Shaping a New Future for Northern Israel

Anchored in a region characterized by a mosaic of communities, ongoing security challenges and economic disparities, Tel-Hai College is leading the region's recovery and future growth through a new academic model as the University of Kiryat Shmona and the Galilee.

Prof. Eliezer Shalev, M.D., President of Tel-Hai College, explains: "Our transition into the University of Kiryat Shmona and the Galilee is far more than a change of name or status; it is a national declaration of intent. We are launching an innovative academic model in which excellence in research and teaching is not detached from our surroundings but rather draws strength from it, operating in complete synergy with our local ecosystem.

"Tel-Hai, whose roots are deeply embedded in the Galilee, has already proven its unique capacity to serve as a catalyst for social and economic development. As a university, we will be able to do so with even greater vigor, leading groundbreaking research that tackles the challenges of the north – from education, resilience, and health to regenerative agriculture, advanced food technologies, environmental economics, and beyond. The new university will not only strengthen the communities and industries of the Galilee, it will anchor Tel-Hai's standing as a meaningful contributor to Israel's national excellence," he elaborates.

"We believe a university's role extends well beyond its campus boundaries," agrees Prof. Ayelet Shavit, a Philosopher of Science at Tel-Hai, and Head of its Action-Oriented Philosophy M.A. program. "This profoundly changes how we view the role of academic institutions and our responsibility as academics. What emerges is a new kind of university capable of reshaping the future of an entire region."

An independent academic institution since 1993, Tel-Hai "didn't suddenly develop its sense of community on October 7, 2023," clarifies Prof. Meirav Hen, Dean of the Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty. "Commitment to the community and region has always been our cornerstone. Our 5,000 students are part of the local community and it is a part of us. Our transition to university status isn't about semantics or prestige. It's a transformation of real social, economic and national significance."

Northern roots, national impact
Professors Shavit and Hen are both from northern Israel and are deeply committed to its future. Prof. Hen, a clinical psychologist and occupational therapist, came to the region following her post-doc in Palo Alto 30 years ago. A mother of three serving soldiers, one of whom was wounded in the war against Hamas, she has expanded her research from child psychopathology and life-domain procrastination to developing new therapeutic models for a post-October 7 reality in which "no one is entirely whole anymore."

Prof. Shavit grew up and still lives in the 100-year-old community of Kibbutz Kfar Giladi, a mile from the Lebanese border. A graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a globally respected scholar with a raft of national and international awards, she chose Tel-Hai College over other offers and is well known for her activism for the advancement of northern Israel.

Her son Tal, z"l, fell in combat during the war against Hamas at the age of 21. "In our last conversation, he told me how wonderful it had been to grow up in the north, and that he was fighting so that every child could have a childhood like his," she says.

University as a community builder
Building on her exploration of collaboration, individuality and diversity in nature, science, and academic-community engagement, Prof. Shavit co-founded Tel-Hai's flagship initiative, Town Square Academia. The program reimagines the university's role, taking students out of lecture halls and into the heart of northern Israel's communities, where it fosters research and teaching relationships grounded in a reciprocal dialogue between local and academic experts, shared learning, and pro-active relevant knowledge.

"Our M.A. in Action-Oriented Philosophy combines conceptual inquiry with hands-on community engagement," explains Shavit. "When 60,000 people were evacuated from northern Israel during the first 18 months of the war with Hamas, one of our students chose 'home' as the focus of his research interest and generated a Town Square Academia course with local residents." With Tel-Hai's campus closed due to the Hezbollah threat, the course was relocated to Tiberias, where he designed a program using texts and improvisational theater. Evacuees from Kiryat Shmona and surrounding kibbutzim joined him to explore the meaning of home, sharing stories, writing scripts, and performing them. Though 85% have now returned home, the connections and conversations continue.

Another M.A. student took 'childhood' as her research theme, and explored the meaning of childhood books that the child sees as pictures while the adult reads as text. How is knowledge passed between generations? She also engaged the evacuated community, and after months of sharing stories, challenging each other, and studying storytelling together, the evacuees were finally able to return home. The stories they created have been written, professionally illustrated, and will soon be published, forming ten new children's books. The course allowed the participants a unique perspective – the ability to view their surroundings through fresh eyes upon their return, as well as the opportunity to strengthen family roots with their children and grandchildren.

"Town Square Academia is a unique project, which has had thousands of participants over the years" says Shavit. "Faculty and students from the University of Pennsylvania are coming to study our pro-active, community engaged model in what will become a series of annual workshops. We've also shared it with Stanford University faculty members, and it has been featured in the prestigious journal Studies in the History of Philosophy."

Education that heals
At Tel-Hai, all 1,500 students in therapeutic study tracks spend eight to 16 hours each week in the field. Most of them are from the Department of Social Work, which is the largest and among the best in Israel, says Prof. Hen. On October 7, 2023, three were staffing an emergency phone center with their teacher, Dr. Tamar Shlezinger, when a call came in from nine-year-old Michael Idan in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. He was, he whispered, hiding in a closet inside the family's saferoom with his six-year-old sister, Amalia, as invading terrorists stormed through his home, burning and murdering. Dr. Shlezinger stayed on the line with him for 12 hours, until he and his sister were rescued.

While that may have been the most harrowing involvement of the College's Social Work Department in the war, it was only one among many. "Our focus is engaged research and engaged teaching, and we're active in a wide range of therapeutic projects," says Prof. Hen. "Our researchers and practitioners develop and deliver innovative intervention models. We work with over 30 local organizations – social welfare, education, therapy, regional councils – and we're constantly exploring new approaches to meet the needs of our diverse communities: kibbutzim, moshavim, Druze, Arabs, Haredim, the elderly, and youth at risk."

Much of the past two years has been about providing emotional first aid. Students and faculty, trained in trauma counseling, resilience-building and social integration strategies, employed the "Six Cs" model to restore a sense of control and reduce risk of long-term trauma. Developed at Tel-Hai by Dr. Moshe Farchi, Head of the Social Work Department, the model (its Cs representing the six principles of intervention: Communication, Commitment, Cognition, Continuity, Control and Challenge) has been adopted by Israel's Health Ministry and is used by the government, IDF, police, emergency services and an array of civil organizations.

Other emotional first aid models are tailored to specific populations. "We had teams working with the elderly community after the war broke out," recounts Prof. Hen. "In three instances, our students found them bewildered, uncertain what was happening or what to do when alarms sounded."

Tel-Hai has also been developing therapeutic models for hospitals countrywide, with Prof. Hen advising the educational team that set up a special ward at the Schneider Children's Medical Center for the children and mothers freed from Hamas captivity. "Because mass return from captivity is so rare, we had few precedents to follow," she explains. "We created an integrated medical/nursing/psychosocial care pathway and are now tracking long-term outcomes."

Closer to home, Tel-Hai students worked with residents of 60 northern communities while they were displaced and also since they have returned. "There are many existing approaches for displaced populations, but very few for those who have returned," says Prof. Hen. "Think Sudan, Syria, Ukraine." There are also eight Galilean kibbutzim and over 30 Golan Heights villages which faced not displacement, but the strain of living under constant threat. Among these is the Druze village of Majdal Shams, where in July 2024 a Hezbollah missile hit a soccer field, killing 12 children and teens and injuring many more.

"We're trying to move from rehabilitation to regrowth," says Prof. Hen. "People aren't coming back to what they left. This creates an opportunity to think about what we've learned from the prolonged displacement, and how to rebuild better, in every sense."

A new chapter
Professors Hen and Shavit, like all Tel-Hai faculty, share a vision of academia that is rooted in excellence, relevance and responsibility.

"I want my work to not only be academically excellent, but also socially and environmentally relevant and meaningful," says Shavit. "Taking academia outside the college walls and combining it with local knowledge gives us the chance to do something truly new and potentially far better. On the morning of October 7, I looked toward our northern border and waited for them to come. But we survived, and I never lost sight of our mission: to provide community-focused education which enables us to teach differently, research differently and solve problems that impact us all."

"Tel-Hai is starting a new chapter," says Prof. Hen. "We are transitioning from a small high-quality college into a regionally integrated research university model that connects research with resilience, education with employment, and innovation with healing. By staying true to our roots, even a small institution like ours can generate large-scale transformative change."

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