Editor’s Note: The Jewish Federation of Richmond has begun a three-year partnership with the United Jewish Community of the Virginia Peninsula (UJCVP) to support the northern Israeli town of Shlomi and its residents as it rebuilds from the devastation of months of rocket fire and subsequent evacuation during the ongoing conflict. This article from the Israeli magazine, Hamizrach, is reprinted by permission.

On October 18, 2023, the Israeli government ordered the evacuation of 43 towns along Israel’s northern border, deeming them too dangerous for civilians to remain. Among the largest evacuated towns was Shlomi, home to 8,500 people and situated just a few kilometers from the Lebanese border. Nearly a year after the evacuation, Rabbi Aron White interviewed Chagit Maman, director of Shlomi’s Community Center, to understand how the community is trying to stick together despite being displaced from their homes for such an extended perioabitation. This decision affected 61,000 residents, who were relocated to hotels and other temporary accommodations across the country.

When did the residents of Shlomi have to evacuate? 

The week after the start of the war, the decision was taken that we were evacuating the town of Shlomi, and we moved 6,000 people, out of our population of 8,500, in 3 days. As we were talking about thousands of people, we were split into hotels in different cities in the country. Our residents went to Jerusalem, Haifa and Tiberias. As a municipality, we had a representative in charge of our residents in each city, with a team of people to help them upon arrival. We had to do everything from working out social services and education in these new locations, to day-to-day things like where people were going to get their food from, and how they were going to be able to do laundry.

We essentially had to create a “city in a hotel.” In the first few months, we set up medical clinics, kindergartens, elementary schools, social activities for elderly residents, and more, to make sure we were taking care of our residents. After a few months, the older students began to move to continue their education in the existing schools in the towns where they were now living. In general, initially we were providing all the services to the thousands of displaced people from our town, but gradually the host towns were able to integrate the residents of Shlomi into their services.

Also, especially as people are going through a difficult time, and they are away from home, taking care of emotional and psychological needs is very important. From psychological support to running extracurricular activities for children, it was important that these needs were taken care of as well.

Now, a year later, where do things stand? 

Firstly, many people have now moved out of hotels to private apartments around the country, but this means that we lose our sense of community. For the start of the school year, we opened up educational services for the community in Nahariya, Akko and Ma’alot, so at least we could start regathering the community in the north of the country. We opened three schools, one of which is a special needs school. We basically have buses picking up kids from around Haifa, and Krayot, Akko and the surrounding area and taking them to school, so it keeps the community together.

What is the mood like? 

It is really not easy – people really want to go home, but they understand it is just not possible, as they don’t feel safe in Shlomi at the moment. No matter how many services we provide, in the end people want to be in their homes. People want to be in their house, on their street, at their regular job, with their kids in the schools where they belong. By the way, even when people are able to go back, the houses themselves are also in a really bad condition. Think about hundreds of homes not being lived in for a year – animals start coming in, there are plumbing issues – these homes were abandoned in the middle of a war, and it will take a long time to clean up the mess.

You said that some people remained in Shlomi – why did they stay? 

In the photo, several leaders stand in front of a school.

At the beginning there were about 1,000 people who didn’t want to leave, and some people have been staying there throughout and more have gone back now. They are still in the city now, but the city as a whole feels deserted, waiting for its residents to be able to come home.

Special thanks to the Municipality of Shlomi for the photos in this article.