Kyley Kaplan seemed to glow as she spoke about the feeling she got when she visited Israel in December. As soon as she stepped off the plane on her first visit to the country, she said she felt like she was home.

"The second you land, you feel that you can be yourself and be proud of being Jewish," she said.

Kaplan, a science and technology senior, traveled to Israel for free through the Birthright Israel program. The program provides a chance for young Jewish people to visit Israel and tour the country for 10 days at no cost to them.

But some worry this May's trip could be one of the last offered through the Birthright Israel program.

Birthright Israel, which began five years ago, was funded by the Israeli government, 14 different individual contributors and various Jewish communities from around the world.

Now, there are questions about whether the program will continue to have funding.

"Once I was there, I was like, 'This is so much more than a free trip.' It should be published as more than a free trip; it should be 'The trip of your life,'" she said. "When we found out May would be the last trip, we told all of our friends to go. This is a gift you can't get anywhere else."

She said the trip changed her life and helped to strengthen her faith.

"We went to the sight where Hanukkah first took place," she said. "You hear about these things your whole life, but you don't have any evidence besides what you are told.

"In Israel, it's just true."

Vera Diament, a spokeswoman for Birthright Israel, said as of right now there are no plans to stop the program, but questions remain about where continued funding might come from.

"We are constantly trying to secure money," she said.

The trip costs between $3,500 and $4,000 per person, and last summer Birthright sent 2,200 people from North America, including 19 MSU undergraduate students.

A person interested in making the trip must be Jewish, between the ages of 18 and 26, must not have been on a peer-organized trip to Israel before and must be interviewed and approved by the Hillel Jewish Student Center.

Diament said the program is secured for the summer because of a $7 million grant from Avi Chai, a foundation that operates in the United States and Israel and is committed to maintaining Jewish traditions.

On the Birthright trip, participants tour all parts of the country from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. each day.

"It's exhausting, but you don't want to sleep because you don't want to miss anything," Kaplan said.

She said walking through the streets in Israel is starkly different than the United States.

"Everyone on the streets is so happy to see us there. In America, we are annoyed with tourists, but they were so welcoming," she said. "They wanted to talk to us, to know what school we were from and get to know us."

Although bus bombings and violence in Israel are reported as commonplace by media, Kaplan said she never felt threatened.

"They go through extreme lengths to keep safe. We are not allowed to be on public transportation or leave the group," she said.

Hillel program director Jeffrey Lazor knocked on his wooden desk as he said that in the five years the trip has been offered, the program never has experienced any safety problems.

Lazor, a 2003 MSU graduate, said he was not involved in any Jewish organizations four years ago. He traveled on the Birthright trip in 2000, and said it motivated him to be more involved in the community.

"Since I felt that connection with Judaism, I definitely felt like I needed to be more involved," he said. "I started out being a staff aide at Hillel and worked my way up to the program director."

Education junior Marisa Kalmus said she hopes to go on the trip in May.

"I want to go because I don't think I'd have an opportunity otherwise," she said. "Also, I haven't become very active in the Jewish community, and I feel like going on the trip will help me meet people of a similar background."

Kalmus said it's important for her to travel to experience Israel as other members of her family have.

"I feel like I am old enough to appreciate it now," she said. "I really want to see the Wailing Wall.

"My family wants to give me little slips of paper for their wishes to stick in it," Kalmus said, referring to a tradition of visitors to the popular Jerusalem landmark.

Kalmus said she anticipates the opportunity to travel to Israel, and is hopeful that funding for the trip continues.

"It's so expensive; this is the only way I could go right now," she said.

Alessa Thomas can be reached at thoma470@msu.edu.