The Impact of Israel Experience Programs on Israel’s Symbolic Meaning

2003-4. Contemporary Jewry 24: 124-154. Ethnographic study of Israel experience programs reveals processes by which Israel becomes cognitively and affectively meaningful to American Jews. A Durkheimian analysis suggests that feelings generated by an intense group experience are preserved in symbolic residue that re-evokes these feelings. For American Jewish travelers, Israel comes to serve as a…

Posted by kelnersj on September 20, 2011 in Articles, Research, articles, Birthright Israel, israel, tourism

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Summary

Purchase |  Contents |  Press |  Op-Eds |  Summary Since 1999 hundreds of thousands of young American Jews have visited Israel on an all-expense-paid 10-day pilgrimage-tour known as Birthright Israel. The most elaborate of the state-supported homeland tours that are cropping up all over the world, this tour seeks to foster in the American Jewish…

Posted by fullerra on August 3, 2011 in , Birthright Israel, book, diaspora, israel, tourism

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Op-Eds

Serious Fun The Jerusalem Post June 28, 2010 When Birthright was launched a decade ago, skeptics dismissed the 10-day tours of Israel as little more than a free party for privileged college kids. It was an unfair critique, but it gained traction because it combined the ever popular lament about the “youth of today” with…

Posted by fullerra on August 3, 2011 in , Birthright Israel, book, diaspora, israel, news, op-eds, tourism

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Press

Forward Core Connection By Harriet Hartman July 14, 2010 How Birthright Israel works. Tablet Magazine Breeding Zionism by Adam Kirsch June 15, 2010 Is the Birthright Israel tour designed to foster a love of Israel or is it simply a chance to hook up? The Jerusalem Post A Guided Tour of Birthright by Abigail Klein…

Posted by fullerra on August 3, 2011 in , Birthright Israel, book, diaspora, israel, news, reviews, tourism

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Contents

CHAPTERS 1 DEPLOYING TOURISM How did a leisure activity like tourism come to figure as a political strategy for building bridges between nation states and transnational diasporas? This chapter introduces the case of Taglit / Birthright Israel, a heritage tour program for diaspora Jews, situating it in the context of the broader field of diaspora…

Posted by fullerra on August 3, 2011 in , Birthright Israel, book, diaspora, israel, tourism

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Serious Fun

The Jerusalem Post June 28, 2010 When Birthright was launched a decade ago, skeptics dismissed the 10-day tours of Israel as little more than a free party for privileged college kids. It was an unfair critique, but it gained traction because it combined the ever popular lament about the “youth of today” with an equally…

Posted by kelnersj on June 28, 2010 in Media, Birthright Israel, book, diaspora, israel, op-eds, tourism

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So Near, So Far

New York Jewish Week
May 12, 2010

A traveler’s quiz: When American Jewish tourists arrive at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport, which two words are they more likely to be greeted with?

A) “Welcome home!”
B) “Passport, please.”
Resist the temptation to choose “A.”

Posted by kelnersj on May 12, 2010 in Media, Birthright Israel, book, diaspora, israel, op-eds, tourism

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