Regional Director, Greater Boston
Birthright Israel Foundation

The 10/07 Hamas atrocities present a new and challenging reality to the state of Israel, to world Jewry and to the free world. While Israel is forced into war to secure its borders and free its kidnapped citizens, many members of world Jewry face an unprecedented wave of blatant Jew and Israel hatred. The despicable display of barefaced antisemitism and delegitimization of Israel - esp., albeit not exclusively on social media and many university campuses - rightfully causes great angst, alarm and a sense of loneliness among many within our young adult generation, who find themselves forced to absorb its brunt. Birthright Israel recognizes this tremendous burden, accepts the responsibility to harness its considerable educational assets in addressing it, and reaffirms its pledge to:

1. Offer our young adults an inclusive, sensitive and attentive safe enough and brave enough space to speak with and hear each other: voice their concerns, share their feelings, and know that they are supported, empowered and embraced as members of the Jewish people.
    
2. Offer our young adults important hope and empowerment through frameworks, tools and existing supportive networks, which will enable them to address anti-semitic / anti-Israel activities thoughtfully, responsibly and effectively.
    
3. Offer our young adults a meaningful, thorough and critically examined narrative of Israel, and its inherent connection to our personal and collective identity as a people, from antiquity to our time.

The 10/07 atrocities perpetrated and widely broadcasted by Hamas terrorists against innocent Jews and Israelis are acts of pure evil and unadulterated barbarism. As such, these heinous acts of carnage do not fall within any legitimate discussion between so-called "Right vs Left", but belong to the ethical domain of "Right vs Wrong". Accordingly, they are wholly set apart from any form of acceptable human conduct and have no place whatsoever within legitimate discourse concerning political debates, territorial disputes, historical narratives, social ideals and/or religious ideologies. They should never be allowed to be presented in "necessary context", within "multiple narratives" or from "diverse perspectives". These acts are nothing short of Crimes against Humanity, and must be called out as such by any and all decent members of humanity.

Accordingly, Birthright Israel

1. Reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the state of Israel as our ancestral homeland, as our rightful modern Jewish and democratic state, and as a full member in the Family of Nations.
    
2. Stands proudly with the people of Israel, the IDF and all security forces in protecting our sovereign country.
    
3. Engages actively in the tremendous efforts to relieve the anguish of thousands of Israeli families who were uprooted from their homes and/or whose loved ones were massacred, raped and/or kidnapped.
    
4. Calls to action each and all of its 850,000 alumnus to create coalitions of the willing and caring, standing with the people of Israel, and having their voice clearly heard around the world and on every platform.
    
5. Works diligently with world Jewry and many of our worldwide allies, whose outpouring support reverberates throughout Israel and fills all hearts with hope, pride and unwavering resilience.

The 10/07 Hamas atrocities and the antisemitic and anti-Israel events in their wake around the world are not a Jewish event, but a heinous offense inflicted on Israel, its citizens and the global Jewish community. Birthright Israel identifies the Jewish event as the values, ideals and beliefs which have always sustained us as a Jewish civilization and continue to drive our response to such inhuman barbarism and antisemitism as individuals, as a community, as a nation and as a people. Accordingly, Birthright Israel reaffirms its pledge to establish the foundations of Jewish identity on the internal values and ideals of Jewish living, rather than external threats to Jewish life: moral clarity, unity, solidarity, commitment to memory and shared responsibility, among others. Our identities as Jews should therefore rely on our incessant ability to summon forward our ethical legacies and muster the accumulated force of our historic communal vigor, most venerated ideals and beliefs, and overall character as a people - it should never be founded upon the perpetrator's atrocities or a sense of victimhood. Accordingly, we recognize the Jewish social initiatives within Israel and around the world as a reflection of our shared Jewish values and deepest connection to, as well as responsibility for one another.

Birthright Israel is set to highlight the seminal Jewish value of Arvut Hadadit and embed it systematically within all its educational offerings. Birthright Israel's existence and operation themselves manifest this core value, being a gift and a pledge of the Jewish people and the state of Israel to our younger generations. As such, sentiments of peoplehood, shared history and destiny, contemporary relationships, reciprocal solidarity, assistance, activism and accountability must become intrinsic to our Educational Platform and feature dynamic engagements with communities, individuals and/or institutions. Here as well, Arvut Hadadit is predicated on a conscious decision and an active application of the ancient Jewish ethos: as a member of the Jewish people, one never stands alone - at times both good and bad.

Birthright Israel's most prized possession is the deep, impactful and long-lasting personal relationships forged between and among its worldwide participants, alongside their Israeli peers. These relationships are not only at the forefront of Birthright Israel's immense contribution to the collective sense of Jewish Peoplehood and the reciprocal exchange of knowledge, stories, shared experiences or networks; they also serve as powerful and mutual sources of emotional sustenance, comfort, support and empowerment for hundreds of thousands of worldwide and Israeli young Jewish adults - all engaged in multiple arenas on behalf of Israel, the global Jewish community and a proud Jewish living. The tremendous value of personal relationships between our graduates has proven itself in powerful ways since 10/07, be it through social media outlets or scores of shared pictures, stories, poems, prayers etc'. Birthright Israel needs to leverage this momentum into mutual, long-lasting engagements among participants: with each other, with their communities and with Israel.

Birthright Israel recognizes that the overwhelming majority of young Jewish adults worldwide neither abides by nor takes any part in radicalized spheres whose rhetoric and activities are fueled by sheer Jew and/or Israel hatred in multiple arenas. That said, we also recognize that in most countries there is a large mainstream that is not only a perplexed majority, but one that increasingly feels as a silenced minority. Birthright Israel reaffirms the crucial need to refocus our consolidated Jewish communal and educational attention on this great source of human capital, wherever relevant, and on two levels:

• Take all measures needed to raise our young adults' awareness to the fact that they constitute the majority.
   
• Take all measures needed to assist, support, encourage and empower this majority to actively regain its voice and reassert its crucial place in social discourse - all while safeguarding each and all's personal welfare and safety. This silent majority should and can become the spoken majority.

The paradigm which predicates Israel's existence as "a safe refuge for the Jewish people" in the post-Holocaust era is not only decidedly erroneous from a historical perspective, but alarmingly misleading insofar as navigating our own narratives, educational mandate and the place of Israel in our overall identities as Jews. This paradigm - basically pinpointing Israel's raison d'etre to a 20th century reactive measure sanctioned by world powers in light of the greatest calamity which ever befell the Jewish people - wholly ignores the foundational, authentic and ongoing manners by which the land of Israel has continuously been hardwired within the Jewish collective consciousness, lifeforce, practice, communal life and aspirations throughout history. In accord with the spirit of Israel's Declaration of Independence, Birthright Israel renders this crucial context of over 3,500 years a necessary launchpad to responsibly engage Israel's modern existence as a Jewish and democratic state - fully committed to recalling its ancient roots, while putting forward its great partnership in the values, ideals and social mechanisms of the contemporary free world.

The paradigm which establishes Theodor Hertz! and the late 19th century Zionist Movement as the foundations of Zionism is equally and decidedly erroneous from a historical perspective, let alone alarmingly misleading insofar as navigating our own narratives, educational mandate and the place of Israel in our overall identities as Jews. Much like offering as vital context the land of Israel as a necessary launchpad for responsibly discussing the state of Israel, Zionism cannot be discussed as a modern movement without its imperative contextualization as an ancient Jewish ideal. Zionism encapsulates the innate connection between the Jewish people and the land of Israel as equally vital components within the millennia-long Jewish ethos. As such, it not only predates the 19th century Zionist Movement by over three millennia, but functions as its very impetus. The ideas and values of the Zionist Movement cannot be responsibly discussed save by this necessary context, which explores the Zionist Ideal as an imperative driving force in our combined history as a people.

ELIAS SARATOVSKY
President & CEO

Elias Saratovsky serves as President & CEO of the Birthright Israel Foundation, an organization dedicated to raising funds in the United States to support Birthright Israel and its various programs, including the classic 10-day trip, Onward, and Excel.

As an alumnus of the program’s inaugural trip in December 1999, Elias understands first-hand the transformational power of Birthright Israel and attributes his career in the Jewish and Israel space to his experience on the trip. As President & CEO, Elias is committed to ensuring Birthright Israel continues to flourish, building a generation of Jewish young adults who have confidence and pride in being Jewish and are proud of their connection to Israel.

Prior to joining Birthright Israel Foundation, Elias spent over 20 years in a variety of senior leadership roles at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Elias previously served as Pacific Northwest Political Director at AIPAC’s San Francisco office before becoming Director of AIPAC’s Southwest Region, based in Houston TX, where he managed a portfolio of seven states and 64 congressional districts. Most recently, Elias served as AIPAC’s National Director for Regional Affairs in Washington, DC, where he oversaw the organization’s nine regional offices and worked with his colleagues to maximize the national development campaign through strengthening donor engagement and expanding stewardship efforts across the country.

Elias is a native of Brooklyn, NY. He currently lives in Bethesda, MD with his wife and three children.

• Build and manage a fundraising portfolio of ~100 donors and prospects at the $10,000+ level with the expectation of eventually cultivating and soliciting five-to-seven-figure prospects. This includes:
   
  • Working with the Birthright Israel Foundation’s national office to develop a pipeline of new prospects;
     
  • Initiating contact and meeting with existing and potential donors;
     
  • Using moves management to track interactions and create strategies on prospects to pursue;
     
  • Developing and implementing engagement and cultivation strategies;
     
  • Soliciting gifts of $5,000+ from current and prospective donors;
     
  • Soliciting legacy gifts from donors.
     
• Work with the VP, Northeast Region to identify and qualify prospects and build appropriate strategies to capture individual giving and legacy giving.
   
• Build and manage a leadership cabinet in Boston as well as in other regional cities identified as crucial for regional fundraising.
   
• Work with colleagues in other regions to assist with closing gifts related to donors based in multiple locations throughout the year.
   
• Increase the number of donors and dollars raised in the region year-over-year.
   
• Plan and attend events strategically designed to cultivate new prospective donors and steward existing ones.
   
• Utilize the organization's database (Salesforce) to build a pipeline of prospects as well as maintain accurate records of donor interactions, individuals' programmatic interests, giving trends, and donor engagement and solicitation strategies.

• Bachelor's degree required.
   
• 7+ years of significant fundraising or related for-profit resource development experience.
   
• Experience and comfort working with high-level donors and philanthropists.
   
• Familiarity with the Boston and surrounding Jewish philanthropic communities.
   
• Deep understanding of major gift fundraising principles and moves management.
   
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
   
• Strong self-confidence and high energy, along with a positive and proactive approach.
   
• A passion for Jewish engagement and the mission of Birthright Israel.
   
• Self-starter with the ability to work alone and in a team.
   
• Keen understanding of donor needs and requirements.
   
• Collaborative work style and ability to influence people across, within, and outside the Birthright Israel organization.
   
• Solid organizational skills and attention to detail.
   
• Proficiency working with business technology and donor database systems; Salesforce experience is a plus.
   
• Willingness to travel as needed to donor meetings, events, and Foundation summits.

Birthright Israel is founded on three values that are central in the Jewish world: Unity, Community and Mutual Responsibility. The project itself is therefore a gift of the Jewish people to its younger members, given with no strings attached as a pledge by the State of Israel, worldwide Jewish communities and nearly 40,000 annual donors all putting partisan and theological differences aside to ensure the vibrant future of world Jewry and the State of Israel.

Birthright Israel is an introductory and intensive educational experience in Israel. Its mission is to create opportunities for participants to explore their Jewish identities, strengthen their connection to Israel and its diverse society, and contribute to the vibrancy of the Jewish people worldwide. Birthright Israel regards Israel as a diverse mosaic of experiences, narratives, ideas and places that can be effectively explored throughout the journey. As we maintain that Israel is a state of ideas and ideals, rather than an ideal state, Birthright Israel is committed to understanding Israel's place as a Jewish, democratic and sovereign state among the family of nations, and to preserving its historic and eternal standing as the homeland of the Jewish people.

Birthright Israel is rooted in a person-centered educational approach. It regards "people" as the subject matter of the journey, alongside sites, narratives, ideas and values. Birthright Israel views the needs and interests of young people as the starting point of its educational work, and aims to engage participants in meaningful dialogues with Jewish concepts, values and living, as well as associations with their home communities and with Israel. Birthright Israel is therefore committed to offering all participants a sense of ownership over the educational process, by empowering the active engagement and involvement of the learners as the captains of their ongoing Jewish journeys.

While seeking to connect young Jewish adults with each other, with their home communities and with Israel, Birthright Israel refrains from any political, ideological and/or religious partisanship in its platform. Their educational journey therefore endorses unity, yet does not seek any uniformity in either opinion or practice. Birthright Israel regards the group experience indispensable to personal identity formation, and therefore strives to build a traveling community of young Jews whose members exercise mutual recognition, tolerance, responsibility and trust, without undermining their diversity. This open, safe and pluralistic culture promotes meaningful dialogues about diverse visions and versions of Jewish living and associations with Israel. All participants are equally welcome to be part of the Birthright Israel experience by voicing their different opinions, irrespective of personal background, ideology, political views, religious beliefs and/or practices, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Birthright Israel views the land, the State and the people of Israel as a vital laboratory to explore core questions of both past and contemporary Jewish values, ideas and life. Correspondingly, Birthright Israel's programs are not structured as site-seeing trips, but as what they call "insight-seeing" journeys. The sites they explore are obviously important, yet serve a much higher purpose: to promote a culture of reflective and critical thinking through dialogue, discussion and the exchange of ideas in safe and supportive climates. By shaping the entire journey around such values, Birthright Israel wishes to motivate and elicit an inner quest for each participant and for the group as a whole, toward continued engagement with Jewish concepts, values, communal life and Israel long after their journey ends. Birthright Israel therefore endorses the Less is More approach, which does not seek to overload its itinerary at the expense of "rushed" visits and transitions between activities; rather, it calls for a thoughtful organization of the itinerary to allow each component the needed time to be explored in a manner that offers meaningful engagement, reflection and discussion.