As written on her Birthright experience It is a beautiful morning in the city of Jerusalem. The sky is clear and bright and the view into the rolling landscape is vastly illuminated. Our Birthright group is more than halfway through our Taglit trip and we are holding on to our last days together in Israel. It is today that we experience Yad Vashem together, with heavy hearts, frustration and feelings of hope. As we prepare to enter the building we are handed out headsets in o

As seen on Lauren's blog. I went on #BlueHenBirthrightIsrael with my best friend. We picked the program at first because of the convenience. It was through University of Delaware, there were a few orientations, and we could meet our staff. At the time, I did not realize the impact that going with fellow UD students would have. On this trip, I was beyond lucky to be with a group of 38 American students and 6 Israeli soldiers that all got to be friends. All of us took the trip

I wasn’t nervous for the trip because I knew so many people going, but it was a new experience that I was excited to embark on. This trip meant that I would be able to explore a new country, new cities. It meant that I could get a glimpse into the life of my grandmother as a child who was born and raised in Haifa. It meant that I would have the opportunity to make new and amazing Jewish friends, and become closer to those friends who I had known prior. It meant I had to be op

On the day my grandmother passed away this March, my uncle received his results from a 23 and Me DNA test. My family was surprised to learn that a large portion of my uncle and father's ethnicity is Ashkenazi. We came to the conclusion that the Jewish heritage came from my grandmother- who moved to the United States from Hungary after World War II. Growing up without a practiced religion, I was fascinated and excited to hear about my heritage. My grandmother continues to be o