Rabbi Michael Melchior, deputy minister of foreign affairs, spoke recently about the winter Birthright Israel program.

Melchior is also the chairman of the Birthright Israel steering committee and chief rabbi of Norway.

Within the past two years, this program has sent more than 31,000 Jewish young adults to Israel, Melchior said. The number of participants has risen each year, despite the conflicts that have occurred in Israel during this time.

This past summer program took 5,000 participants to Israel, despite the peak in Israeli and Palestinian conflicts. This is the highest number of participants in one season.

“It shows there’s a future for the Jewish people,” Melchior said.

The program consists of a free 10-day educational trip to Israel for any Jewish young adult ages 18-26. Birthright Israel’s belief is that it is every Jewish person’s birthright to visit Israel.

Seth Rosenzweig, senior Jewish campus service corps member at Hillel, helps any student that is interested in participating in the program. He has been on Hillel trips before and said that he has felt safe participating.

Rosenzweig said that already 11 people have signed up through Hillel to travel to Israel during the winter program.

Melchior understands parental concern of sending their children, as he has four children himself within the 18-26 age range. However, he said the program would not go ahead if there wasn’t a guarantee of safety and security.

Safety and security are big concerns, Melchior said. He said it is important for students to feel safe while participating in the program.

“(Birthright Israel) applies rigorous measures to feel fully confident that participants are safe,” Melchior said.

While in the program, participants are not allowed to use public transportation. He also said that all itineraries are checked by security authorities to avoid going anywhere that would be problematic.

Rabbi Misha Zinkow, assistant director of Hillel, said that students who have gone on trips to Israel feel safe once they arrive.

“Once they are there, they get a sense of the security precautions,” Zinkow said.

While Ohio State study abroad programs to Israel have stopped due to the U.S. Department of State travel warning, Birthright Israel continues to run.

Zinkow said that this is due to the controlled organization of Birthright Israel. In university study abroad programs, OSU does no have the same control over what students do.

Zinkow also said that participants are taken all over Israel, but not to any disputed territories.

Throughout the existence of Birthright Israel, no participants have been hurt in anyway by the conflicts occurring in the state.

Funding for Birthright Israel comes from three sources: The United Jewish Communities, 14 philanthropists who have each committed themselves to $1 million a year to the program and the state of Israel.

Melchior said that this program is the first time in history that the state of Israel has paid for an educational program to benefit students from outside Israel.

Anti-Israeli sentiments that have cropped up across the United States were also discussed. Melchoir said that while some circles would like to turn Israel into the new Antichrist, he does not think that anti-Israeli sentiments equates anti-Semitism.

“There is a red line where anti-Israel becomes anti-Semitism,” he said.

Melchior also said that he hopes the period the program is heading into is one where the violence in Israel will be behind, and that the violence has not changed the spirit of the program.

The registration deadline for the December Birthright Israel program is the end of October. More information can be found at www.birthrightisrael.com or from Rosenzweig at 292-4797.