Last night marked the highlight for many of our AUJS Israel Program participants. It was the much-anticipated Taglit birthright-israel Mega Event.

Held in the enormous Binyanei Ha'uma convention centre in Jerusalem, the auditorium was filled with more than 3,000 young Jews from all over the world who are currently touring the country on their own birthright tour.

I glowed with pride as I saw our 250 strong contingent of Aussies (including a small, but very vocal bunch of Kiwis!) all dressed up proudly displaying their patriotic best. There were inflatable kangaroos, clip on koalas, Aussie flags sewn into dresses and many an Aussie Rules or rugby jersey. For a comparatively small group (compared to the approximately 2000 strong contingent from the United States) we definitely made our presence felt. Whenever one of the comperes mentioned Australia, our group yelled out till their throats were hoarse. At one point, our New Zealand friends took their shirts off (just the boys, mind you!) and performed the Haka, much to the excitement of many a preppy American girl who probably had no idea what she was watching whatsoever.

The concert itself was absolutely fantastic. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke, as did the founders of birthright, Michael Steinhardt and Charles Bronfman. The two hour extravaganza was a display of Israel's very brightest stars. The musical highlight of the evening was definitely Israeli super band, Shotei Hanevua who performed for close to 40 minutes. I am not sure how many of the audience realised how lucky they were.

I looked around at our group. I could not hide my joy and pride to see so many young people - most of whom have never been to Israel before - having the time of their life. They sang and danced with their new friends, even new loves (oh, how we love Jewish continuity ha ha!), and each face emanated the kind of genuine emotion that you cannot manufacture.

At the end of the concert the entire audience rose to sing the Israeli national anthem, Hatikva and it dawned on me at that very moment that I was singing MY national anthem. I was singing it in Jerusalem, which is now the city I live in.

At the beginning of the evening, we heard the impressive list of (predominantly) American philanthropists who give enormous amounts of money to Taglit birthright-israel. Each person in that room was the recipient of a FREE 10 day trip to Israel. There were 3,000 people there last night. There was another Mega Event earlier in the week, so double that figure. 6,000 people this winter alone. That's millions of dollars right there. Last (northern hemisphere) summer, birthright sent its 100,000th participant. I don't think I can even calculate how much money that comes to. The way birthright works is this: The Taglit birthright-israel philanthropic fund contributes a third of the cost, the Israeli government contributes a third and the final third is paid for by each local Jewish community. In Australia's case, this comes through the generous support of the United Israel Appeal (UIA).

What I did think of as I sat there last night was this: where are the Australian philanthropists? There are no shortage of very wealthy (and generous) Jewish families in Australia. Why didn't we hear Besen, Gandel, Gonski, Pratt, Sherman or Lowy being yelled out?

Birthright is so much more than a 10 day program in Israel. This program give our young people an identity. It empowers them, strengthens them, fills them with pride to be Jews, and teaches them to be powerful advocates for Israel. In this day and age, we need all the help we can get. Australia has had a long and strong connection to Israel, and I am sure it always will.
But I fear that this is not enough.

We need to put our money where our mouths are. It's not enough to depend on the generosity of others to send our kids to Israel. Come on Besen, Gandel, Gonski, Pratt, Sherman and Lowy. You can make a difference. You can personally affect the lives of thousands of young Australian Jews. Next year at the 2008 Taglit birthright israel Mega Event, just imagine how amazing it would be for our kids to hear the names of their own home grown Aussie Jewish heroes? If they were yelling loudly this year, I can guarantee you they won't be able to speak for a week next time!

In the meantime, for all those that missed out, you can watch the whole concert on the internet. Just click HERE!

Am Yisrael Chai!

ADDENDUM

Sometimes when us bloggers write something that goes online, we wonder if there is anyone the heck out there reading our material. Well, I have most definitely proved that point this week as I have had a number of responses to my article on the Taglit birthright-israel Mega Event held last week in Jerusalem.

I apologise profusely for any offence I may have causd by my mention of certain prominent families. In no way was it intended to be any kind of "public shaming". Quite the contrary. Having worked on the AUJS Israel Programs for the last two years, I am all too aware of the unbelievable generosity of so many individuals and families.

We all know that as a community we can always do more and all I hoped to achieve was to put such a major initiaive into the forefront of people's minds and hope that even one person out there who read the article, felt spurred on to become involved in the future. At the end of the day, it's about preserving our culture and our heritage - and that is a battle I will always fight.