Back from Birthright, have a drink
I just got a hold of one of these flasks, which Birthright Israel NEXT was distributing at a BRI music event at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin two weeks ago.
Just like my liquor, I'll hold my opinion on this one. I wouldn't want to get wasted by the BRI marketing folks. That could trash my day. I'm too boozey for that right now.
But if vice is the way to market Judaism, why not...
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(We joke. We joke.... Relax. Have a drink.)
UPDATE: Turns out we're not so far off on the Birthright NEXT smokes. Last night I saw with my own two eyes a Birthright lighter, a white bic-style lighter with the Taglit insignia on it that an alum proudly displayed to me outside of a showing of the Birthright Monologues.
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Judah Isaacs
04/01/09 01:26 PM
Condoms have already existed.... see the article below
San Diego Archive, September 2003
Condoms for Israel
A pair of UCSD students come up with a novel way to reach apathetic college students: Zionist prophylactics.
by Alexandra Fisch
A condom is a powerful piece of rubber. It can prevent a pregnancy. Or it can give birth to a firestorm.
Two third-year UCSD students found that out firsthand when they gave out thousands of condoms emblazoned with the words “Israel: It’s still safe to come” this past spring. Each condom came with a card pointing out that Israel is the only country in the Middle East with full rights for women and gays. “We were trying to educate people about how open and democratic Israel is,” says Eddie Cohen, co-creator of the project.
Their target? The massively apathetic Jewish college-age demographic, 80 percent of whom, according to Republican pollster Frank Luntz, “have no connection to the life of the Jewish community or Israel.” But as with all acts involving condoms, there were unintended consequences.
Papers from Israel’s Ha’aretz to San Francisco’s Jewish Bulletin of Northern California picked up the story. Supporters were alternately enthusiastic and outraged. Long-time donors to Hillel withdrew their support. “People had these enormous overreactions,” says Neta Retter, Cohen’s partner-in-controversy.
“We weren’t handing out condoms at temple, we weren’t handing out condoms to older people,” explains Retter, “we were handing out condoms to college students.”
On the day of the campaign Daniel Mikelberg, program director for Hillel, and Rabbi Lisa Goldstein, executive director of Hillel of San Diego, tried to pull the campaign, asking Cohen and Retter to change the slogan to “Israel: It’s still safe to go.” “What,” responded Retter, “and have [the slogan] attached to a toilet seat?”
Retter and Cohen came up with the idea after attending the Hillel Israel Advocacy Mission in May 2002, where someone at the conference mentioned the slogan. A year later, with funding from the Avi Chai Foundation, they launched the campaign. “We needed something that will get attention,” says Cohen.
Cohen and Retter also used the Avi Chai grant to fund “Got Israel?,” a campaign that taught students about common-place products that are made or originate in Israel. They placed signs around campus saying “Got Polio Vaccine?” and “Got Instant Messenger?,” which led to a booth that revealed other Israeli inventions. “It was an effort to get people to understand why they should feel a connection to Israel. Why should they care, or how Israel actually effects their lives,” says Retter.
Retter was born in Israel. Her family moved to the Bay area when she was five. She is now majoring in electrical engineering at UCSD. Despite some of the responses to the condom campaign, her parents support her. “My parents were thrilled,” she says. “They wanted a condom right away.”
As a child, Retter spent most of her summers with her grandfather in Israel, usually flying alone to see him. “To me all this violence, what it means is that my grandpa is afraid for me to come and that I can’t go to Israel,” Retter says. “I take this on a very personal level.” Eventually, she says she wants to return to volunteer for Magen David Adom, Israel’s equivalent of the Red Cross ("Magen David Adom” is literally “Red Star of David.").
Cohen’s mother was born in Israel, and Eddie retains a strong attachment to the Holy Land. “My cousin is in the army [in Israel] and I feel guilty everyday when I think about that I’m not there fighting for Israel on that front,” he says. “I feel the least I could do is fight intellectually the battle here.”
Cohen was in Israel this August with the group Caravan for Democracy, meeting speakers and taking part in seminars to increase his own knowledge about Israel. After he graduates in 2004, he plans to teach Hebrew at Congregation Beth Am in Carmel Valley.
Together, Cohen and Retter make a great team. Since meeting in the dorms at UCSD, they have worked with AIPAC (the American-Israel Political Action Committee) and the San Diego Israel Alliance. Hillel, which they both actively support, has brought Knesset member Dr. Ephraim Sneh to speak, hosted Israeli movie nights and had several different Israel-themed cultural evenings.
Cohen and Retter have begun to sell their t-shirts and condoms online ($1 a pop), with most of the proceeds going to Pups for Peace, an organization that trains dogs for bomb sniffing purposes.
The Avi Chai foundation has re-issued its grant, making it available to Cohen and Retter to use in the coming school year. They have already begun to make plans with the money. Cohen wants Dore Gold, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, to come speak.
“When I tell people I’m from Israel, a lot of the time they say, ‘Israel? Oh, its pretty crazy over there,’” says Retter. “I think that’s such a tragic comment. Its sad, and its horrible, and it’s a million different things, but crazy? It’s really not.”
No crazier than a Zionist prophylactic