Thornhill couple’s birthright babies

What do you get when you send thousands of Jewish young adults to Israel together? Jewish children who will one day hopefully follow in their parents’ footsteps.

Boaz and Esther Willinger are one of a number of couples who met through Taglit birthright-israel and have since started families.

Married within a year of their December 2001 trip, the Thornhill residents are now parents to a 21-month-old daughter named appropriately enough, Aliya, and a son, Ethan, who is almost three months old.

Taglit-birthright israel “really did change the direction of my life,” says Boaz. “I grew up in St. Catharines, a small town with few opportunities to meet Jewish girls. Then I went to Israel and met Esther, and now we have a family and are raising our kids in a Jewish home.”

The Willingers are “involved with the Sephardic Kehila Centre, with which Esther’s family has strong ties to, and Chabad at Flamingo,” he continues. “Aliya, who will be starting nursery next year at Chabad, watches Oy Baby DVDs, which is a sort of Jewish Baby Einstein, and says ‘shabbat shalom.’ When we light the shabbat candles and my wife covers her eyes, Aliya covers her eyes.”

In some ways, the Willingers’ life in Thornhill seems worlds apart from the disco dance boat on the Kinneret where they first met, but both are part of this story of Jewish continuity.

“Although I’d gone to Jewish schools and had Jewish friends, I wasn’t meeting other Jewish people at that point in my life,” remembers Esther, of the social opportunity Taglit birthright-israel offered her. “Like a lot of people in the age group that the trip caters to, I was in university and working and had already developed my circle of friends. If I hadn’t gone to Israel, I don’t know how – or if – I would have met Boaz. Taglit birthright-israel gives you an opportunity to connect with other Jews in a Jewish environment. We met and as a result were able to bring more Jewish people into the world.”