Children’s Museum of the Galilee: A beacon of joy, learning in the North

The inspiration for the Children’s Museum of the Galilee (CMG), which is in the planning process, came to visionary Laya Saul Jackson a few years ago on Yom Kippur – well before the Oct. 7 massacre and the evacuation of tens of thousands of Israelis from the North. However, the need for such a project has increased significantly since then, and it will also benefit children across the country and tourists once the security situation improves.

According to its website, the CMG “cultivates curiosity by providing an educational, interactive play place for children to explore, discover, and engage with their bodies, minds, hearts, and imaginations. We inspire a lifelong love of learning.”

A not-for-profit, it is currently laying the groundwork to become one of very few state-recognized museums. Those involved in the planning include people with diverse professions, but they all share a passion to help children.

The museum has not yet been built, but the need for such programming is greater than ever; as a result, the CMG is preparing a mobile makerspace unit to serve in the North.

The Magazine interviewed Laya Saul Jackson, founder, president, and treasurer of Friends of Children’s Museum of the Galilee. She is an author, educator, and speaker who lives in the Galilee. Here are excerpts from the interview:

When did you come up with the idea for the museum? What was the inspiration?

I’ve always been interested in helping kids. Ten of my 11 published books were written for children and teens.

I knew I had received this ‘assignment’ [to launch the museum] from a dream I had one Yom Kippur morning. I recall waking up in my room, the sunlight streaming through the windows, and exclaiming aloud, “That’s really big!” A voice popped into my head and said, “You don’t start finished. Just start with baby steps.”

I was in the middle of writing, and once that book was in print, I started this journey.

The hundreds of thousands of kids in the North come from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, abilities, and economic circumstances, but they all have one thing in common: They don’t have a children’s museum where they can develop cognitively, physically, socially, emotionally.

Knowing what this project will do for the kids, their well-being, their education, and the region inspires me every day.

Is the mobile museum a precursor to the project?

The big dream is to build a children’s museum for the hundreds of thousands of children living in the northern region, as well as for Israeli and foreign tourists. Every museum for children has off-site or outreach programming, which we thought would come later. Once the war started, however, we understood that there was a need to give to the children right now, and this is a vehicle to do just that.

The mobile unit is the response to the stress, anxiety, and trauma of the war for children in northern Israel. It is phase one of the Children’s Museum of the Galilee to meet today’s needs, and it will continue to operate for years to come. Under the supervision of Mooli Lahad, a leading trauma expert, along with our superb team, we’ll be providing a pioneering and healing makerspace responding to the urgent needs of the children affected by the war in the North.

Imagine growing up and seeing so many guns all around you. Army vehicles of all types travel on the roads on a regular basis. This is what the children here live with. Kids deserve to see something bright and happy, something promising.

At the mobile makerspace, children will work on projects using cutting-edge tools and technology to gain a sense of accomplishment and self-worth. They’ll step away from the war, displacement, stress, and trauma and explore a new world of healing, play, hope, fun, learning, discovery, and the future.

Where in the North will it be located?

We’re planning a location in the Upper Galilee, where it is most needed.

What is your educational background?

My master’s degree is in applied psychology. But it’s not about me. I’m a visionary and cheerleader. We have an outstanding team: our curator and CSO, Netzach Farbiash, who ran the Carasso Science Park and has worked with international science museums; Mooli Lahad, an international trauma expert, and his team in northern Israel; and our biggest supporters are 2023 Nobel laureate Drew Weissman and his wife, Mary Ellen Weissman, a Harvard-trained child psychologist.

Will it be comparable to other children’s museums in the country, like the one in Jerusalem? What is special about this one?

First off, there is nothing like this in the northern region. The North is made up of the Galilee and the Golan; this doesn’t include Haifa.

There isn’t a children’s museum in Jerusalem. There is a science museum [the Bloomfield Science Museum], and they are like cousins – similar but not the same. Holon, known for the Blind Museum, aka Dialog in the Dark, has an exceptional children’s museum with by-reservation guided tours. The stated mission is to instill tolerance and acceptance of the other in Israel.

The Children’s Museum of the Galilee will fill the void in the North as an engaging, fully interactive, hands-on STEAM [science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics] museum. The model draws inspiration from children’s museums in the US.

A children’s museum is the kind of place where kids want to come again and again. Parents will love it because their kids will come home tired and happy.

What age group will the CMG target?

According to scientific research, 90% of brain development happens before the age of five, and one of the most important ways young children learn is through play. We’ll be serving children from six months through 10 to 12 years of age.

Have the children in the North been deprived of educational resources and recreation?

Yes, the North is under-served. Parents are aching to give their children the same advantages that kids get in the center of the country.

The museum will be a place that supplements formal education and provides an essential wellspring of informal learning opportunities for families.

When do you expect this museum to be completed and functional?

We had expected it to be up by 2027, but things have changed dramatically since the war began. The North is in distress. I think it’s safe to say that the Children’s Museum of the Galilee will be a significant part of the rebuilding of the North, but we can’t make that [timing] assessment until we see the end of the war.

We already have concept designs, an initial architectural design, and a program.

The mobile makerspace can be in operation as early as January or February 2025, once we raise the rest of the funding to ensure the first year’s operation. 

Friends of Children’s Museum of the Galilee is a 510(c)(3) non-for-profit in the United States and can provide tax receipts. Sponsorships are also available. For more information, go to https://www.childrensmuseumofthegalilee.org or email Laya Saul Jackson at laya.saul@cmgteam.org