It is material if someone is a convert because it may lead to some issues with the Israeli rabbinate.

In your case, if you and your husband are halachically Jewish, then you will not encounter even bureaucratic issues that pertain to religion. Sometimes you have to provide evidence that, for example, your mom is Jewish, but to a great extent this only comes up in situations where there may be a religious component to something that you seek to do.

Most people in Israel, as well as most olim, just live their lives – families, work, home, career.

Also… I know this is a tender issue, but what about non-Orthodox folks making aliyah? Is that OK? Will they be supported anywhere close to as much as Orthodox are? I just keep finding that the vast majority of the info I come across is oriented towards Orthodox people. Is it another case of only the Orthodox being considered “real” Jews? (My husband and I are halachically Jewish, with beliefs and observances probably in the “Conservative Reform” camp; I come from an intermarriage (mom was Jewish), and am somewhat new to all the inter-sect politics.)

How much time and money does it take to link up with a Jewish community, and participate?

Birthright is wonderful – but there have to be landing pads afterwards, communities in which people can continue to make Judaism part of their lives.

Working locally is win-win – it facilitates one’s own growth while helping other Jews. It’s like the chassidic rebbe’s description of himself and his followers as “lamplighters”: one candle’s light is not diminished when it lights another candle.

Make it happen where you are.

I know how much I benefitted from such totally “un-Federated” activity – from the guys/women who took it upon themselves to make communal Shabbat meals on campus, and the times I pitched in to run synagogue services, and make it happen for others.

For me going to Israel did not awaken a strong desire to move there, but it did awaken a strong desire to learn more and be more involved in Judaism and as a supporter of Israel.

I definitely hope American Jews step up and support this program, because the experience it provides can really be life changing and is (very cliche I know) priceless.

Because of my experience in Israel, I will become a strong supporter. It will just have to wait until I have some financial security.

All that it takes is time. Those who have been impacted from this trip are still young. But once we gain financial security for ourselves, we’ll be able to chip in our part.

I am dismayed to learn that many religious folks are considering him a taboo subject.

I would be happy to be shown proofs that disclaim my assertion.

Now as far as moving to Israel, the thing is that you have to visit there sometimes quite often, to really get what Israel is all about, and why you must move there.

These visits are not affordable for many Jews, now I have heard and this is true that there are those who go elsewhere to vacation. So one could say that these people are very far from the fold, that it may be a lost cause to focus on them, in this way. Perhaps there are better ways to whet their appetite for Judaism.

I am not sure how. I know such people very well, and there is a deeply rooted disinterest in Judaism, that is imo impossible to breach, now there are those with the whole pintele Yid thing, so I won’t argue that.

So Jason, these persons are not moving to Israel, so efforts would be better to provide families who have never gone as a family such a trip, as they do w/ the young people.

The only way to support them all is to, rather than give money, give yourself. Moving to Israel and building the Jewish state helps in more ways than a $18 donation ever will, and you are investing your future in the Jewish people rather than in Wall Street.