Member-only story
Birthright Africa
A call to provide Black college students free trips to their ancestral lands
In 1999, wealthy Jewish donors founded something called Birthright Israel. I was in college in the late 1980s and 90s, so unfortunately, the program wasn’t available to me.
But the idea was this.
Jewish American kids were beginning to feel less connected to their Judean ethno-religious roots. The more accepted Jews felt in America, the more many Jews started feeling like they didn’t need to be so connected to being Jewish anymore. They could just assimilate and be liked. They were losing their 3,000-year ancestral identity.
Of course, in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war beginning Oct. 7 last year, with anti-Jewish crimes up a staggering 300–400%, and Jewish college kids harassed and even beaten on college campuses, we know Jews weren’t nearly as accepted as they thought.
Still, Jewish leaders knew that the best way to reinvigorate Jewish identity wasn’t to hope for more hate. It was to ensure young Jewish adults could positively connect with their ancestral homeland and feel their Judean tribe in their bones.
They started and funded a foundation called Birthright Israel.
