Still Shivering in the Winter Cold? Warm Up By Planning your Summer!

As the cold seeps through to the very bones of Americans everywhere, preparations for the summer are well under way for Taglit-Birthright Israel. Registration for the summer 2011 trips are now open and in full swing.

Taglit-Birthright Israel provides the gift of first time, peer group, educational trips to Israel for Jewish young adults ages 18 to 26. The goal of Taglit-Birthright Israel is to strengthen the personal Jewish identity and connection to the Jewish people of each and every participant. Over the past 10 years, they have given this gift to more than 250,000 people!

Birthright Israel receives financial support from a variety of sources, including the Israeli government, Jewish Federations and private sponsors. The stress on the American economy over the last few years has affected Birthright Israel’s funding, and they were sending fewer people to Israel in previous years. Fortunately there are reports of additional funding for this year and this summer is expected to be the biggest round yet!

For many years these free trips to Israel have not been available to the frum demographic as all trips are co-ed. Once Birthright Israel was already well-established Yeladim-Netivot became the first trip organizer to arrange these tours for frum people. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, Yeladim-Netivot is no longer affiliated with Birthright but fortunately, frum trips are now available through Israel Free Spirit.

Israel Free Spirit is the name for the Birthright Israel branch of the OU. Although the OU generally focuses their recruiting energy on kiruv, they did agree to help bring religious people to Israel as well. IFS now offers single-gender trips that are glatt kosher, Shomer Shabbos, and completely appropriate for the frum community.

Registration for all Taglit-Birthright Israel trips is now open, for a limited time only. Registration is generally open for about a week, but it subject to close at any time. You can register for this incredible gift at http://israelfreespirit.com/default.asp. If you would like to be on a religious trip, please choose either the male or female option offered by Israel Free Spirit.

For additional information please contact Chaya at yeladimisrael@gmail.com.