Birthright Evacuee Details Escape from Warzone

Like most Birthright students, native Atlantan Joshua Forman was enjoying his itinerary, visiting historical sites and experiencing Israel’s unique culture … and then … war broke out with Iran.

All Birthright programming stopped. The only thing that mattered was getting the attendees to safety, which meant evacuating them out of Israel. Birthright organized the safe passage of approximately 1,500 students on a cruise ship to Cyprus, and Chabad of Cyprus organized the students’ flights back home to the U.S. via Tampa, Fla. Forman was on that midnight exodus and has shared his story with the Jewish Atlanta community.

Joshua Forman attended Davis Academy and graduated from The Weber School. He is currently studying mathematics at Georgia Tech. Growing up, Forman participated in summer camps at Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta (MJCCA) and worked as a counselor at the JCC and In The City Camps. Forman’s family are members of Ahavath Achim Synagogue, and he is involved with the Chabad house on the Georgia Tech campus.

The following is from an interview with Forman:

AJT: What was your original itinerary for the Birthright trip? And how much of that itinerary was your group able to accomplish before the war broke out?
Joshua: Our original itinerary was almost entirely fulfilled, as the war broke out around the eighth day of the trip. The only things we didn’t get to do were visiting Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Museum) and the Kotel (Western Wall). We actually were by the Western Wall the day before the war broke out, but we couldn’t actually go to it because Benjamin Netanyahu and Caitlyn Jenner were there, which meant lots of security not allowing us to enter. We had planned on going to the Wall the next day, but the war happened.

AJT: Where were you and your group when the conflict started? Where did you go to stay safe?
Joshua: We were staying in the Jerusalem Gate Hotel before and during the conflict. It’s a nice hotel with spacious shelters for incidents like this one. There was even a gym that some people and I used among the chaos.

AJT: The world, thanks to social media, saw a clip of the cruise ship to Cyprus. What was the energy like on that voyage?
Joshua: Everyone was … dancing and flirting. It was a really fun time for everyone.

AJT: We heard reports that the planes from Florida did not show up as expected. Is that true? Were you and your group stranded in Cyprus?
Joshua: Yes, this is entirely true. We were told we’d get to fly to Tampa, and we stood out by the cruise ship in sweltering heat for hours waiting to figure out what we were actually doing. Fortunately, the Chabad of Cyprus generously accommodated all 1,500 of us last minute, providing us with food and shelter. The next day, my group took a flight to Milan, Italy.