'Birthright' reveals what 18 years does to the people who know you best

Jonathan Spector’s Birthright opens with a disappearance and ends with one. In between: three hours and twenty minutes of the best kind of debates theater has to offer.

The play invokes scholar Yosef Yerushalmi’s framework—that Judaism is explored through historiography—before landing on its own thesis: ”where the history of the people itself is the central part of the religion.” The reference anchors the many fascinating divergences in Spector’s play, which makes its New York premiere at MCC Theater.

Spector invites us into the world of five friends who develop deep bonds on a Birthright trip to Israel. The trip is designed to connect young adults to their Jewish identity in the Jewish homeland. But its impact evolves over 18 years, culminating in a gathering held eight months after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that left nearly 1,200 people dead.

Friends, chosen and unchosen

Part 1 takes place in 2006, just a few weeks after the trip has concluded, as Chaya (Zoë Winters) welcomes the group to her parents’ home. Rumors fly that Alona (Molly Ranson) may make Aliyah (migrate to Israel), which sends the group into an existential tizzy until Lev (Hale Appleman), who disappeared mid-trip, arrives.

Part 2 jumps to October 2016 on the eve of Alona’s wedding and a U.S. presidential election. Everyone thinks Clinton will win, but the conversation fuels Izzy (Molly Bernard), who’s infuriated by the Israel-Palestine conflict and the bulldozing of Palestinian villages on behalf of “religious zealots.”

In its final part, the friends gather for Chaya’s father’s funeral, minus Lev. The circumstances of his absence fuel a third act heavy in exposition of whys and whens, in contrast to the high-stakes verbal volleys that precede it.

(l-r) Zoë Winters, Nate Mann, Eli Gelb, Molly Ranson, Liz Larsen, Hale Appleman, and Molly Bernard in "Birthright." — (l-r) Zoë Winters, Nate Mann, Eli Gelb, Molly Ranson, Liz Larsen, Hale Appleman, and Molly Bernard in “Birthright.” Photo by Emilio Madrid.

Along the way, Spector leverages technological and social media advancements as theatrical devices. From Google-fact-checked philosophical debates to email and text message updates, projection designer David Bengali makes their virtual world tangible with clarity in pace with the language.

Birthright doesn’t promise answers. Instead, it doubles down on the idea that “contradiction and complexity is inherent in Judaism.” Which is also inherent in families of choice. Those we meet on the brink of adulthood who manage to stay in our lives see the best and worst of us. And regardless of religion, that makes for great theater.