While I was a bit surprised to learn that the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project has expanded to offer trips for men (“It’s Birthright Israel — for Jewish moms,” Dec. 12, 2014), I was even more surprised to learn that “the women visit a group children’s home and attend a cooking workshop, while the men visit an army base and see high-tech start-ups in Tel Aviv.” Really?!? I am a Jewish woman, I work in high tech, and if I were living in Israel I’d be recruited into the Israeli army. The JWRP trip is intended to help women build their identity as Jews, but I fear it may be doing just the opposite when it comes to building their identity as women.
Ilyse Wagner, Bellevue