New Birthright program is courting U.S. Hebrew speakers

Birthright Israel and the Israeli-American Council will offer a new Birthright program track for Israeli-American young adults called IAC Shelanu.

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(JTA) — Birthright Israel and the Israeli-American Council will offer a new Birthright program track for Israeli-American young adults called IAC Shelanu.

The free trip for children of Israelis, which will be funded by the council, will be conducted in Hebrew.

The Birthright program takes Jewish 18- to 26-year-olds on free 10-day trips to Israel.

The impetus of the trip is a recent study commissioned by the council which found that about 17 percent of second generation Israeli-Americans are married to non-Jews and Hebrew fluency drops from 53 percent to 19 percent for those living in the United States for more than 10 years.

The Israeli-American Council serves an estimated 750,000 Israelis in the United States with a large variety of programs and events.

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