More Taglit Birthright Participants Marry Later and Within the Jewish Faith
by JNS.org
JNS.org – A study presented Wednesday during a conference at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem shows that those who participate in Taglit-Birthright Israel trips are more likely to choose Jewish partners and also tend to marry later in life.
The study—conducted by Professor Leonard Saxe, director of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University Professor Leonard Saxe—shows that Taglit-Birthright participants have a 31 percent chance of getting married by age 28, while non-participants have a 39 percent chance.
Saxe’s study followed 3,000 people who took Taglit-Birthright trips between 2001 and 2006. He told Haaretz that the “most obvious explanation” for the tendency of Taglit-Birthright participants to marry later is that “the Taglit experience makes these people want to look for a Jewish spouse,” which may lead to a longer search for a spouse.