‘Birthright’ Is Like Group Therapy for Jewish Americans at Odds Over Israel and Gaza
On a recent Thursday evening in July, the line outside Manhattan’s MCC Theater looked like someone had mixed a bubbe convention with a Camp Ramah reunion. This largely Jewish crowd, old and young, had come on a religious pilgrimage of sorts to the far west side to see Birthright, Jonathan Spector’s new play about a group of six friends who met on an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel in 2006. Over more than three hours, Birthright explores the vicissitudes of their relationships with one another, their shared region, and the Jewish state itself. During the first intermission, in an audience spotted with yarmulkes, tattoos, and Chanel bags, I heard a 20-something asking her friend, “Did I tell you my latest jihad has to do with the Cardi B tickets I bought?” A few feet away, two 50-something women were bemoaning how young people just don’t understand what “the state of Israel meant to an older generation.” They’re right. Today, Jews under the age of 25 might be more likely to see a play called Birthright than …
