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)