With fighting between Israel and Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah escalating every day, there appears to be no place in the north that is safe from attacks.

Recently, Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets into areas that have not been attacked in years, including communities more than 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Lebanese border. 

Havat Rom (Rom Farm) is also located approximately 50 km from the border, at the top of Mount Kammon in the Lower Galilee. It boasts a farm-to-table restaurant, a glamping site and a rehabilitation center. 

The rehabilitation program

Since the start, the farm’s rehabilitation center has focused on helping people suffering from mental illnesses and disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

“These people work on the farm Sunday to Thursday, from 8am to 12pm,” says Gabriel Najenson, CEO of Glow Glamping Hospitality Group, which for the past three years has been operating Havat Rom, a former goat farm first established in 1986. 

The program is sponsored by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Labor to help reintegrate these people into the working sector. The program can host a maximum of 100 participants at a time, and each individual can stay as long as necessary. 

“They are working in our fields, dairy farms, and the organic garden where they cultivate vegetables. They produce different types of gifts that the farm later sells to its visitors. They are also working in maintenance and housekeeping,” explains Najenson. 

“We transitioned a master carpenter, who participated in the rehabilitation program, into working at the farm part time. Now, he creates furniture and art pieces from recycled wood, which we use at the farm.”

Following the October 7 Hamas attacks, the rehabilitation center has hosted survivors of the Supernova music festival massacre. 

Hosting soldiers with PTSD

Recently, the farm teamed up with the Ministry of Defense to help soldiers, including those on reserve duty, suffering from PTSD after fighting in Gaza.

This tailored program for soldiers is limited to three months. 

The itinerary includes activities such as yoga, carpentry, work with the soil and natural materials, and meetings with psychologists and social workers.

“They also learn how to herd goats as a part of our leadership workshop because herding goats requires certain skills of leadership,” adds Najenson.

Najenson explains the government is urgently seeking similar programs due to the high volume of soldiers who have developed severe PTSD since the start of the war. 

“The need is vast; we’re talking thousands of people,” he says. 

Havat Rom is now fundraising to complete the construction of a fully accessible hotel unit to host soldiers returning from mandatory service or reserve duty.

“Some cannot stay at their homes. They run away from their wives and kids, and sleep in their cars because they cannot digest what they’ve been through.”

Effects of October 7

Najenson says it was extremely hard to shut down the rehabilitation center for nearly two months following the Hamas attacks last year. 

“We had to bring in $1 million worth of bomb shelters because we did not have any at the farm [before the war],” explains Najenson. The Glow Glamping location in Mitzpeh Ramon could not host the evacuees for the same reason. 

“We reopened the restaurant in late December, and then the glamping site in April for Passover,” he adds. 

But even a year after the start of the war, the farm’s revenue is still down by 50 percent. Employees number 65 people, 40% fewer than a year ago. 

“We’ve had only a few [rocket alert] sirens here; but the Israeli people see the whole north as unsafe. Everything is fully functional but the people are still afraid of coming,” Najenson says. 

Impact hospitality 

Najenson emphasizes that despite the current security challenges, Havat Rom doesn’t stray away from its principles vis-a-vis sustainability.

“What we’re doing is called ‘impact hospitality.’ It’s still tourism, but with a meaning. Our goal is to create a hospitality industry that does not damage nature, but makes it flourish and prosper,” he explains. 

“We are also helping the communities around us because we thrive on working with the people who live in the area.”

Najenson says the farm’s organic garden is based on permaculture, an approach to land management that adopts processes observed in natural ecosystems. “Most of the agriculture around the world is exploiting the land,” he adds.

“We also employ the no-dig philosophy, which means we do not dig into the ground. We actually manufacture soil called compost, and we plant inside it.”

Contingency plans?

I asked Najenson if he and his business partners think about what would happen if an all-out war with Hezbollah breaks out.

“Unfortunately, I have no contingency plan,” he sighs. 

“I would probably have to shut down certain parts of my business, and reduce the manpower even further.”

Najenson says he has gotten requests from foreign journalists about the possibility of making Havat Rom their headquarters if war does start.

“But that’s like the worst contingency plan,” he laughs. 

“The current situation is the longest foreplay in human history.” 

For more information on Havat Rom, click here.