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Lapid Israel, a coalition of US high school programs in Israel, closed down, citing the apathy of Israel to support long-term teenage journeys and philanthropists who preferred to support 10-day free trips to Birthright
. ] The umbrella group programs continue to operate, including Alexander Muss High and programs run by Young Judaea, BBYO and Nativ, the Conservative movement's sabbatical year program. The closure of the coalition was announced in January, although it was little noticed outside the philanthropic circles.
According to Gideon Shavit, founder and former co-chair of Lapid, partnerships with the coalition have been rejected by many donors, the Jews. Agency for Israel and the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs
However, "the travel field of teens is not at all dead," said Sarah Vanunu, Lapid's former director of communications , in an email. "The travel suppliers are still in full swing and the programs are all underway."
According to Shavit and other participants of more than 20,000 participants in 2000, between 12,000 and 15,000 participants each year come to Israel. Vanunu insisted that Lapid's closure had nothing to do with declining enrollment
"Lapid was forced to close just because the Jewish Agency and the government [Israeli] ] did not pay enough attention to "
In an email addressed to JTA Yigal Palmor, director of communications and public affairs at the Jewish Agency, defended the rights of the institution, commitment to Lapid
"The Jewish Agency has invested time, money and human resources to help Lapid develop programs that could possibly attract financial support from the part of the Diaspora Min. or philanthropists, "said Yigal." At no point did the Jewish Agency pledge funds to Lapid, and this vague accusation of denying alleged pledges is totally unfounded. "
Shavit also blamed the support of Birthright Israel, free trips to Israel for teens and young adults. "Everyone" focuses on Birthright, "says Shavit.
Shavit, the former CEO of Alexander Muss, created Lapid in 2008 as a means of rallying high prices for teenagers' trips and long-term Israeli experiences. The Jewish world subsidizes the costs of the program and boosts enrollment in high school and year gapy programs for young people from the diaspora. According to Shavit, over the course of a decade, the coalition has raised only $ 500,000 and has not been able to lower program prices.
"Last year, we realized we were not going anywhere". "After 10 years nothing has happened.The Jewish community does not care about high school programs."
Robert Lappin, President of the Lappin Foundation, a founding member organization of Lapid that fully subsidizes travel to teens in Israel since the North Shore of Mbadachusetts, also lamented "
" A teenage experience in Israel before college provides context, and enough time, up to two years, for teens learn to plead for Israel, something that has been given to them. is unable to do so, since Birthright Israel's trips take place after the beginning of the academic experience of a young adult, "wrote Lappin in a study commissioned by his foundation in 2014 on the effects of travel among adolescents
. the leaders of the Jewish community and the philanthropic community are going in the wrong direction "ignoring the longer-term commitment of Jews under the age of 18.
Stephen Muss, an aviator of Lapid, speaking with JTA would only describe Lapid's failure as a "painful series of events." But in eJewishPhilanthropy.com in 2011, he wrote about the need to pre- "" With the current configuration, the Jewish community is losing mbades of adolescents who can engage with Israel earlier while they are still with their families and their community, "he writes." Fewer Jewish teens are entering the university with eagerness and motivation to engage with Israel, and there is not enough of it. "[19659002] Gidi Mark, International CEO of Taglit-Birthright Israel, defended the effectiveness of the program to forge dregs ns with Israel
"The difference is not" high school or high school ", the difference is the depth of your Jewish knowledge, regardless of the visit to Israel, yes or no, "he said.
Lapid's Rulers Are Not the First Taglit-Birthright began his business trips in 1999. More than 48,000 attendees come each year to the program, according to the Birthright website – and more than 600 000 since its founding, including the Israelis.
Lapid and others say that free travel removes the interest for paid trips – just as a one-time policy, since they were relaxed, which disqualified students from Birthright's travel s & # 39; They already had Because of the financial weight of Birthright and the large number of participants produced by their recruitment strategy, the Federations and tour operators who work in the field of Israeli experience are diverting from their work. energy for planning and programming. "Taglit has always had a story that it was not meant for children who can go to Israel – in other words, children who can go to Israel in high school are more engaged kids" who n & # 39; They do not need the Israeli experience in the short term, said Elan Ezrachi, the first CEO of Masa Israel, an umbrella group for programs for young adults, and an occasional political decision maker for Lapid
. Of course, this was never really true because once Taglit came into the world, people did their calculations, and they could have had a very strong Jewish background, but say "…" I'm not going to p *** $ 9000 when I can go "
High school programs can cost between $ 8,250 (the normal six-week rate in Israel with Alexander Muss) and $ 52,500 ( the cost of a year in Israel as he visited Jewish communities around the world with Kivunim.)
When the second Intifada struck in 2001-02, high school programs were decimated. Fearing terrorist attacks, riots and unrest in Israel, parents chose to keep their children at home, and for some programs, the number of participants dropped to one or even zero
"In the world from Lapid, four years old. generation, a generation of high school students, "said Doron Krakow, president and CEO of the JCC Association of North America and former national director of Young Judaea
Birthright had continued to function during the Intifada, attracting more participants each year. Proponents of high school programs say that they still have value, especially considering the statistics on the decreasing attachment to Israel among American Jews and the alienation of life institutional Jewish.
You have to be a demographer or statistician to see the state of the traditional architecture of Jewish life in North America. This is a smaller version of his former identity, "said Krakow, who had served on the board of directors of Birthright at the beginning of the organization
" Birthright was remarkable, but 20-year-old later, federation campaigns decline, synagogue Statistics on weddings and marriages outside marriage are less favorable than they were 20 years ago.It can be argued that maybe things would be even worse if it was not for Birthright, but Birthright's intention was that things be better. "
Mark's Birthright stands out by the success of the numbers and the fact that it's a good thing. impact of his organization. "Many things in the Jewish world are disappearing," he said. "The positive thing, which has increased dramatically over the past 18 years, is the 400% increase in the number of young Jews visiting Israel on an educational trip."
Mark pointed out that participation in religious life is shrinking around the world, and how, with the internet, "there are more young Jews around the world who are engaged with other Jews today. than 20 years ago. "
Because of this and studies that show a "Birthright bump" "I'm not so dark and I'm not so pessimistic," he said. a long-time member of Lapid, think that the focus on numbers fosters programming with mbadive appeal to those with deep impact.
The Jewish philanthropic world "has chosen to let the market guide them," he said. Longer trips to Israel are harder to sell Krakow says, but are more necessary and have more impact because of the length of high school programs and the way the teenage formative years are for Jewish identity.
Sociologist Steven M. Cohen, who did research for Lapid and Birthright, said that both short- and long-term programs have merit.
"That they be led at the age of 16-17 years or 18 years and older, trips to Israel favor marriage, Jewish education, attachment to Israel, "Cohen, a professor of Jewish social policy at the Jewish Institute of Religion of the Hebrew Union, wrote in the 2014 study for the Lappin Foundation, that he helped to
"In our opinion, if Birthright for 18-26 year olds is effective and deserves to be supported (and it is), the same goes for youth travel in Israel. "
Many students, like Jay, name not to be used, weigh their options.
Senior chool in Minnesota, he is looking for scholarships to cover the tab of more than $ 40,000 requested by Yozma, a Nativ sabbatical year program for students with cognitive and social challenges.In general, a year in Israel with Nativ costs about $ 26,000
"S If it ends, I can not get enough money for purses, "says Jay," I want to do Birthright. "
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