The unique book project created for the Israel National Trail

Anyone who has ever packed a backpack for the Israel National Trail knows the iron rule: Every gram on the back is carefully counted and calculated. In the equipment list of hikers, along the intensive route of over a thousand kilometers from Mount Hermon to Eilat, a book is usually the first thing to be given up, even though specifically during moments of stopping in front of the view or in the evening around the campfire, a good book is exactly what hikers need.

Exactly to meet this need, the Israel National Trail Libraries project was born. Along the Israel National Trail, dozens of free and open libraries are placed for hikers, who can borrow a book at one point, and exchange it at the next station.

The idea started in 2015 as an initiative of a student at the Shalem College in Jerusalem, who hiked the trail and felt the absence of books, was adopted by the institution, and has become over the past decade a large–scale project comprising 23 free libraries, scattered from Tel Hai in the Galilee Panhandle to Mount Yehoram in the Eilat area.

Behind the ongoing operation of the libraries stand the students of the Shalem College, who maintain the libraries entirely on a volunteer basis. Twice a year, just before the hiking seasons on the trail in the autumn and spring open, they set out on a logistical operation across the country: Passing between the points, renovating the boxes, and refilling them with books and reading booklets. For a large portion of the students, it is a closing of a circle, as they themselves are trail hikers who encountered the libraries during their own hikes.

"The books grant the physical challenge of hiking the Israel National Trail an immense added value and a significant layer of spirit and content," says Barak Hakter, a student at the Shalem College and a volunteer in the project. "The book boxes serve today as a live community platform, and we often find treasures left by hikers inside the boxes: Poems written in a moment of inspiration, personal manuscripts, dedications, stories, tips, and useful advice for the continuation of the route."

In recent years, following the October 7 massacre and the Swords of Iron War, the project received an additional and particularly significant layer. Following requests from bereaved families, eight memorial libraries were established along the trail in memory of the fallen and murdered, in places where they loved to hike and with the books that they loved to read.