Under normal circumstances, more than 50 young Jewish adults travel to Israel for 10 weeks during the summer to participate in Birthright Israel’s
accelerator/internship program.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic propelled Birthright Israel Excel, founded in 2010, to migrate to a virtual experience this year for the participants, who are known as Fellows and are selected from thousands of applicants. The program is geared toward individuals who are interested in making an impact in business, technology, entrepreneurship, the Jewish community and Israel.
Birthright Israel Excel Fellows, including those from South Florida, participate in a Zoom speaker event.
Among this year’s Fellows are five young adults from South Florida. They are Joshua Greenspan of Miami Beach, who recently graduated from the University of Florida; Josh Pardo of Miami, a senior at Duke University; Hayley Sussman of Boca Raton, a junior at the University of Pennsylvania; Blake Rodack of Bal Harbour, a junior at the University of Miami; and Jake Pearson of Key Biscayne, who attends Johns Hopkins University.
“The program has been really amazing,” Greenspan said. “We have a lot of speakers who are entrepreneurs and professionals in their field, so I’ve learned a lot by doing a lot of challenges, coming up with different startup ideas and working with peers from both the United States and Israel.”