FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
If you don’t see an answer below to your question, ask your travel adviser or email us on info@israeltm.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Birthright Israel is a not-for-profit organization providing the gift of a 10 day educational group trip to Israel for Jewish young adults between the ages of 18 to 26.
Today, Birthright Israel is the largest educational tourism organization in the world that has given over 800,000 journeys to the magical state of Israel.
When you go on a Birthright Israel trip, you’ll travel throughout the country. Explore historic, cultural, and religious sites. Hike, raft, and take in Israel’s varied landscape and nature. Israeli peers will also join you for a significant portion of the trip and introduce you to the local culture, music, and food—giving you a glimpse of what it’s like to live in Israel. You might even become lifelong friends.
What’s included:
Round trip airfare (from designated cities)
Accommodations 3 and 4-star hotels
Group transportation in Israel
At least two meals per day
All organized activities and touring
What’s not included:
Most lunch meals
Personal purchases (like souvenirs)
Travel/health insurance
Refundable $360 USD deposit
There’s no catch! It is given freely, with no expectation of anything in return.
You are only responsible for a 360 USD (450 Canadian dollar) deposit — which is refundable upon your return home after successfully completing the program (a 10 USD non-refundable processing fee will apply).
Birthright-Israel was founded in 1999 by a remarkable group of committed Jewish philanthropists led by Charles Bronfman and Michael Steinhardt. The gift of a Birthright Israel trip is made possible thanks to the generous support of many sources and aims to give every young Jewish person equal opportunity to explore life’s most important questions about identity, community and connection to a homeland.
Many of our participants return from their trip with a desire to get more involved in the Jewish community, go back to Israel, or explore other aspects of Jewish life. Of course, that’s up to you!
We encourage you to check out the rest of our website as well as social media for resources and more information. For full details about expectations from our participants, please see the Participant Waiver.
Over 800,000 young adults from all over the world have been to Israel on Birthright Israel trips.
Our participants hail from 68 countries and every continent in the world (except Antarctica). They come from all Jewish religious backgrounds and degrees of travel experience.
All participants return home with a new understanding and appreciation for the people of Israel and the country, as well as new friends and incredible memories.
80% of our alumni called their Birthright Israel trip a “life-changing experience”- an approval rate every brand would envy. They have so many incredible things to say about how our trips impacted them in a variety of ways.
In addition, independent research conducted by Brandeis University confirms this. For more information, see our Research page.
Absolutely! To make a donation in support of Birthright Israel, please click here.
In the US, Birthright Israel is funded by over 40,000 Jewish and non-Jewish donors worldwide each year, to ensure that the experience remains a gift to young Jewish adults for years to come. We are also funded through partnerships with the Government of Israel, the Jewish Federations of North America, the Jewish Agency for Israel and Keren Hayesod.
No. Trips for 27-32 year-olds were offered as a pilot program that will end in October 2022. As of November 2022, Birthright Israel trips will once again be offered for ages 18-26.
Birthright Israel participants may extend their stay if they wish.
Keep in mind that if you are not planning to return with your group on the same flight you must make your changes before the conclusion of the trip and before the group return date.
The deposit is refundable at any time until you join a trip, however it can stay in your application so you do not have to re-deposit in the future.
It is not possible to be in the system with more than one trip organizer. Once you have selected your trip organizer, all of your data will be in your current trip organizers system.
Waiting lists work based on the cancellations. If someone switches out of a trip the next applicant will be contacted for a trip offer. However, there are many factors affecting who gets offered a trip - not only the time applied, but age, dates, etc. There is no way to predict cancellations as they can occur any day and time. We do not have access to where exactly on the waiting list participant is located.
Best and quickest way to reach us would be emailing our office on info@israeltm.com. We should respond within 24 hours. Our off days are Fridays and Saturdays as we do not work during Shabbat. For the quickest response, please send us your inquiry together with the email you have used to sign up with your full name as it shows on your application.
Plan to volunteer 4-6 hours each day, apart from Shabbat. Much of our volunteering will involve light manual work, including agricultural work outdoors, and you should plan to participate in this program if you feel physically capable.