A member of the Muslim community calls on the Arab League to end their boycott on purchasing Israeli-made goods. [New York Times] All-Ukranian Jewish Congress president, Vadim Rabinovich, was the target of a car bombing earlier this week. [Israel National News] After going on Birthright, Jewish students return to Israel for humanitarian and volunteer work. [Haaretz] A comedy series at Baruch College highlights female Jewish comediennes. [Jewish Week] Jewish Home and Likud parties are headed toward final …More

The latest YouTube craze to take over the Internet has finally reached Israel. Thousands gathered in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square and at the Western Wall in Jerusalem to perform the “Harlem Shake,” a dance meme that lasts a short 30 seconds, in honor of Purim this weekend. Some 70,000 people participated in the Tel Aviv version on Friday, making it one of the largest “Harlem Shake” videos yet. Over in Jerusalem, a few dozen Birthright students turned Judaism’s holiest site into …More

The Birthright Israel phenomenon arrived only last year in the small Jewish community of the Netherlands. With only 250 Dutch Jewish alumni, few here knew much about the program, which has brought 300,000 young Diaspora Jews on free 10-day group trips to the Jewish state. And that’s the way it might have remained if not for a documentary, “Make Jewish Babies," that aired in early 2012 by the Dutch Jewish Broadcasting Company. The film, which follows the Birthright experience of three sisters from …More

Jewish student leaders may be strident in their Israel advocacy, but they are tolerant in defining pro-Israel activism and diverse in their political views. Those are among the major findings of a new survey being billed as the first major study of North American young adult leaders involved in pro-Israel advocacy. Of the 4,000 or so Israel advocates age 30 and younger who were surveyed, 87 percent said they welcomed “multiple perspectives” on the pro-Israel spectrum. Ideologically speaking, 45 …More

In the late 90's, two North American entrepreneurs got together for what seemed like a crazy idea: Forming a non-profit organization that ensured every Jewish kid got a chance to see Israel. “It was June of 1998. I met Charles Bronfman then, and I described what I thought would be a great new concept for the Jewish people,” said Michael Steinhardt, co-creator of Birthright Israel. “The idea was that these ten days would imprint upon the Diaspora.” “Many people thought, ‘Ten …More

Two years after its inception, the Birthright Israel Excel program is showing success in creating strong, lasting relationships between American Jews and Israel, along with its culture and people. The Birthright Israel Excel program is a program designed to give undergraduate students the opportunity to immerse themselves in Israeli culture for an extended period of time. Each participant lives and works in Tel Aviv, while being paired with an Israeli “buddy” to have an authentic taste of living as an …More

Nearly 300,000 young Jewish adults have traveled to Israel on a Taglit-Birthright all-expense paid trip since the program began in 2000. Birthright participants have traveled all over the country, visiting places such as the Negev, the Dead Sea, and the North, but they’ve never actually lived like an Israeli – until now. Begun in 2011, the Birthright Israel Excel program has already provided over 50 Jewish young adults the once-in-a-lifetime chance to live and work in Tel Aviv. The highly selective …More

MK Avi Dichter is certain he will become the next homefront defense minister. [Israel Hayom] The Temple Mount becomes a national problem for Israel. [ynet] A rare breed of kittens are born in Ramat Gan. [The Times of Israel] Is it ethical for Jewish young adults to take Birthright trips sponsored by Sheldon Adelson? [Policymic] Unaffiliated Jews are being recruited by a new brand of Hillel students. [The Times of Israel] The Talmud may find demons in a superstitious age. [Tablet] "The Dark Knight Rises" …More

Jewish leaders express their concerns about Israel at the CUFI Conference. [The Algemeiner] The liberal Jewish group Bend the Arc launches a lobbying arm and political action committee to give it more power nationwide. [The Washington Post] The Birthright Israel Foundation names David Fisher its new president. [The Jewish Federations] JewTube makes the list of the most socially awkward social network sites. [Fast Company] …More

A 22-year-old Birthright Israel participant from Kharkov, Ukraine, reportedly was electrocuted after climbing an electric pole in the northern Israeli town of Shlomi. Israeli police were expected to finish their investigation of Tuesday's incident the following day, the Times of Israel reported. Birthright’s office in New York was said to be drafting a statement for release. JTA has reported two other fatalities in the 13-year history of the program, which has provided free 10-day trips to Israel for …More

Slovakia’s Jewish community wants state authorities to keep Laszlo Csatary under house arrest in Hungary and stand trial in Slovakia. [The Washington Post] Jews in Denver reach out to the Aurora shooting victims. [The Jewish Week] Australian Jewish leaders will have a moment of silence for the 11 Israelis murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics in their own country. [The Jewish Journal] Rabbi Shlomo Riskin and Pastor John Hagee tackle Jewish-Christian relations. [The Jewish Week] Sharon Duke Estroff shares …More

Find out why Deborah E. Lipstadt, a professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University, believes that the Olympic Committee refuses to acknowledge the Israeli athletes murdered in Munich. [Tablet] Social protest activists in Israel build a “Tower of Justice” alongside the coastal highway near Kibbuz Yakum and Ronit Ranch. [Haaretz] Dr. Efraim Zuroff writes an open letter to Hungary asking to bring Ladislaus Csizsik-Csatary to justice. [The Times of Israel] A Sephardic Rabbi …More