On Monday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog participated in a tour of Nof Hagalil.
President Herzog and the First Lady began their tour with a visit to the municipality building, where they were welcomed by Mayor Ronen Plot and members of the municipal council, together with first-graders and second-graders from different local schools, who welcomed them with song.
Afterwards, President Herzog and the First Lady held a short meeting with the mayor and municipal council of Nof Hagalil.
President Herzog said excitedly: “I am proud, moved, and happy to hereby declare the opening of the celebrations for the 65-year anniversary of the establishment of Nof Hagalil. I have personally known this town for quite a while, decades in fact, and every time I enjoy coming here to see its wonderful development and progress.”
“This town is taking off, it’s developing in an extraordinary way. It is a pleasure to see such a deep sense of mission here and to know that it is so much more than another community: The wonderful combination of the Galilee, the landscape, the wonderful population, and the vision that you bring are propelling it to new heights. I wish this town much success. May you continue to flourish, to develop, and to be the joy of all the land, for all of us.”
Later in the tour, President Herzog and the First Lady visited the Green Stadium and met the soccer players of Hapoel Nof Hagalil and their coach, Yaron Hochenbaum. President Herzog spoke with the players and successfully scored a goal. At the end, President Herzog and the First Lady were awarded the team’s shirts with the number 11, in recognition of the fact that President Herzog is the eleventh President of the State of Israel.
After the visit, President Herzog and the First Lady continued to Nof Park, where they visited the municipal planetarium and printing press. The town’s printing press is operated by adults with disabilities. The employees told President Herzog and the First Lady about their work and printed for them a joint picture taken with them in the course of their visit.
Finally, President Herzog and the First Lady visited the KKL-JNF center for excellence and met tenth- to twelfth-graders from local schools. President Herzog held an open discussion with the students about leadership and democracy.
“People tend to think that leadership is about giving orders, giving instructions, maybe even being arrogant toward others — but it is exactly the opposite,” President Herzog told the students.
“The idea of having this discussion is to tell you that at the end of the day, Judaism says ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ In my view, leadership means respecting others, knowing how to take them and together to build and realize your dreams.”
He added: “We all have dreams, and you will fulfill them if you know how to take account of others. This is tremendously significant and valuable.”
“We are here in this dear town, which I have known for decades, and we are most pleased by what we have seen. There is a sense of activity here. There are wonderful enterprises here of social, scientific, sporting, and educational activity. The most impressive thing here is the sense of vision. This place is moving ahead, it’s developing. Enjoy it and you will see that it fills you with satisfaction. I wish you all the best of luck.”