At a time when even the word “festival” feels like a distant memory, the Lo BaShamayim (“Not in Heaven”) Festival returns to Upper Galilee. Artistic director Yael Levanon has been a creative partner in its inception for many years. But this year, when she sat down to begin planning, she found herself unable to speak the word out loud.
“It’s hard for me even today,” she said. “When you hear the news, when there are funerals and fallen soldiers, and we’re in a state of war... It just doesn’t feel like the right time to use that word.” The Upper Galilee Regional Council shared her hesitation, and the final decision to hold the festival was delayed until the end of March – a significant shift from the usual planning timeline, which begins in December.
But eventually, a powerful consensus formed.
“This is part of the rehabilitation,” Levanon said. “Culture can do what nothing else can. It crosses sectors, languages, and identities. It reaches people in places that politics can’t.”
A living tribute to the Galilee
This year, the festival is a living tribute to the Galilee – its landscapes, its resilient stories, and its steadfast people. The opening event, titled “Here the Sun Will Not Disappoint,” is a profoundly moving musical celebration hosted by Yoav Ginai and featuring celebrated artists such as Shlomit Aharon and Ben Artzi. Levanon calls it “a deeply emotional and beautifully produced show.”
An audience of nearly 700 is expected to fill the community center in Kfar Blum. “That, in itself, is a statement,” she said. “They’re showing up to vote for the Galilee, with their feet.”
That same spirit continues throughout the We Are Brothers solidarity tours, where participants will visit places like the Quneitra Lookout in the Golan Heights; the Naphtali Mountains; and Metula’s Daddo Lookout. These intimate guided encounters are designed to forge a powerful connection between visitors and local residents, some of whom are still living in the shadow of recent events.
“These are not sightseeing tours,” Levanon emphasized. “They’re intimate, thoughtful, and rooted in the land.”
The festival’s program seamlessly weaves together familiar elements with urgent new voices. “It’s a mix of our regular festival content, like we’ve had in the past,” she said, “with an added layer of ‘here and now.’”
At the heart of the festival’s intellectual offerings, a central discussion titled “A Fate Covenant, a Destiny Covenant,” hosted by Liat Regev, will feature Menachem Kalmanzon and Pinchas Wallerstein. The panel will explore the tension between shared fate and chosen destiny, an idea Levanon said has become more relevant than ever.
“On October 7, we all shared the same fate,” she said. “Now it’s time to talk about destiny. What are we going to do with it? How do we move from being united by tragedy to being united by purpose?”
In that same spirit, a powerful exchange will bring together Rabbi Benny Kalmanzon and Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Yair Cohen, two figures from dramatically different worlds. “This kind of meeting doesn’t happen often,” Levanon said. “But now, more than ever, we need bridges.”
Lectures throughout the festival continue to deepen these themes. Prof. Avigdor Shinan will explore Galilean stories in Talmudic legend. Rabbi Ilay Ofran will speak about “How to prevent the next war of Cain and Abel” and separately, “What is Love?”; Dr. Eli Sheinfeld will examine Jewish identity through Kant’s idea of “eternal peace,” and Prof. Meir Buzaglo will ask whether a shared Israeli identity can still hold so many different voices. “These aren’t theoretical questions anymore,” Levanon said. “They’re questions we’re living, every day.”
Literary events at the festival
The literary side of the festival includes a panel on “Literature and War,” looking at how October 7 is already reshaping Israeli writing.
In a session titled “A Window to the National Library,” Dr. Stefan Litt will reveal how Kafka’s manuscripts made their way to Jerusalem. Nadav Halperin will reflect on Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, the Jewish rock poets of the last century. Other events will mark 10 years since the passing of Uri Orbach, and reexamine the complicated relationship between poet Uri Zvi Greenberg and the pioneers of the Third Aliyah.
Cinema is also central to this year’s program. The screening of the film Pink Lady will be followed by a post-show conversation with its creator, Mindy Ehrlich, about the space between individuality and tradition. Another screening, Like a Working Heart, follows filmmaker Yair Agmon’s journey with Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.
Dror Keren will perform stand-up for those, as Levanon puts it, “who aren’t calm and aren’t sleeping.”
Two major concerts will take place in the historic courtyard at Tel Hai, despite the fact that the site has been shelled in recent months. “That choice wasn’t accidental,” Levanon said. “It’s a declaration: we’re still here.”
On the first night, Danny Sanderson will host Shuli Rand in what she calls a “funny, sweeping, high-energy show.” On the second night, the iconic band Teapacks will perform what promises to be “a full-on celebration of all the giant hits.”
The Greenglick family is scheduled to perform at the closing event of Lo BaShamayim. The family lost their son and brother, Shauli, in the Israel-Hamas War. Their show, titled Life Continues to Play, is a musical performance about dealing with grief and the choice to get up every morning anew. The show is based on a playlist of songs chosen by the family, described by Levanon as “an emotional rollercoaster, joy, sorrow, resilience, love.”
“This show says everything the festival is trying to say,” Levanon concluded. “We are compelled to continue living, as if this is the future. The real challenge is to find those common spaces that connect and unite us. That’s what we’re trying to do here, with everything we’ve got. And especially now, yes, you come to the Galilee.”
The Lo BaShamayim festival will take place August 5-7 in the Upper Galilee at Kfar Blum and Tel Hai. For more information and ticket purchase, visit the festival’s website: www.lo-bashamayim.org.il