Birthright Israel Flourishes As Funders Cut Off The Competition

"The people who fund Birthright get plenty of photo ops and get to sip cocktails with the prime minister - what does Momo offer? Maybe Momo's program is cheaper and the kids are enjoying themselves more, but there's no honor involved in helping him."

Birthright flourishes as potential competitor sinks
By Raphael Ahren • Ha'aretz

Taglit Birthright-Israel plans to bring 21,000 Diaspora youths on free 10-day trips to Israel this summer, twice as many as during the 2009 season, the organization recently announced. Meanwhile, Oranim Educational Initiatives - which until last summer recruited roughly a third of all Birthright participants but launched a rival program after a falling out over ideological differences - will not be offering any free trips this season for lack of funds. 

"Last year because of the [financial crisis] we decided to take some preemptive steps in order to make sure we run the organization as solidly as possible," Birthright CEO Gidi Mark told Anglo File this week. His organization kept the number of participants lower than needed to save some funds for this year, he explained. "Now that we know we have enough funds for the future and that our financial situation is very solid, we can bring even more people this year than we originally expected," he added. 

In the 10 years since its creation, Birthright has brought some 265,000 Diaspora youths to Israel to strengthen their connection with the state and their Jewish identities. Funded by the Israeli government, private philanthropists and Jewish communities in the U.S. and elsewhere, it has drawn praise across Jewish world. 

Despite the financial crisis, all partners have honored their original commitments, Mark stressed, adding "a very significant increase" in donations secured by the organization's fundraising arm over the last few months - mainly through parlor meetings in the U.S. - was one of the key factors causing the windfall. Additionally, the Jewish Federations of North America, which represent some 400 communities throughout the country, have started buying out more waiting lists of members who applied for the trip. 

Oranim's president Shlomo Lifshitz - widely referred to as Momo and known for urging participants to "make Jewish babies" - told Anglo File's he "extremely happy" that 21,000 Jews will be joining free Israel trips this summer. He regrets, however, that his new program was not able to receive any funding for its trips despite pledging to bring the same of amount of people for less money. In January, he brought 133 North American youths to Israel, paying $250,000 out of his own pocket. 

"There were huge pressures on the government and on the Federations and donors not to give me any help and support - and for the time being, it worked," Lifshitz said. He declined to elaborate on who exerted these pressures. 

A few weeks after the split with Birthright, spurred by conflicts over his style of promoting endogamy and immigration to Israel, Lifshitz had declared Oranim was about to receive "mega money" from the Federations and the Israeli government. Some people with intimate knowledge of the Jewish organizational world indeed expected the charismatic Kfar Sava resident to raise enough funds to create a serious challenge to Birthright. 

The publisher of eJewishPhilanthropy.com, Dan Brown, told Anglo File he suspects Lifshitz discontinued fundraising after initial efforts failed. "I wonder if he decided he had bigger fish to fry," Brown said, explaining that "some of his other projects are doing so phenomenally right now in terms of applicants and money that they don't really care about what's going on with that Birthright demographic." Oranim markets numerous long-term Israel programs for young Diaspora adults. Lifshitz says he expects to bring 1,000 people this year. 

Lifshitz, 54, said he will meet "major potential donors" in two weeks on a trip to the U.S. "If I had the money, [Birthright] wouldn't exist," he told Anglo File. "It's only a question of money, not a question of recruiting. I'm getting thousands of phone calls from people begging us to take them [on free trips]. But what can I do?" 

According to people familiar with the Jewish organizational world, Lifshitz's project failed because it lacks Birthright's prestige. "The people who fund Birthright get plenty of photo ops and get to sip cocktails with the prime minister - what does Momo offer?" one source said. "Maybe Momo's program is cheaper and the kids are enjoying themselves more, but there's no honor involved in helping him. That's his problem: he's good with the people but he also needs to be good with the movers and shakers."