Making Meaning: Participants' Experience of Birthright Israel

Publication Date: November 2001

Publisher: Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies

Author(s): Shaul Kelner; Leonard Saxe; Charles Kadushin; Benjamin Phillips

Research Area: Education

Keywords: Jewish Identification; Israel Experience; Program Evaluation

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

This report is the second in a series of reports evaluating the Birthright Israel program. Based on the ethnographic field research of 10 participant observers, it provides an in-depth look at the dynamics and processes that occurred on the trips. The report highlights the role of participant expectations, peer pressure, the Israeli setting, and the impact of having received the trip as a free “gift.”