Reconnecting People and Heritage - Taglit - Birthright Israel
For first generation migrants and the successive generations of such, there will always be disconnect between home and thehomeland.
The first trip back to ancestral homelands is often an eyeopener;most often for the reason that that faraway place is mythologised, in the stories that grandparents tell to parents and to children, passing on the rose-tinted romance of a place that once was. This creates more disconnections-- of past and present, of memory and reality--and in those spaces is where new impressions are made and laid to rest for future generations to discover for their own.
Perhaps one of the most interesting attempts to reconcile the flocks of diaspora, which emerged in the Post-War period, with cultural heritage has been in the Taglit- Birth right Israel project. Founded in 1994, by American billionaires Charles Bronfman and Michael Steinhardt, the Israeli government, the Jewish Agency for Israel, private philanthropists,and Jewish communities around the world, Taglit- Birth right Israel has sponsored some three-hundred thousand trips which support sending young Jewish people to Israel for free. The program has maintained interestdue to thedialogue and debate that has surrounded the project, which started when the very first Birth right Israel trips started in the year 2000. The program has also been a talking point due to its clear popularity, for the volume of participants and copycat programs that have emerged since Taglit- Birthright Israel has been active.
The 'Taglit' in Taglit- Birthright Israel is the Hebrew word for 'discovery'. In their mission statement, Taglit- Birth right Israel have said that they provide the gift of traveling to Israel for free with the aim:
"to strengthen participants' Jewish identity; to build an understanding, friendship and lasting bond with the land and people of Israel; and to reinforce the solidarity of the Jewish people worldwide."
Registered publicly as a charity, Taglit- Birthright Israel recognises itself as a not-for-profit educational program. Taglit- Birthright Israel is the parent organisation for a network of organisations (based in over fifty countries worldwide) offering ten day trips to Israel for free to Jewish identified youths aged between 18 and 26. The Taglit- Birthright Israel organisations cover not only the costs of travelling to and from Israel free of charge, but also cover the costs of travelling to planned schedules, food and accommodation for the travelling group. The activities that the Birth right Israel groups engage in differ according to the organisation providing the trip [http://www.mayanotisrael.com/about-us/] to Israel for free.
Criticism regarding the Taglit- Birthright Israel program has primarily been directed at the socio-political undercurrents that have been encountered by participants in selection for and while on the program. The question of whether Taglit-Birthright Israel represents a misdirection of funds that could have greater reach though religious teaching and learning has also been raised from within the Jewish community.
On the flipside, there has been strong support of the Taglit- Birthright Israel program from the Israeli Government and from prominent individuals and communities within the Jewish community which has seen applications to participate in Taglit- Birthright Israel swell and acceptance into the trips to Israel for free be highly sought after.
The number of participants in the Taglit- Birthright Israel traveling to Israel for free is expected to reach twenty-three thousand by the end of this 2012 season.
The first trip back to ancestral homelands is often an eyeopener;most often for the reason that that faraway place is mythologised, in the stories that grandparents tell to parents and to children, passing on the rose-tinted romance of a place that once was. This creates more disconnections-- of past and present, of memory and reality--and in those spaces is where new impressions are made and laid to rest for future generations to discover for their own.
Perhaps one of the most interesting attempts to reconcile the flocks of diaspora, which emerged in the Post-War period, with cultural heritage has been in the Taglit- Birth right Israel project. Founded in 1994, by American billionaires Charles Bronfman and Michael Steinhardt, the Israeli government, the Jewish Agency for Israel, private philanthropists,and Jewish communities around the world, Taglit- Birth right Israel has sponsored some three-hundred thousand trips which support sending young Jewish people to Israel for free. The program has maintained interestdue to thedialogue and debate that has surrounded the project, which started when the very first Birth right Israel trips started in the year 2000. The program has also been a talking point due to its clear popularity, for the volume of participants and copycat programs that have emerged since Taglit- Birthright Israel has been active.
The 'Taglit' in Taglit- Birthright Israel is the Hebrew word for 'discovery'. In their mission statement, Taglit- Birth right Israel have said that they provide the gift of traveling to Israel for free with the aim:
"to strengthen participants' Jewish identity; to build an understanding, friendship and lasting bond with the land and people of Israel; and to reinforce the solidarity of the Jewish people worldwide."
Registered publicly as a charity, Taglit- Birthright Israel recognises itself as a not-for-profit educational program. Taglit- Birthright Israel is the parent organisation for a network of organisations (based in over fifty countries worldwide) offering ten day trips to Israel for free to Jewish identified youths aged between 18 and 26. The Taglit- Birthright Israel organisations cover not only the costs of travelling to and from Israel free of charge, but also cover the costs of travelling to planned schedules, food and accommodation for the travelling group. The activities that the Birth right Israel groups engage in differ according to the organisation providing the trip [http://www.mayanotisrael.com/about-us/] to Israel for free.
Criticism regarding the Taglit- Birthright Israel program has primarily been directed at the socio-political undercurrents that have been encountered by participants in selection for and while on the program. The question of whether Taglit-Birthright Israel represents a misdirection of funds that could have greater reach though religious teaching and learning has also been raised from within the Jewish community.
On the flipside, there has been strong support of the Taglit- Birthright Israel program from the Israeli Government and from prominent individuals and communities within the Jewish community which has seen applications to participate in Taglit- Birthright Israel swell and acceptance into the trips to Israel for free be highly sought after.
The number of participants in the Taglit- Birthright Israel traveling to Israel for free is expected to reach twenty-three thousand by the end of this 2012 season.
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