The Taglit Birthright Israel has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Young Jews and has since become a rite of passage. In less than ten years, over 220,000 Jewish adolescents have had the opportunity to connect and discover their Jewish roots and to maintain and share their strengthened Jewish identity back in their home countries.
Taglit-Birthright Israel, the most successful international Jewish educational program of the last generation, offers a free 10-day educational trip to Israel for Jewish youth ages 18-26. During this trip, the Taglit participants discover their Jewish roots by touring Israel with Israeli soldiers (over 40,000) as their peers.
The program was founded to strengthen the sense of solidarity among world Jewry and connection with Israel, and to strengthen participants' personal Jewish identity and connection to the Jewish people. Taglit-Birthright Israel is a unique partnership between private philanthropists through the Birthright Israel Foundation, the Government of Israel, and Jewish communities around the world (via the North American Jewish Federations through the UJC, the Jewish Agency of Israel and Keren Hayesod).
This summer's Taglit-Birthright Israel Mega Event celebrates the 100-year anniversary of Tel Aviv, the first Hebrew city, and will be held on Zuk Beach. Approximately 3,000 Taglit participants from the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, and India will be dancing and singing during the concert and throughout the event. The roll call of dignitaries include: Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs, Mr. Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, the IDF's chief education officer, Brig. Gen. Eli Shermeister, Minister of Education and Former CEO of Taglit, Dr. Shimshon Shoshani, and representatives from the Argentinian, Indian, and Russian embassies respectively. Key philanthropists, Lynn Schusterman and Taglit's co-founder and chairman, Michael and Judy Steinhardt can also be seen cheering and celebrating throughout the event.