The Jewish National Fund-USA is investing 100 million shekels in a new international culinary campus in the Upper Galilee, a project its leaders say will help position northern Israel as a world-class food and tourism destination.
The Galilee Culinary Institute (GCI), located on land belonging to Kibbutz Gonen, is nearing completion after several years of development. A soft launch is planned for January, with the first academic year set to open in 2026.
The campus will feature a 12-dunam (about 3-acre) working farm, an academic center, a restaurant, a wine bar, a brewery, and guest suites. According to project planners, the goal is to create not only a cooking school but an entire ecosystem for culinary education, including food research, photography, and technology.
The project is funded entirely through donations to JNF-USA and has not received Israeli government or private-sector investment.
“We’re not just building a school,” said Chef Lior Lev Sercarz, the Israeli-born founder of the New York spice brand La Boîte, who will head the new institute. “This is about rebuilding the Galilee and showing it to the world. We’ll grow ingredients on-site and use them in our kitchens with the students and chefs. It will be open both to students and the public.”
Sercarz, who was born in nearby Kibbutz Dan, said the campus will also strengthen the local economy by creating jobs and supporting farmers and small producers. “The project serves the community while highlighting Israel’s outstanding culinary scene to global audiences,” he told Ynet.
JNF-USA’s CEO Russell Robinson, who presented the project at the organization’s annual conference in Miami, described it as part of a broader effort to connect world Jewry with Israel through tangible development initiatives.
“I grew up in El Paso, Texas, where there weren’t many Jews, but we were proud and active,” Robinson told attendees. “Zionism and Israel unite the Jewish people. Israel makes the world a better place. Let’s tell Israel’s real story. We need Israel, and Israel needs us.”
Robinson said he sees Israel as a global nation of 15 million Jews, half of whom live in the country and half abroad, mainly in the United States. “No other people have a land that’s part of their identity,” he said. “I have the privilege of taking part in its development.”
He also expressed concern over rising antisemitism in the U.S., particularly on college campuses. “Our enemies have spent 25 years working to influence universities,” he said. “We have to bring young people to Israel and help them understand the real world.”
At the Miami conference, JNF-USA showcased several of its projects in Israel, including “Mitzvah Market,” an initiative launched during the recent war to support small businesses in the north affected by evacuations. Donors purchased packages of products made by local artisans, which were distributed to displaced families and soldiers in Israel and also sent to supporters abroad.
Tali Tzur Avner, JNF-USA’s executive director in Israel, said the organization’s strategy is to work directly with local councils and communities in the Galilee and the Negev.
“Our job as a philanthropic organization is to bypass bureaucracy and work with people on the ground,” she said. “Almost every dollar donated goes to a physical project that people can see with their own eyes.”
First published: 15:22, 11.07.25