A Peace Process… for Birthright and MASA
Peace might be just around the corner. Peace in the Jewish communal world, that is.
According to Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, while world leaders are talking about promoting the peace process, he is in fact engaged in such a process. The peace Sharansky was speaking about, during a brunch reception hosted by the Israeli embassy in Washington, was between his own organization and the two philanthropists who founded the Taglit-Birthright Israel program.
Tensions between the Jewish Agency and Birthright are nothing new.
But on Sunday, both Michael Steinhardt and Charles Bronfman were more than happy to show their friendship with Sharansky. The event marked a new beginning for the troubled relationship between Birthright and MASA — a program sponsored by the Jewish Agency that has, at times, been seen as being in competition with Birthright.
MASA, like Birthright, brings young Jews to Israel. But instead of a 10-day visit, it focuses on year-long programs that immerse young Diaspora Jews in Israeli life.
At the meeting, organizers expressed their hope that together the two programs — Birthright and MASA — will be able to reach 100% of Jewish youths around the world.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO