Taglit-Birthright Israel, the free, 10-day heritage trip to Israel for young, Jewish adults, recently made changes to its eligibility requirements that will now allow more people to apply.
Previously, applicants were not eligible if they had been to Israel as part of a touring group, educational trip, study program or extended residential program after age 12. The changes moved this age to 18.
Arik Maurice, a 19-year-old UF mechanical and aerospace engineering freshman, was previously unable to participate in Birthright because he went on an educational trip to Israel in eighth grade.
“I was ecstatic after the rules expanded,” he said. “I was born in Israel and still have many friends that I rarely get to see because of the exorbitant costs of flights to Israel, so this opportunity is perfect.”
Maurice, who plans to apply to Birthright this summer, said he considers the trip a great opportunity for students to experience a country with a history and society that impact world news, science and politics on a regular basis.
UF biology sophomore Abby Solomon said she took a one-month trip to Israel the summer after her sophomore year of high school and was ineligible for Birthright until now.
Solomon, 19, plans to use the expansion as a way to plan a reunion with friends she made on her first Israel trip.
“Birthright is such a cool opportunity because trips to Israel are so expensive,” Solomon said. “Being able to go anywhere for 10 days for free is rare, and Israel has so much to offer to young Jewish kids like me.”
Rabbi Gail Swedroe, assistant director of UF Hillel, said she considers Birthright an opportunity for students to engage with Israelis their own age.
“It is a great cultural exchange,” Swedroe said. “It is meant to whet your appetite to hope you will go back for a longer time.”
Swedroe said she believes the interest in Birthright is about the same since the expansion, but a greater number of Hillel students is now able to apply to the program. Traveling with UF allows participants to expand their campus Jewish community, she added.
“Having that intense immersion experience with your peers is really attractive to people,” she said.
For more information on the Taglit-Birthright Israel program and eligibility requirements, visit birthrightisrael.com.
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 1/30/2014 under the headline "Jewish UF students react to change in Birthright eligibility"]
A group of UF students hikes in the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, located near Israel’s Dead Sea, during a Birthright trip in May. UF Hillel takes Jewish students on the free, 10-day trip in the winter and summer.
