If there's one thing the leaders at Tufts' Hillel have learned, it's that a free 10-day trip to one of the most religiously and politically important places in the world is not a tough sell. Hillel's annual Birthright Israel trip, which brings a group of students to Israel over winter break to tour the country's natural and historical sites, has long been popular among Tufts' roughly 25 percent Jewish population.
With improved security in the Middle East and stronger recruitment efforts on campus, Hillel staffers say the trip's appeal has skyrocketed over the past year. With registration for this year's trip currently open as of Sept. 5, they expect record numbers of Tufts students to participate.
Birthright Israel trips send thousands of 18- to 26- year old Jewish young adults to Israel each year with money donated by the Israeli government, local Jewish communities and Jewish philanthropy foundations. According to the Birthright Israel Web site, 120,000 people from 51 countries have participated since the trips began in 1999.
Ethan Prosnit, a Hillel affiliate who has led two Birthright trips in the past, said Hillel sent 80 students to Israel last winter and, due to increased demand, held an additional 60-person trip over the summer.
"I definitely have seen the popularity of these trips rise," he said. "They're publicizing the trips better, there's more money for recruitment and there's more money to get students to go to Israel."
To help deal with students' increasing interest, Hillel has hired a full-time staff member, Isabel Gassman, to focus solely on the trip. Gassman's job entails both recruiting for the trip and planning follow-up activities to keep students interested once they return to campus.
Each student will have a coffee date with someone from Hillel upon their return to discuss what they learned from the trip and how they can apply their experience back at Tufts.
"It's my job to make sure they find ways to get involved on campus," she said.
Both Prosnit and Hillel President Amy Spitalnick attributed students' increased interest in the trip to the relative safety of Israel now when compared with several years ago. Prosnit said that many Jewish students were unable to travel there in the years following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"In 2001, students didn't get to go over the summer; in 2002, students didn't get to go either," he said. "There [are] more people who haven't been to Israel, so there's a greater pool to get people to go."
Spitalnick said she thinks more students are also aware of the trip from talking to friends who have participated in the past few years.
"For most students ... they think this is a cool way to go on a free trip during winter break - which is totally fine - and they have this amazing experience and they also have this very intense experience," she said. "And then they come back on campus and get involved here, either with Hillel or Friends of Israel or in some other way."
Prosnit agreed that the experience itself is the trip's biggest selling point. He said the trip was "not a vacation," but that it was "packed" and "very social." Students on the trip have the chance to make friends not only with other students on the trip, he said, but with a group of Israelis who travel with the students as cultural guides.
"There's hiking, there's famous sites," he said. "It's about understanding the religious aspect of Israel, but also the social and the current political situation there."
He said each student connects with Israel in his own way.
"Some people connect to the land, and the hiking and the environment of Israel," Prosnit said. "Some people connect to their Jewish tradition, and fall in love with Jerusalem. And some people really connect to the history - the political connections that are happening there."
On her own trip, Spitalnick learned to see Israel as a real place that is "beyond the conflict," she said.
"We spent the first couple of days up north, which is politically a very contested area, but it's also considered one of the most beautiful places in the world," Spitalnick said "That's a really wonderful experience that shows people a completely different side of the country than they expect."
She said the trip also includes tours of famous sites in Israel, along with camel rides and "all of those very typical Middle Eastern things." The trip culminates when the students visit Jerusalem.
"That's the more intense part of the trip," she said. "Even if you're someone who's completely disconnected Jewishly or someone who's never experienced anything religious in your life, just being in a city like Jerusalem is a really interesting, if not intense experience.
"Most students don't have an intense religious experience on Birthright," she added, "but just see Israel as a really great place."
Prosnit said allowing each student to interpret the trip individually is a large part of Hillel's philosophy.
"On our Tufts trips, we want people to fall in love with Israel," he said. "I don't think everyone falls in love with Israel - some people have problems with Israel ... But they're there to figure out whether Israel is important to them and, if it is, then [to realize] why it's important."
While they avoid trying to impress upon students any specific viewpoint, Spitalnick said, she hopes all participants take one lesson from the trip: that Israel is a real place - and not just a spot on the map.
"It's not just someplace where people are throwing bombs at each other and shooting each other," she said. "It's a real place where people eat and go out and things like that."
