Speaking at The Jerusalem Post’s “Rebuilding the North” broadcast, Jodi Bodner, chief marketing officer for Jewish National Fund-USA, explained how the organization is dedicating itself to reimagining Northern Israel.

“We are building up the North to entice people to move back and for more people to move there,” she shared.

While many people associate Jewish National Fund-USA with the planting of trees in Israel, Bodner said the organization is dedicated to building Israel’s northern and southern regions and “planting roots for the nation” in these areas.

“Our roots now are centered in collaborating with all the municipalities and the people who live in the North and South and bringing opportunities for growth. We partner with them, we meet with them, and we collaborate with them, and together we come up with the initiatives that are going to change their lives. We create initiatives that are going to have ripple effects.”

Jewish National Fund-USA has been active in rehabilitating Israel’s South, she said, and with the relative quiet that has been achieved there, it has turned its attention to the North.

Go North initiative

Bodner discussed the organization’s Go North initiative, which is dedicated to attracting 300,000 people to Israel’s northern frontiers. “To do that,” she explained, “you need to create housing opportunities, employment opportunities, tourism opportunities, quality-of-life opportunities, education, and informal education.”

Bodner added that potential residents require a medical center (among other amenities) to entice them to move to the North. To that end, Jewish National Fund-USA is currently building a medical center and emergency response center in Kiryat Shmona. In addition, it is building a culinary institute in Kibbutz Gonen that will increase employment opportunities as well as tourism in the area.

“The culinary institute is perfectly situated up North,” said Bodner, “with 82 different cultures and tons of different culinary avenues that people like to pursue. The North is the food basket of Israel, so we’re not only building this culinary institute for people to attend. It’s world-class, and different than any other culinary institute. We want students to go there, but it’s about the ripple effect of that institute. It’s about the tourism opportunities it’s going to bring.” Bodner added that the culinary institute will attract many other associated businesses, including a brewery, a restaurant, a chocolate-making factory, and farm-to-table produce.

Bodner said that the Jewish National Fund-USA has a strategic vision for the long-term future of the North, citing the many educational institutions in the area as well as the organization’s employment centers. “There’s just so much opportunity,” she said.

“We don’t believe in reinventing the wheel,” Bodner said. “We believe in working with the people who are already making it happen. We envision this fantastic, beautiful, green oasis of opportunity, of wonderful people, of thriving cities, kibbutzim, and moshavim, of a coexisting experience, living side by side in peace with our neighbors, allowing people to innovate and create the future of tomorrow.”