by MICHAEL H. STEINHARDT

A dozen years after the establishment of the most revolutionary Jewish education vehicle in recent history, it is time to take stock of Birthright Israel and identify ways to reinforce and expand its achievements.

One of Birthright’s most poignant lessons is that in the eyes of world Jewry, Israel is not only a place of strife or a source of ambivalence, but also a wellspring of inspiration and pride. Studies of Birthright alumni show that immersive experiences in Israel — encounters with its ancient civilization and with its modern-day culture — help build and reinforce Jewish connections among those who had never been to Israel before. The experience opens participants’ eyes to new ways of Jewish belonging and to a sense of Jewish Peoplehood difficult to experience and comprehend outside the state. Israel, it turns out, is a phenomenal resource for identity enrichment among American Jews. But its potential has only begun to be tapped.

Why is this important? Because most of our other efforts have failed. For generations of American Jews, synagogues and Hebrew schools have only deepened their alienation from Judaism. Most non-Orthodox Jews in the Diaspora do not feel a sense of being insiders to the tradition. When they find themselves in the company of Orthodox Jews, it’s as if they are experiencing a foreign culture. Contrast that with Jewish life as it is experienced in Israel: a full, modern sense of belonging and engagement that spans the spectrums of religion, culture and ethnicity. In Israel, being Jewish is not related to knowledge of halacha but to a shared sense of Peoplehood. It’s automatic and instinctive. They feel it so much that they’re ready to die for it.

Although it would be impossible to bring that totality of Jewish living to America, it is time to provide American Jews with a broad spectrum of Jewish enrichment experiences that position Israel as an anchor of Jewish consciousness and connections.

With this in mind, I am supporting the development and implementation of Birthright Excel, a new Israel internship and engagement program for college Juniors and Seniors, whose first cohort launched this year. In some ways, Excel is the inverse of Birthright. Birthright is for everyone: the well-educated, not well-educated, committed, not committed. This was crucial for a program whose objective was to strengthen Jewish Peoplehood and to bind global Jewish communities more closely with Israel. Where Birthright’s reach is all-encompassing, Excel’s is narrow: it focuses on the best and the brightest of our young adults, individuals whose academic excellence indicates their potential to be leaders in a wide variety of fields.

Excel provides participants with ten-week internships at some of Israel’s most accomplished companies that have earned the Jewish state the moniker “Start-Up Nation.” Whether Checkpoint, Ernst & Young or Giza Venture Capital, each enterprise has put Israel at the cutting edge of global innovation in finance, technology, consulting and social media. Eventually, we hope to expand these internships beyond private enterprise to include law, medicine and perhaps other areas such as education and government, where there are meaningful potential overlaps and benefits for both sides.

The program is exceptionally rich. Participants are not simply interning at companies. They meet with many of Israel’s elites in the business, military and government sectors, and they are already building lasting connections with their Israeli counterparts and peers. Many of Excel’s participants are experiencing Israel for the first time. I am astonished at how much the Israeli sponsors have achieved in creating a diverse range of Israeli encounters and experiences for Excel’s initial cohort.

The program is helping to bind Excel participants to Israel in a profound way. They are immersed in Israeli life, in the Hebrew language and in the internal workings of an Israeli enterprise at the exact point in their lives when they’re making serious transitional choices. When alumni return to the United States, they will be part of the Birthright Excel Think Tank, which will meet regularly in New York City and Washington, DC, to provide opportunities for discussion, professional development and mentorships between participants and leaders in finance, the government and the Jewish community. The Think Tank will further reinforce a shared sense of purpose between international and Israeli companies, and between Diaspora Jewish leaders and their Israeli counterparts.

Hopefully, Excel will create a deep and lasting bond between participants and their host companies — as well as in the friendships and connections built during the experience. My dream is that over the long term, this bond will help weave a meaningful sense of Jewish unity that does not presently exist between Israel and Diaspora communities. After a couple of generations, when hundreds or even thousands of participants have experienced Birthright Excel, we will have helped usher in an elite group of Americans with an inside view of Israel, its most influential citizens and its contemporary Jewish life and culture. If we accomplish this, we will have achieved something truly transformative.

I should emphasize that as the elite of the Jewish community, Birthright Excel participants will go on to leadership positions both in their professional lives and in the Jewish community itself. Where they go, others will follow. This vanguard of Jewish leaders will be an invaluable arrow in our quiver as we work to strengthen the American Jewish community through its intractable bonds with Israel. ■

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Michael H. Steinhardt is Chairman of The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life.

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