Habaita, also known as “Back to the Galilee,” is an NGO in Israel working to revitalize the country’s Galilee region. With support from CJP, Habaita, which means “home” in Hebrew, is marshaling the resources of Israel’s north to help residents reestablish their lives in the region.
Among the organization’s five pro-bono founders is social entrepreneur Tom Lahad. Lahad is a fighter pilot who flew in Lebanon for almost three months during the recent war. He is also a social entrepreneur behind myriad startup ventures from the ground up in Israel.
Between serving in Lebanon and his notable work in the tech industry, Lahad started Habaita, an ambitious campaign highlighting the importance of the north to Israel’s economic and strategic survival. He currently supervises five salaried project managers involved in ventures across the Upper Galilee, working to repopulate evacuated areas and revitalize communities across the region.
Lahad’s roots in the Galilee go back four generations to the 1920s, giving him a distinct understanding of the region’s history, and resolve to ensure its future. For the past 13 years, he and his family have lived on Kibbutz Ayelet Hashahar in the Upper Galilee.
Lahad brings an eclectic background to his work with Habaita. He attended Hebrew University, where he studied Bible and literature. He worked as a Bible teacher for five years and then pivoted to become a social entrepreneur. He eventually stepped into the role of deputy CEO at Maoz, where he established an investment arm dedicated to funding startups in northern Israel.
Applying his nonprofit experience to his work with Habaita has led Lahad and the other founders to take a three-pronged approach to reviving the Galilee area. In a recent interview with CJP, Lahad explained that Habaita’s leaders “are focused on three domains: education, agriculture and tech, while also repopulating the region.” In rebuilding the north, he notes, harnessing the energy of the people returning to the area is crucial.
To publicize recruitment for these three areas, Lahad and his colleagues have planned a public relations campaign they call “Voice of the Galilee.” Initiatives include guided tours for potential residents and thought and policy leaders. There are plans to leverage social and traditional media to spread the word that the Galilee is a viable place to live and work. Lahad says, “With more people settling in the north, we could build a new educational system, an ecosystem for startups and other businesses, some of which are agriculturally based.”
Under the umbrella of the Regional Education Corporation, Habaita addresses educational challenges in Eastern Galilee. Lahad explains that fixing the educational system begins with reinventing informal educational opportunities. Before Oct. 7, an academy in the north supplied student teachers who were the backbone of this initiative. “There are a lot of constraints in rebuilding the formal educational system,” he says. “It’s easier to start with informal education. And so we brought as many people as we could, many of whom are retired educators, to support our effort.”
Lahad points out that agriculture is “deeply embedded in northern Israel’s narrative. Agriculture is so vital in the Galilee that we decided to build an agricultural boarding school in the north. Our goal is to build three of these schools in the next 10 years.” But meeting that goal is a race against time. According to Lahad, many of Israel’s farmers are in their late 50s. “We need to raise the next generation of farmers now,” he says.
Lahad and his team are also committed to opening a Galilee branch of OpenValley, a for-profit chain of “startup hubs” that funds tech entrepreneurs and offers mentorship. Habaita has partnered with OpenValley with a mission to reimagine the workplace, but with one caveat: it exclusively supports startups.
Since the war, over 90% of tech firms have left the region. “We dreamed of having an OpenValley satellite for a while,” Lahad says. “It’s a rare opportunity to recreate the ecosystem of tech and startups in the north that we have been building for a decade. We’re gathering people returning to the region. We already have an amazing location and great partners and are hoping to open by mid-2025.”
Looking at the big picture, Lahad understands that collaboration is critical to Habaita’s success. He acknowledges the chaos when centralizing the scattered groups among the Galilee’s varied municipalities. But in this new landscape, he believes, bold initiatives and fresh ideas can emerge out of that chaos. “There is capital looking for big ideas and an unprecedented willingness to collaborate,” he says.
To that end, Habaita is matching its portfolio of ideas with influential regional leaders who can execute them with seed money and find strong operational partners. “Acting as the dealmaker who helps to bring these ideas to fruition, Habaita’s role is to connect these leaders and partners,” Lahad says. “We want to end up with powerful anchors in the north’s future.”
Lahad also sees reinvigorating the north as crucial to the larger Zionist story. As a former teacher of Bible, he says highlighting the north’s biblical roots makes the region’s history integral to greater Israel’s story. “There is a history here, a Bible story here,” says Lahad. “But we have neglected to tell ourselves and our children these narratives. The story unfolding in the Galilee connects to that larger narrative. And so it is essential to be able to tell ourselves and our children that living in the Galilee is a big part of Zionism and Israel’s history.”
Support CJP so we can continue meeting the needs of the Jewish community in Greater Boston and abroad.
