Vision, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is defined as “the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom.” It is one of the keywords in the lexicon of Jewish National Fund-USA, and after speaking with Talia Tzour Avner, the organization’s Chief Israel Officer, it is clear that their vision is not a far-off future, but rather is focused on implementing practical plans and strategies that may very well make Israel’s Negev and Galilee the most attractive regions to live in the entire country.
“The vision of Jewish National Fund-USA,” says Tzour Avner, “Even before October 7, was, and has been, to attract new residents to the north and the south, the Galilee and the Negev, to strengthen the communities in these areas, to empower them, to improve the quality of life, and ultimately to encourage young families from the center of Israel or from abroad to move and reside in these areas. That’s our ultimate goal.”
Numerous challenges present themselves in attracting people to these communities, she explains. The majority of Israelis prefer to live in Israel’s center because of the perception that there are more opportunities and amenities compared to Israel’s frontier regions. However, Tzour Avner points out that there are significant factors – both strategic and economic – for populating Israel’s northern and southern regions.
“The borders of Israel and the communities along the border of Israel,” she explains, “whether in the Arava or the Western Negev or the Galil or the Golan, are the most strategically important communities in Israel, given the neighborhood we live in.”
Secondly, she adds, these areas – both in the north and the south – serve as Israel’s food basket. The nutritional output of the edible crops just from the Israel Envelope (formerly known as the Gaza Envelope) region is extensive, producing over 50% of the annual caloric requirements of the Israeli population, while farms in the north produce 40% of the country’s subtropical fruit and 70% of its eggs. “It should be a national goal to strengthen these areas, the communities, and the residents,” she argues. “Israel has learned that it can only rely on itself. We must make sure our homeland is self-sufficient.”
The best way to strengthen and support Israel’s northern and southern communities, says Tzour Avner, is by providing them with a quality of life that matches what they would receive if they were living in places like Tel Aviv, Herzliya, or Raanana.
“We work directly with the people of Israel’s north and south, where our philanthropic investments support housing development sites, schools, playgrounds, parks, medical centers, bomb shelters, emergency response centers, and so much more. Yet, you can’t look at each project in isolation. Everything that we do adds to our circle of impact, boosting economic growth and increasing population.”
For her part, Tzour Avner notes that the organization’s conversations don’t take place in the hallways of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) but rather in the streets of Be’er Sheva and Kiryat Shmona. Jewish National Fund-USA works with local residents and mayors in Israel’s north and south, knows what is needed to build strong communities, and is acting to implement its strategic vision.
The organization is investing $40 million in building 15 emergency response centers throughout the country. These centers will enable all the security forces, including emergency response teams and other first responders, to work and coordinate from the same structure.
Communities need to be able to grow to absorb new residents. Says Tzour Avner, “If you have a moshav or a kibbutz with 150 families and you don’t have a future area for the new neighborhood to bring in new people, how will you bring them? Where will they live?”
To address this issue, Jewish National Fund-USA established its Housing Development Fund a decade ago that creates infrastructure for kibbutzim, moshavim, and communities in the Negev and the Galilee, shortening the development time required to begin housing construction. Since its establishment, the fund has created the groundwork for more than 2,100 lots in 47 communities throughout Israel. Many of these lots, reports Tzour Avner, have already been sold, and people are moving to these communities.
In the area of employment, Jewish National Fund-USA established the Lauder Employment Centers in Beersheba and Akko. A third center in Kiryat Shmona opened a month before the war broke out and is reopening this month. These centers have established numerous partnerships with employers, regional councils, universities, hospitals, industries, and hi-tech companies, both north and south, to create new employment and quality opportunities through these alliances and partnerships.
“Many don’t realize that our Lauder Employment Center worked with evacuees who lost their jobs to find solutions and new opportunities,” explained Tzour Avner. Jewish National Fund-USA is also increasing employment by developing major projects to attract businesses and residents to Israel’s north and south.
For example, the organization is completing the construction of the Galilee Culinary Institute by JNF in Kibbutz Gonen in the north. “It is leveraging and empowering the entire economic situation in the area,” says Tzour Avner. “If you want to know what our circle of impact looks like, this is a great example. We’re talking about jobs, growth, and new residents moving to this frontier region.”
The culinary institute will consist of dormitories and classrooms for students, kitchens, a restaurant, a chocolatier, a brewery, a bakery, a shop, and a farm for developing farm-to-table produce. A second project under development in the Kiryat Shmona region is the $20 million, 40,000 square foot Robert and Gale C. Kares Medical Center located adjacent to a planned Emergency Response Center made possible by prominent American Pastor Jentezen Franklin and his Free Chapel congregation which will be completed later this year.
“The medical center is fortified against missile attacks and will serve over 100,000 people, including residents of the Galilee, Northern Golan Heights, tourists, and soldiers. The organization says it expects many more people to use the facility in the future as families relocate to the region because of the philanthropic investments it makes today.“Building a medical center is life-changing for the residents of the area,” said Tzour Avner.
It will include an emergency room, general clinic, and women’s clinic. It’s going to have a family care center and an imaging center for X-rays, MRI, CT, and ultrasounds.” Tzour Avner says the medical center will create a major circle of impact in the area. First and foremost, it will provide life-saving care to thousands of residents each year.
The second circle that is created, she explains, is for the economy. “The medical center will create jobs for doctors, nurses, technicians, and administrative staff, enhancing the local economy. It’s going to bring families who are looking to live in this paradise.”
The third circle of impact created by the medical center is the increased population growth in Israel’s north. Tzour Avner says that Jewish National Fund-USA expects that families and professionals will move to the great Kiryat Shmona area to live and work. Families with children are more likely to move to the area once they see that it can provide adequate care for their children.
Tzour Avner points out that the fourth circle is the confidence engendered in the region’s future by Jewish National Fund-USA’s investment in the medical and emergency response center and the culinary center. “The residents of Kiryat Shmona and the Galilee are telling us, ‘When you continue to build in the area, even though it was being shelled by Hezbollah, it shows that you believe in us and you believe in this area.
Otherwise, you would have stopped. You give us hope because we love our homes, and we love the communities and the Galilee.” What is truly remarkable, Tzour Avner points out, is that Jewish National Fund-USA continued construction of the medical center and the culinary center throughout the war, “Jewish National Fund-USA was the only organization that continued to build both in Gonen and in Kiryat Shmona.
There were nights [during construction] when the sky was lit with missiles from Hezbollah. The medical center was also targeted.” Despite that, construction in both locations continued apace. Jewish National Fund-USA is working on similar projects in Israel’s south to revitalize and rebuild the area, including the construction of a large resilience center that provides therapy and treatment for residents, an agricultural school that’s training the next generation of Israeli farmers; and a massive Regional Sports Complex that will include athletic tracks, soccer fields, and more.
“These projects are fundamental to our circle of impact in the south,” she says. “If you need mental health services, it’s there for you. If you want to learn about cutting-edge agriculture, you can. And if you want to be a future Olympian, that opportunity now exists in Israel’s south, too!”
Tzour Avner acknowledges that challenges remain. While many residents have returned to the South, some haven’t. Additional funds are needed to complete the numerous projects that are underway. In addition to raising additional funds, the organization’s Israel Resilience Campaign brought in more than 43,000 new donors and was central to its $200 million annual campaign.
Since December 2023, Jewish National Fund-USA has brought over 5,000 volunteers to Israel. These volunteers spend long days cleaning damaged communities, picking fruits and vegetables, and preparing packages for soldiers and evacuees. The organization has also sent 20,000 care packages with contents from small businesses in the area, helping them stay afloat.
“Beyond the painting or the cleaning or the picking of the lemons,” she concludes, “when an Israeli in Kiryat Shmona or the Upper Galilee or in the Israel Envelope saw a bunch of Americans coming – when there were still rockets, when there were still sirens, when they still had to wake up in the middle of the night and run to the shelter in the hotel – it gave hope because we’re not alone.
"We tend to believe that we [in Israel] are surrounded by so many adversaries. However, while we’re attacked on every possible front, these Jewish National Fund-USA volunteers landed, and continue to land in Israel, supporting us and telling us that by being with their feet on the ground, we are connected, we are with you, we’re together, and you’re not alone. That’s a huge message. At the end of the day, we realize we have a mutual responsibility to care for each other, and that underlying concept fuels our torch of hope.”
This article was written in cooperation with Jewish National Fund-USA. To support the organization’s Israel Resilience Campaign, visit jnf.org/supportisrael.■