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Our Birthright Trip to Israel

HearfromBenHassner(Classof2025)andYaelleKretchmer (Classof2027)abouttheirexperienceinIsrael

June16-26,2024

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Ben was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel and moved to the United States a month before his twelfth birthday. He says that, “I grew up in a pretty secular household. We celebrated holidays, but that’s about it.” Similarly, Yaelle was born in the United States after her family immigrated from Israel in 1999. She says, “Even though I still have a lot of family over there, Birthright this summer was the first time that I had been back to Israel since I was six years old.”

Yaelle’s sister went on Birthright in 2018 and talked about how life-changing it was visiting Israel as an adult with friends, which inspired Yaelle to go. Similarly for Ben, he wanted to go on Birthright to visit his homeland as an adult with a group of his closest friends. Especially after the events of October 7, he felt like he needed to get more familiar with Israel after living so far away for such a long period of time. He was not disappointed. Ben says, “every single moment was so unbelievably powerful.”. As she begins another year of college, Yaelle has never felt more comfortable being Jewish: “I wasn’t always comfortable wearing a Jewish star necklace Now that I’ve been to Israel and visited the memorial at the Nova Music Festival site, I feel prepared to stand up for the people around me and myself.” As for Ben, he says, “I feel unstoppable and recharged. I feel more Israeli and Jewish right now at Davis than I've ever felt before. Going on Birthright made me realize just how important it is that I ask questions, stay informed, and stand up for myself and for my community on campus.”

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