Despite concern for safety in the Middle East, 60 Boston University students will travel this winter to Israel on a Taglit-Birthright Israel trip, sponsored by the BU Hillel House, that allows young Jews to see the historical, cultural and religious aspects of the country.

The Taglit-Birthright Israel gift is open to Jews ages 18 to 26 who have not traveled to Israel before on a peer-educational trip, according to the website.

Students can travel regardless of religious affiliation, community involvement or financial status, the website states. Israelis through the country’s government, North American Jewish Federations through the United Jewish Communities and leading philanthropists provide the financial aspect of the trip.

More than 185 people applied to go on the Birthright trip through BU Hillel, vying for less than 60 available seats. Hillel Student Activities Director Kip Lombardo said Hillel House is one of 36 providers of the trips and takes as many students as it can. Remaining students get opportunities to go with other Hillel or Birthright trips.

“The students have to fill out an application, and if they meet the requirements, then we do a lottery system,” Hillel Program Associate Seth Kroll said in an email.

Hillel offers follow-up programs after winter break for those who went on any of the Birthright trips, Lombardo said.

Lombardo and Kroll lead the birthright trip run through BU Hillel, which has facilitated trips since the organization began. The first trip was offered in the winter of 1999.

“The focus of the trip is to provide students with a broad Israel experience,” Kroll said. “We travel all over the country and talk about a lot of the issues facing Israel today.”

Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences junior Michael Guss traveled last year with the Hillel Birthright group and said there were 40 people from BU and 5,000 from all over the world.

“It was an experience to be in a country where everyone is Jewish,” Guss said. “It was very different.”

Lombardo said at times, the group can be in a room with people speaking 15 different languages and with Jews from places across the world, including China and India. But when 5,000 people start singing the same song, he said there is a real connection.

Guss said while he was in Israel he felt safe, but his parents were worried.

“We went on off-road jeep tours and saw signs that said, ‘Danger Mines,'” Guss said, adding that he felt safe enough to recommend the trip to others.

The summer war between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon hiked security concerns for student travelers and prompted BU to suspend its Haifa, Israel study abroad program. The program will reopen in the spring.

Lombardo said he will attend a meeting to discuss safety precautions. The itinerary may change some this year, but he said Birthright has proved to be a safe trip.

“There is always going to be violence wherever you go,” Lombardo said. “I feel more comfortable sending students to Israel for 10 days than to Los Angeles.”

Kroll said Hillel receives security updates each morning during the trips from military advisors and the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.

“Also, every bus has a GPS system, so the military and ministry of tourism know exactly where every Birthright Israel bus is located,” Kroll said.

Guss said the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah made him glad he went on the trip last year.

“I don’t know if I’d want to go this time, or if my parents would let me,” he said.

The Birthright website says 110,000 young adults from 51 countries have traveled to Israel for their first time on Taglit-Birthright Israel trips.

Hillel Rabbi Avi Heller said the house and birthright have a unique partnership, because the program allows students to get in touch with their pride and heritage, but Hillel gives a place for students to express it.

“Hillel is an outlet to keep that fire burning,” he said.

Students leave the trip with a physical experience, Lombardo said, adding that holidays for the rest of the students’ lives will have meaning.

According to Heller, many people have a spiritual connection when they go on the trip, but the impact of going to Israel has many different levels.

Guss said the experience tied him more to his heritage than faith. Lombardo said if a very religious person went on the trip, he or she would probably return with unchanged religious values.

“There is little evidence of a religious connection,” he said. “Going to Israel is about going home.”