Seventeen local young adults recently returned from a Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia-funded Birthright Israel experience, a 10-day free trip to Israel. According to the trip’s leader, Hannah Giterman, Birthright Israel fellow and director of community engagement at Penn State Hillel, one of the major highlights was the group’s visit to Netivot in the Jewish Federation’s Partership2Gether community. “We toured Netivot with leaders of the Partnership, learning about the growing population in Netivot and the advances they are making as a city in the desert. The day was beautiful and helped participants understand the significance of our global Jewish community and the impact we are making at home in Philadelphia, and on the ground in Israel.”
The Jewish Federation funds two Birthright Israel buses a year, one in the winter and another in the summer, for people ages 22 to 26, in addition to funding buses for Temple Hillel. Since these Birthright buses are funded by the Jewish Federation, local residents receive priority reservations.
If you are interested in pre-registering for this summer’s Birthright trip from June 25 to July 6, please contact Caitlin Shmidheiser, the Jewish Federation’s missions manager, at 215-832-0803 or [email protected]