More than a year since the tours for young Jews from around the world were stopped because of the corona, the project CEO announced the resumption of activities • Participants, Americans aged 32-18, will be required to prove they have been vaccinated and present a negative test
"Glad we were able to find an outline for the return"
Photo:
Oren Ben Hakon
The CEO of the Birthright Project, Gidi Mark, announced today (Tuesday) the resumption of tours to Israel for vaccinated participants from the United States, aged 18-32, starting this May, after a year of inactivity due to the corona.
"Led by the Minister of Health and his staff and with the help of the Interior, Planning and Development Division of the Prime Minister's Office, we built an outline that meets all challenges and allows us to resume our activities and tours in Israel," Mark said.
"I am pleased that together and with great effort we were able to create an outline and restore the blessed activity of the Birthright Organization for the State of Israel," said Deputy Health Minister MK Yoav Kish. The groups will be limited to 30 participants, including staff members, compared to 50 participants before the outbreak of the epidemic.
"The safety and health of Taglit participants are a top value. The needs of the participants in the tours, even in a world of uncertainty and change, "Mark said." The last year has been difficult but we have not lost hope for a moment. Now the wait is over and we are excited to return and bring those young people to fall in love with Israel. "
As you may recall, Taglit is a Zionist enterprise established to combat the phenomenon of assimilation of the younger generation in the Diaspora and to strengthen the connection between the young people of Diaspora Jewry and Israel.
Taglit is an initiative of Jewish donors, the Israeli government and Jewish communities around the world.
In its 20 years of operation, more than 750,000 young Jews from 68 countries participated in a ten-day free study tour in Israel.
In addition, it is estimated that over the past two decades, discovery tours have contributed billions of dollars to the Israeli economy and strengthened the world of tourism.
"Discovery will be the first swallow to drive the field of educational tourism," Mark said.
"Thousands of suppliers and their families are looking at us in the expectation that we will bring back the headquarters that has collapsed in the past year."
Finally, Mark said, "We anticipate tremendous demand and are preparing accordingly. We have almost 80,000 active subscribers and we are working hard to make sure that everyone, in time, does indeed arrive in Israel.
