Birthright program now screening out Messianics

By ICEJ News

26 Nov 2008

Organizers for birthright, a popular program offering one-time free trips to Israel for Jewish youths abroad, recently began screening American applicants in order to prevent Messianic Jews from participating. Since 2000, the birthright program has brought over 165,000 Jewish young adults between the ages of 18 to 26, hailing from 51 countries, to tour Israel. When applying, candidates are now asked to declare that, "I do not subscribe to any beliefs or follow any practices which may be in any way associated with Messianic Judaism, Jews for Jesus or Hebrew Christians." Birthright's CEO, Gidi Mark, said in a statement, "Jewish individuals who accept the Christian belief in Jesus have chosen a path that separates them from the accepted parameters of Jewishness." Israeli attorney Calev Myers, who founded the Jerusalem Institute of Justice in order to defend the civil rights of Messianic Jews in Israel, responded by calling the new screening practice "blatant, ridiculous discrimination" and "a shame… Instead of drawing children of Messianic Jewish families closer to their Jewish roots, they are excluding them from participating,” he was quoted as saying in The Jerusalem Post.

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