Despite the dramatic voyage, it appears that during their journey to Cyprus, Taglit passengers seized the opportunity to decompress with a spectacular party that many Israelis cannot enjoy these days, while under fire.

Video: Taglit evacuated approximately 1,500 program participants Tuesday night in an emergency sea operation / Credit: Mano Maritime

The organization evacuated approximately 1,500 program participants Tuesday night in an emergency sea operation, utilizing the Israeli luxury vessel "Crown Iris" from Mano Maritime, which departed from Ashdod Port bound for Cyprus. The voyage, lasting roughly 13 hours, proceeded under tight escort from Israeli Navy vessels that safeguarded the participants throughout their journey amid heightened regional security tensions.

The vessel was chartered specifically as part of Taglit's swift initiative to begin repatriating the approximately 2,800 program participants who had been staying in Israel, following the escalation with Iran. Boarding priority was granted to groups that had completed their ten-day programs in the country.

Following their Cyprus arrival, all participants are scheduled to continue via chartered flights to their home countries – the United States, Britain, Australia, and beyond. Taglit covers all expenses for this operation, both maritime and aerial. Separately, American participants are expected to return on chartered flights financed by Florida state.

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The annual solidarity and recognition event of Birthright Israel was held yesterday at Mini Israel, symbolizing Jewish unity during wartime. Over 2,000 participants, alumni, and volunteers of Birthright, who serve as "ambassadors" for Israel in their home countries, attended the event, highlighting the organization's contribution to strengthening Israel and its connection with diaspora Jews.

Video: The annual solidarity and recognition event of Birthright Israel was held yesterday at Mini Israel Credit: Moshe Ben Simchon

Birthright Israel, the primary organization connecting young Jews worldwide to Israel with the aim of building a strategic Zionist "Iron Dome," has brought approximately 850,000 young people to the country to date.

The celebratory event drew many prominent figures from Israeli society, including Israel Hayom publisher Dr. Miriam Adelson, who the main donor to Birthright Israel; Meir Shamir, controlling shareholder of Mivtach Shamir and chairman of Birthright Israel's Israeli Steering Committee; Brigadier General Ophir Levios, IDF chief education officer; Eylon Levy, former spokesperson for the National Public Diplomacy Directorate; Lt. Col. Or Livni-Ben Yehuda, commander of the Caracal Battalion; Yuval Sharabi, daughter of the murdered hostage Yossi Sharabi, who also performed at the event; Eden Golan, Israel's Eurovision representative; the band Hatikva 6; Hagit Yaso; and others.

Gidi Mark, CEO of Birthright Israel, opened his remarks by asking attendees to observe a moment of silence in memory of 13 young Birthright alumni who were killed at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7.

"Almost every young Jew who has come to Israel since October has come through Birthright," he said. "Some 15,000 young Jews will come here this summer, and that's not to be taken for granted. Being surrounded by Jewish friends, taking pride in Judaism, learning more about Israel and yourselves, and creating lifelong connections – this is Birthright's vision. We will never give up on our unity and mutual support."

Dr. Miriam Adelson began her speech by saying, "I prepared a speech – but decided to speak from the heart. Seventeen years ago, my husband Sheldon said to me, 'Birthright has a long waiting list, how can this be? I remember my parents wanted to come to Israel but didn't have the money.' He came from a poor family, and later, when he had money, he offered to bring them to Israel, but they said they were too old. 'I don't want Jewish children to be old and miss coming to Israel, so we will help bring all those waiting.'

"I always told Birthright participants: You will be our soldiers in the world when something happens to Israel. We need people who know our history, who know what happened to us for thousands of years, who know the truth about Israel. We need these people all over the world. To be in the White House, to vote, to influence. Today, our soldiers are Birthright participants. You fight antisemitism, fight on college campuses, wave Israeli flags on every corner.

"I want to pray for the return of the hostages, for the safe return of our soldiers, for our people around the world. I thank all Israeli soldiers of all religions. I will continue to say: You are our soldiers in the world. You came here with great courage during a war for Israel's existence, and I salute you for that.

"Soon you will need to be called upon bravely to fight for world public opinion, where antisemitic lies and libels have taken root. And like the soldiers, you too are welcomed here as heroes because of your battle on this front."

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An overwhelming majority of Israelis believe that the Birthright Israel organization, also known as Taglit, is the most influential entity affecting the relationship between Diaspora Jews and Israel.

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Birthright Israel brings young Jews from all over the world on a 10-day free tour in Israel. According to its website, it seeks to strengthen Jewish identity, Jewish community, and connection with Israel by offering a free trip to Israel for young Jewish adults.

The new survey, released on Wednesday, shows that 70% of Israelis believe it has become the most important organization in the bond between Jews in Israel and outside of it. Another finding from the survey shows that 88% of Israelis think that strengthening the ties with young Jews in the Diaspora is critical for Israel's overall strength.

"To ensure that Israel will remain strong, independent, with support from the global community, we must strengthen and cultivate the relationship with Diaspora Jewry," Birthright Israel's CEO Gidi Mark said in a statement.

"While there is an alarming increase in antisemitic and anti-Zionist sentiment around the world, and especially in the United States, a new survey found that the vast majority of Israelis (88%) think that strengthening the relationship with young Jews in the world is essential to strengthen the state Israel, for strategic and security reasons – no less," the organization noted in a press release. The survey, conducted by the Rushinek Institute and included a random and representative sample of Israelis aged 18-64, shows that 80% of Israelis believe that Birthright Israel has "strategic and critical importance to the State of Israel and the Jewish people," it continued, adding that most Israelis think "Birthright is the organization with the most significant impact on the relationship between Diaspora, Israel, and Israelis."

Furthermore, "about 80% of Israelis believe that Birthright helps combat anti-Israeli content distributed in the media, through alumni, thus contributing to the improvement of Israel's public image and 71% of respondents explained that alumni of the program understand Israeli reality better after their visit here, and therefore represents it better abroad," the organization stressed.

"It is precisely now when we see an alarming increase in the number of antisemitic and anti-Israeli incidents on social media, campuses, and public space, that it is more important than ever to bring those young people from all over the world for an educational-Zionist tour," Mark said. "For many of them, this is the first visit to Israel, after which they really understand what it means to be Israeli and what the challenges and difficulties of life in Israel are, and they return to their countries with greater knowledge. To ensure the State of Israel remains strong, independent, and an integral part of the global community, we must strengthen and cultivate the relationship with Diaspora Jewry. We have to continue to bring as many young Jews to Israel as possible – for short and mid-term programs, so they can make their own impression, create relationships with Israelis, and formulate an independent opinion."

Data from Birthright shows that during this year's winter season of Birthright, some 12,000 young people arrived in Israel from 15 countries, including the United States, Canada Argentina, Brazil, Australia, France, Russia, Germany, and Ukraine.

Full disclosure: Israel Hayom publisher Dr. Miriam Adleson has been the project's largest ‎funder, along with her late husband philanthropist and businessman Sheldon Adelson, contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to the Birthright Israel Foundation.

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For years, I had struggled with my Jewish identity. What does it mean to be Jewish? Am I practicing Judaism because I want to or because it's all I've ever known? Through my experience on Taglit-Birthright in 2019, a free 10-day tour trip in Israel designed to introduce secular Jews to Judaism and Israel, I've come closer to answering these questions.

Now, to tell you the truth, I wasn't very qualified to go on Birthright. Firstly, Birthright runs solely on philanthropists and donations. In order to get the bang for their buck, they cater to unaffiliated Jews. According to their official website, they advertise as "an educational trip that ensures every eligible young Jewish adult around the world, especially the less connected… to connect to their past, present, and future." I'm a modern orthodox Jew who was raised by two modern orthodox Jews in a community for modern orthodox Jews. Simply put, I'm not their first choice. Secondly, I had already been to Israel. Birthright's mission is to introduce secular Jewish Americans to Israel, not give free trips to religious girls. Miraculously, I snagged a place on the trip and boy am I grateful.

The plane took off with a turbulent start. The morning of my outbound flight from John F. Kennedy airport in New York, my grandfather passed away. I spent most of my flight regretting the choice to go on the trip, but ultimately, his passing strengthened my drive to find the answers to my questions. What better place to try to understand my Jewish identity than Israel? And who better to keep in mind on my journey to self-discovery than my grandfather, a God-fearing descendent of WWII refugees who lived his life with honesty and integrity?

A Profound Activity

And so I began, with a stiff bottom lip and brave determination, to unpack my identity. One of the first instances that brought me face to face with these questions was when our trip leader set up an activity in the dining hall of our hotel. The activity went like this: a question would be asked, all those who agreed would go to the right side of the hall, all those who disagreed would go to the left, and all those who were indifferent or didn't know would stay in the middle. The question was: Do you believe Jews should only marry other Jews? Naively, I thought the answer was obvious. Of course, Jews should only marry other Jews! How else will there keep being Jews? To my surprise, 95% of the 40 people on the trip went to the left side of the hall. I stood there, in the middle of the room, in shock. In hindsight, I'm pretty disappointed in myself that I stayed in the middle of the room and didn't go to the right to defend my position. But give me a break, I was the youngest person on the trip by a long shot and was simply too stunned to formulate a coherent sentence. In my mind, it was simple. According to the Jewish People's Policy Institute, right now in America (excluding the Ultra-Orthodox population), about 58% of married Jews ranging from age 25-54 are intermarried. Married Jews ranging from age 30-34 hold the highest rate of intermarriage at a whopping 75%. If this were to continue at the rate it's going, in only a couple of generations, ultra-orthodoxy will be the only sect of Judaism left in America. This is the exact reason Birthright exists, to facilitate an understanding of the importance of a Jewish presence in America. However, after listening to a few opinions from the left side of the hall, I began to understand what being Jewish means to people.

One girl talked about her positive upbringing in an interfaith home. A Christmas tree adorned with blue and white menorah ornaments on Hanukkah, Synagogue during the High Holidays, takeout Chinese food on Christmas Eve: a completely stereotypical Reform Judaism interfaith household. One guy talked about how he feels disconnected from his Jewish grandfather and not really "Jewish" because he didn't have a Bar Mitzvah, and therefore, he doesn't feel obligated to marry a Jewish girl. Another guy said he is "more Jewish" than the first guy because he did have a Bar Mitzvah, but he doesn't believe in God so he's not really sure what category he'd fall into now and therefore, doesn't believe Jews should always marry Jews.

What bothered me so much about their answers was how many people thought they weren't really Jewish because they hadn't performed the traditional milestones of a Jewish lifecycle. After all, according to the 1935 Nuremberg Laws, if one had only one Jewish grandparent from each parent, he was classified as having Jewish blood and therefore unfit to marry into German society. None of these kids on my Birthright trip would have been allowed to marry into German society in the 1930s. And yet, here they were, in 2019, saying that they would marry outside of their faith. Of course, non-Jews then are not non-Jews today and we are no longer persecuted to that extent. However, we lost six million Jews in the Holocaust and even more since then due to intermarriage. To me, to marry a non-Jew today is to forget our history. It made me realize just how different my upbringing had been compared to theirs. They did not grow up listening to their grandparents' war stories about their struggle to keep their traditions in the camps. I asked myself why would these kids value their Jewish legacy? They didn't even know if they were considered Jewish. Taking this all in, I began to understand that one cannot answer this question without first defining what a Jew is.

What does it mean to be Jewish?

Is it a race like the Nazis thought? It can't be, because one cannot convert to a race, but one can convert to Judaism. Is it a religion? It can't be just that; because according to traditional Judaism, a Jew is a Jew is a Jew, meaning if one is born to a Jewish mother, he is Jewish, no matter his belief. Even if he converts to another religion, traditional Judaism does not consider that legitimate; he will always remain Jewish. So if it's not a tangible thing like race and it's not an intangible thing like religion, what is it? I've come to realize that Judaism is a family. It sounds cheesy, but it is the only solution that solves both problems. One can join a family easily by marrying in and whether or not he wants it to be, the family one is born into, is his family. So that's really what it's all about. The question was: Do you believe Jews should only marry other Jews? What it really was asking was: Do you want to continue the Jewish Family?

This question stuck in my mind for the entire remainder of the trip. We traveled North to South, hiked Masada, visited Mount Herzl, prayed at the Western Wall, and much more. All along, I was piecing together the history of our family. How the Romans, after destroying Jerusalem in 70 A.D., sieged Masada and brought about the deaths of the last community of Judean rebels (960 including women and children). How thousands of eighteen-year-old boys buried at Mount Herzl died to defend our family's right to this land. How billions of people from hundreds of generations came from all over the world to pour out their hearts at the Western Wall in supplication to a higher power. I realized, finally, maybe for the first time in my life, that, yes, I want to continue the Jewish Family and, no, I am not practicing Judaism because it's all I've ever known, but because I want to.

Meaningful Quote

"The value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose." -Richard Grant

First published by Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post.

Miri Weissman made aliyah from the US in 2020. She performed her national service as a tour guide at Mount Herzl and is currently studying political science and communications at Bar-Ilan University with a practicum at Israel Hayom. She has contributed to various media outlets in Israel. 

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Israeli entrepreneur Ziv Aviram, who co-founded the revolutionary autonomous vehicle technology firm Mobileye, took part in the Birthright Israel Excel event on Aug. 10 marking the graduation of the participants in its 2022 fellowship program.

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During the event, which took place at the Peres Center for Peace & Innovation, Aviram spoke before some 200 graduates and their mentors, as well as the Birthright Israel Excel leaders.

"A year and a half ago, my four children and I decided to establish a family foundation to do good for humanity and connect the business and social worlds for one common goal. Today, it's no longer just about corporate responsibility. Doing good must become the main mission of the business world," Aviram said, recalling the inaugural event his foundation held in Dubai to promote regional collaboration on technology in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, the collective name for the 2020 peace agreements between Israel and four Arab states from the Gulf and Africa. "Our first project at the Aviram Foundation is the Aviram Awards, a startup competition in the Middle East that debuted last March to promote and encourage startups to do good for humanity using technology and tools in the business world," he added.

Noa Aviram, the co-chair of the Aviram Foundation, participated in a panel at the event. The panel addressed entrepreneurship and social responsibility in the business world. She said, "The desire to do good and the motivation to have a positive impact on the world are essential to the success of social entrepreneurs. By competing for the Aviram Awards, we as a foundation can support these entrepreneurs and make a difference by connecting the business world and the social world."

Birthright Israel Excel was formed in 2011 in the wake of the success of the ongoing Birthright Israel program, which has brought hundreds of thousands of Jews for a 10-day tour of Israel. It is a business fellowship that begins with a summer internship in Israel and continues in the years after as a community focused on professional development and personal growth.

"Birthright Israel Excel was created to develop the next generation of Jewish business leaders. The vision of this program is multi-dimensional: to deepen the ties of participants to the State of Israel so they emerge as future Jewish leaders who want to preserve the identity, heritage, and welfare of the Jewish community; to encourage the next generation of international Jewish business leaders to strengthen the future of global corporate policy towards the State of Israel; and to foster the development of a think tank of innovative ideas with collaboration between international and Israeli companies." the organization says on its Facebook page.

Full disclosure: The Adelson family owns the company that is the primary shareholder in Israel Hayom. Dr. Miriam Adelson is the publisher of Israel Hayom.

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Thank you, Sheldon.

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Sheldon Adelson was a Jew who loved his people and his country passionately. He was a goodhearted, loyal friend, and I'm very pained at his passing. It also hurts to think about the difficulty Miri, his wife, who took such good care of him, and his loving family are having. It is a comfort that his deeds will go down in the Jewish people's Book of Chronicles.

Sheldon Adelson was not an observant Jew, but his heroic actions for the sake of the state and the people were godly. I remember that at one of our meetings, he saw on his phone that his company's stock had gained. He told me with a smile, "Listen, I just made $150 million," but immediately followed it up with, "And every cent will go to my people."

Only a few know how hard Adelson and his wife forked for Israel's security, to keep the Land of Israel whole and to continue the chain of Jewish existence from one generation to the next. These might sound like grandiose words, but it's the truth.

Everyone knows about his contribution to projects like Taglit-Birthright, to Israeli academia, and Ariel University in Samaria, including the School of Medicine we had the privilege of fighting for and founding, as well as plenty of other projects. All these are only the part that's out in the open. He did a lot more in secret.

Adelson put all his weight behind getting the US to relocate its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, even when there were Israelis leaders who balked at the move. By doing so, the dear philanthropist effectively broke the glass ceiling of Jerusalem being recognized as Israel's capital. He held endless meetings with anyone he could in order to pull the US out of the bad 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and worked to secure American recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli – as well as many other discreet activities.

Dear Sheldon, you're up in Heaven now. Rest in peace, and know that with God's help, we will continue to defend the state and the people you loved so much. May your memory be a blessing.

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