It’s Mayanot’s Most Popular birthright Season!

Philadelphia, PA — Swimming under waterfalls in the Galilee, walking the beach in Tel Aviv, squeezing through a water tunnel dug by King Hezekiah’s army more than 2,700 years ago, spending Shabbat in Jerusalem: These activities are just a sample of the offerings awaiting the some 2,500 participants of Mayanot’s Taglit-birthright israel free trips this summer.

Some are even enjoying them right now.

On Monday, the arrival of two groups led by Rabbi Ephraim and Flora Levin, executive directors of the Lubavitch House at Penn, marked the official start of Mayanot’s summer season. In the next week, they’ll be joined by three groups of 40 students and alumni from the University of Michigan, coordinated by Rabbi Alter Goldstein, as well as two more busloads from New York University and under the direction of Rabbi Dov Yonah Korn.

According to Rabbi Levin, who first took University of Pennsylvania undergraduates to Israel in 1993 – the Taglit-birthright israel venture didn’t exist back then – the 80 students who hiked the Gilabon nature preserve in Israel’s north on Tuesday are having the time of the lives.

“To take these students on their first visit to Israel is an amazing opportunity,” said Levin, a little winded from the early morning trek. “It’s exciting to be a part of them getting to know Israel, not just as a tourist destination, but as their home.”

This season, Mayanot’s sixth-consecutive summer as a provider of free 10-day educational trips of Israel underwritten by Taglit-birthright israel, a record 23,500 young adults aged 18-26 are expected to tour Israel as part of the birthright program. More than 10 percent of them – another record-breaking number – will come from Mayanot, which is unique among tour providers for successfully combining learning and social action components with the traditional tourist model.

All told, more than 150 schools will be represented this summer among Mayanot’s participants, who come from all streams of Jewish religious observance. The students are largely recruited through a partnership with Chabad on Campus rabbis, and many extend their trips for a brief stay in a yeshiva to further explore their Judaism.

“This is our biggest year ever,” exclaimed Danny Sack, an Israeli-army reservist who works as a coordinator for Mayanot. “This summer, more students than ever before will be taking part in a real Shabbat experience in Jerusalem, as well as touring the Galilee by jeep and seeing the Dead Sea, the lowest spot on earth, for the first time.”

For Levin – this summer also marks a record-breaking year for the number of Penn students sent on Mayanot-led Taglit-birthright israel trips – it’s a given that he’ll keep taking students on this once-in-a-life-time opportunity.

“This is not just culture, it’s not just a visit to the state of Israel,” said the rabbi. “This is a chance for people to experience a spiritual connection to their homeland and to their Jewish heritage.”