Golan Druze community marks a new chapter with Birthright Israel project

Birthright Israel has announced the launch of a major community healing project in Majdal Shams, Israel’s northernmost village, home to a Druze community that was once under Syrian control.

The initiative, coming two years after the Hezbollah terrorist attack that killed 12 children in the community, was made possible by a donation from the David and Meredith Kaplan Foundation, through the Birthright Israel Foundation. The project will establish eight therapeutic educational gardens across four local educational institutions, creating spaces of healing, growth, and hope for the Druze community.

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The project is being carried out by the Birthright Israel Volunteer Program, a joint initiative with the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), which will bring approximately 1,000 volunteers to Majdal Shams in the coming months to take part in the effort.

The project carries deep significance for Majdal Shams. On July 27, 2024, 12 children from the village were killed when a Hezbollah rocket struck a local soccer field—a tragedy that devastated the close-knit community and left a lasting mark on its schools and families. In the two years since, residents have turned to gardening and connection with nature for rehabilitation and collective healing.

Since the beginning of July, Birthright Israel volunteers have been on the ground in Majdal Shams, building the first of these therapeutic gardens. On July 17, a group was welcomed at Elementary School B by Dolan Abu Saleh, head of the Majdal Shams Municipality, who spoke about the impact the volunteers are making on the community. Audible booms across the border in Syria during his remarks underscored the complexity of daily life in the village’s easternmost neighborhood.

Following the mayor, Jihan Safdi, principal of Elementary School B, addressed the group about the aftermath of the 2024 attack, in which she personally lost six of her students. She spoke about how gardening and nature-based programming have become central to the community’s healing process over the past two years.

After the welcome remarks, mission participants joined 25 Birthright Israel Excel volunteers to plant greenery, arrange gravel, build planters and lay paving stones at the Resilience Center, which borders the soccer field where the attack took place.

Speaking to the group, Abu Saleh reflected on the deeper significance of the moment, describing what he called a “dual realization” that took hold among the Druze of the Golan following the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 attacks: a recognition that their security is inextricably tied to the State of Israel, and a definitive break from fundamentalist Islam, which the community now views as a force with which it shares no connection.

“The turning point for the Golan Druze began on Oct. 8, 2023,” Abu Saleh said. “On Oct. 8, we accepted the Jews and Israelis as our home. Now, the Jews finally accepted us. We arrived first; you met us there.”

Launched in November 2023 in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks, the Birthright Israel Volunteer program has quickly grown into one of the largest organized Jewish volunteer initiatives supporting communities across Israel. Since its launch, 30,000 Jewish adults have traveled to Israel through the program, contributing more than 60,000 volunteer days in areas including agriculture, food security, logistics, community support and assistance to communities impacted by the war. The program has already served nearly 100 communities across Israel, giving participants a hands-on opportunity to support the country’s recovery and resilience while strengthening their personal connection to Israel.

“The demand from Diaspora Jews to serve in Israel keeps growing. Every volunteer we send strengthens the bond between world Jewry and Israel. Majdal Shams shows what that looks like on the ground, and we are grateful to the David and Meredith Kaplan Foundation for making this project possible, said Elias Saratovsky, president and CEO of Birthright Israel Foundation.”

“We want to bring tens of thousands more volunteers over the next few years. We need partners who will help us get there,” said Elias Saratovsky, president and CEO of Birthright Israel Foundation. “We need to expand the volunteer program so we can bring more Diaspora Jews to Israel and strengthen the connection between world Jewry and Israel.”

Jewish Federations of North America serves as the backbone of the organized Jewish community in the United States and Canada, representing more than 350 Jewish communities. It raises and distributes more than $2 billion annually through planned giving and endowment programs to build flourishing Jewish communities at home, in Israel and around the world.

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