Building Birthright Alumni Networks

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Morlie Levin: New Birthright NEXT new CEO sees alumni group reaching “critical mass.”

Morlie Levin, formerly the national executive director of Hadassah, is slated next month to take on the new post of CEO at Birthright Israel NEXT. She is expected to lead a nationwide expansion of the Birthright alumni organization, currently in seven cities, so that it has a presence in 10-15 cities. Prior to her position at Hadassah, Levin was the vice president of strategic planning at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, where she sought new ways to engage young donors.

Q: What are your thoughts as you join the Birthright Israel NEXT team?

A:I’m thrilled and humbled to have this opportunity. You may know about the NEXT Shabbat activities — NEXT is on track to host its 100,000th Shabbat meal. We’re getting to the point, what Malcolm Gladwell refers to as “the tipping point,” where you begin to get enough of a critical mass so you really can build communities of people with an interest in learning more, with an interest in practicing more, with an interest in looking at the world through a Jewish lens, with an interest in taking an active, informed stance vis-à-vis the State of Israel and Jewish people worldwide. Many people are worried about the Jewish future — yes, there’s a lot to worry about, but there’s a lot to be pleased and excited about.

Though you first visited Israel in 1991, when your children were already grown, how did your trip compare to the Birthright experience?

Although I don’t fit the demographic profile, I’m a classic Birthrighter: my Jewish identity and connection was dramatically enhanced by an adult trip to the land, and interaction with the people of Israel. So I viscerally understand this really from my own experience how profound the Birthright experience is in many cases and the kind of effect it can have.

Continue reading…

Birthright’s First Book

The new Birthright-Nextbook book: Tourist info and then some.

by Sharon Udasin

This winter, Taglit-Birthright trip participants left Israel with a little something extra.

In a joint venture between Birthright and Nextbook, these Israel first-timers are receiving a new book, “Traveling Companion,” a colorful hardback filled with history lessons, personal essays and travel guides — written and edited by Wayne Hoffman, the managing director of special projects at Tablet Magazine. For Hoffman, who worked closely with Barry Chazan from Birthright and Len Small at Nextbook, the goal was to include a sampling of places typically visited on Birthright trips as well as supplemental sites that might pique interests on future visits, and of essays and short literary pieces from Israeli authors.

“I don’t think any other book offers such a broad introduction to Israeli iterature in such a compact space — all the while tying it directly to things that the readers have seen with their own eyes,” Hoffman said. (Not surprisingly, a number of the authors represented have Nextbook connections.)

The project was funded entirely by Birthright, and over 10,000 copies have been printed thus far, according to Ada Spitzer, Taglit-Birthright Israel’s vice president for marketing.

“The idea is that it will become part of our permanent educational material,” she said. Spitzer would not provide a figure about how much money Birthright has invested in this project.

Hoffman went along on a Birthright trip last winter to get a taste of the participants’ experiences. Rather than providing logistical data like hotel names or restaurants, Hoffman focused on making the book an interactive tool for use during the trip.

“The traveling companion is intended to give people a bit of context to understand what they’re seeing, and to help them remember what they saw,” Hoffman said. “I figure that people are ready to learn a bit about Masada when they’re actually at Masada.”  Continue reading…

Evangelist Postpones Birthright Appearance

by Sharon Udasin

Evangelical leader Gordon Robertson has postponed a speaking engagement that was scheduled for this Thursday at an event for Birthright Israel alumni, sponsored by Birthright NEXT and the Jewish Enrichment Center (JEC).

Robertson, who is the CEO of the Christian Broadcasting Network and son of the Rev. Pat Robertson, was supposed to discuss Christian Zionism and the strength of evangelical support for the Jewish State. Though Robertson has openly declared that Jews can accept Jesus and still be Jewish, Birthright NEXT staff say that he had no intention of touting these beliefs at the event.

The cancellation occurred only because Birthright NEXT lost their original venue, according to Rebecca Sugar, the organization’s director. Meanwhile, CBN is looking to reschedule the Robertson speaking event to mid-December, when Robertson next travels to New York, confirmed network spokesperson Chris Roslan. Click here to read original JW version of this brief.

BREAKING NEWS

by Sharon Udasin And Stewart Ain
Staff Writers

POSTED WEDNESDAY, NOV. 4,  6:00 p.m.

An Evangelical leader who believes Jews can accept Jesus without giving up their Jewish identity will be the keynote speaker in two weeks at an event for Birthright Israel alumni, sponsored by Birthright NEXT and the Jewish Enrichment Center.

“You can still be Jewish and believe in Jesus as the messiah,” the invited speaker, Gordon Robertson, said on a July 2008 program of the Christian Broadcasting Network, of which he is the CEO.

The network was founded by his father, the Rev. Pat Robertson, a former presidential candidate, who once blamed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s severe stroke on his willingness to “divide the land” of Israel.

A Birthright NEXT official said the group is aware of Gordon Robertson’s beliefs that a Jew can believe in Jesus, but maintains that his theological views have no impact on his suitability has a speaker.

“We’re not asking him to come and talk about Christianity or Jews trying to get Jews to believe in Christianity. It’s not the topic,” said Rebecca Sugar, the New York director of Birthright Israel NEXT NY alumni programming.  Continue reading…

_ _

Update on 11/12/09: Also appears in this week’s paper, here.

Pink Slips At Birthright

by Sharon Udasin

In an attempt to redirect the organization’s focus on local Birthright alumni communities, Birthright Israel NEXT — the post-trip programming wing of Birthright Israel — has laid off six of its employees, several of whom held high-ranking managerial positions, The Jewish Week has learned.

The layoffs in the New York-based national office included two individuals from the communications department, one person from programming and three from the community initiatives sector, said Rabbi Daniel Brenner, executive director of NEXT.

Last year, only 24 percent of NEXT’s budget was allocated for local programs in its five pilot cities, but this year, 33 percent of the budget will go to its seven smaller branches, according to Rabbi Brenner.

“The restructuring is being done in an effort to create a more efficient structure for us to meet our goals in the coming year,” he said. “Generally, we’re reducing the size of our national staff. We’re going to put more resources into local offices.”  Continue reading…