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The goal of this paper is to look at trips to Israel as a vehicle for Jewish engagements of the millennial generation — those born after 1980 — and to assess the relationship between connections to Israel and Jewish involvement both in the private and the public spheres. The analyses are based on the Demographic Study of Jewish College Students, 2014, an online survey of four - year institutions of higher education in the U.S. with over 1,100 Jewish students. The road to Jerusalem on an educational tour does lead to the Kotel, the Western Wall, yet it does not elevate religious observance. However, visits to Israel connect or reconnect young people with their Jewish cultural roots, elevate Jewish pride, and create a sense of peoplehood. This is true of any kind of visit, whether with Taglit, another educational program, or family. A personal visit to Israel, in any capacity, seems to be a stronger predictor of feelings of Jewish pride and commitment to Jewish peoplehood more than growing up with two Jewish parents.

The past two decades have witnessed a dramatic shift in the extent and focus of concerns about Jewish life on campus. The Jewish community is increasingly occupied with the education of the next generation and the rise of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment on campus. Outreach to Jewish students—from the expansion of Hillel and Chabad to the flourishing of Birthright Israel, as well as the growth of Jewish and Israel Studies—have engaged formerly uninvolved students with Jewish education and Jewish life. This article describes the situation on campus: the proportion of Jewish students, Israel-related activity, and perceptions of anti-Semitism.

Several years ago, I ran a 10-week fellowship at New York University called the Jewish Learning Fellowship (JLF), which introduced Jewish study to college students with limited Jewish background. I was sure that the most important aspects of the class were the content of my source sheets, my pedagogical acumen and my ability to inspire. When I conducted research with the participants afterwards, they reported overwhelmingly that the most important aspect of the class for them was that they found friends, mentors and a sense of community.

Israel’s first college aimed specifically at students with autism, Asperger’s syndrome and complex learning disabilities is set to open in March 2016. According to the NRG news website, the BE Academic College will be a collaboration between Beit Ekstein, an organization that provides services to people with a variety of learning and developmental disabilities, and the Open University, a distance-learning institution with branches throughout the country. The new institution will be housed at Beit Ekstein’s campus in Givatayim, a suburb of Tel Aviv. It will offer three interdisciplinary tracks meant to prepare its target population for the workforce. The programs announced by the academy are psychology and education, economics and computer science, and psychology and communications.