Whether They Remain or Return to Us American Social Work Students Gain Skills in Israel Program

Officials here reported today that nine American social work students have completed a summer-long stay in Israel helping mental patients along the road to recovery. The purpose of the program, now in its second year, is to recruit social workers as new immigrants for Israel. Students in the program who do not opt to remain in Israel gain experience to help staff Jewish social agencies in the US, sponsors of the program said.

The program originated with Joel Bassan, a 35-year-old social worker and former rabbinical student, while on a visit to Israel in 1969. That fall he enrolled at Yeshiva University’s graduate school of social work in New York. The program got under way the next year with the backing of Yeshiva University and the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Bassan, who hopes to increase the size of the effort, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, “The real goals of the program are to alleviate the shortage of graduate school social workers who can help people in Israel in Hebrew and to do something about the lack of professional social workers in American Jewish life pledged to the continuity of the Jewish tradition.”

The students spend 12 weeks at work in various social agencies in Jerusalem. Among the institutions were the Moadon Shalom, a club for former mental patients and Ezrath Nashim Hospital, a community mental health center. The program encourages some of its students to participate in other activities, including assisting youngsters in summer recreation. Bassan said. In addition to working at social agencies, the students attend two seminars and take a field trip each week. The program’s $13,000 budget is met by private contributions, the Jewish Agency and the students themselves.