Academic: Birthright inspires interest in Israel

Ask Jewish identity expert professor Leonard Saxe for proof that Taglit-Birthright is indeed changing U.S. Jewry as he alleges in his new book, and he will refer you to the search bars of Israeli news sites.

But Saxe, a lecturer at Brandeis University and a believer in Birthright, is not pushing favorable articles about the program, which has so far brought some 200,000 young Jews from all over the world for a subsidized10-day educational visit to Israel.

He points to surveys showing that participants search online Israeli media 2.3 times more often than before the visit with the Birthright organization, founded nine years ago by philanthropists in cooperation with the Israeli government, and Diaspora communities.

"What Birthright does is inspire interest. Much of the rest develops from that," says Saxe, who last month published a book entitled "Ten Days of Birthright Israel: A Journey in Young Adult Identity," which he co-authored with Prof. Barry Chazan.

Saxe takes issue with a recent study presented at the Herzliya Conference in January, showing that although American Jews and Israelis are fairly interested in one another, U.S. coreligionists have a low willingness to strengthen the relationship - an average of 32 out of a 100-score.

"I attended the Jewish Peoplehood research session at the conference," Saxe told Anglo File this week. The problem he said is that the broad picture obscures individual successes such as Birthright.