Case studies

Bat Melech Shelter for Orthodox Battered Women

Traditionally, Orthodox women in abusive relationships never sought help from the available social services for abused women. Abused Orthodox women feared the stigma attached to welfare services provided by non-religious authorities. Until the Bat Melech Shelter was established, battered Orthodox women had nowhere to turn. Bat Melech is the only organization in Israel that provides a network of shelters and safe havens for abused Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox women.

The Bat Melech staff who underwent training at the Rotenberg Institute were taught how to instill greater hope in the women in the shelters, and in their children. The staff learned how to encourage the women to go beyond their victimhood, to find an alternative locus based on optimism, and to find a counter-narrative to the dark journeys they had experienced. The feedback from the staff who studied at the Rotenberg Institute is that their professional and their human understanding of the traumas of battered women were significantly enhanced.

Haruv Institute for Child Abuse and Neglect

The Haruv Institute is Israel's leading training and research center in the field of child abuse and neglect. The Institute trains professionals, paraprofessionals, researchers, parents and children on the prevention, identification, treatment and rehabilitation of abused and neglected children. The Institute’s uniqueness lies in its multi-disciplinary and comprehensive approach to child abuse and neglect, in the medical, legal, mental health, educational and social arenas.

The Rotenberg Institute and the Haruv Institute pioneered a joint multi-discipline course of study that fused theory and practice to enhance understanding of the world of children at risk. Based on the Rotenberg Institute’s unique Jewish Psychology approach, the course developed a series of non-threatening coping strategies designed to help professionals break through the negativity typically displayed by at-risk children towards adults. Haruv participants report that the course empowered them to widen their perspective and to offer new hope to the children they treat.

Tamir Pre-Military Preparatory Academy for Teens at Risk

There are several dozen pre-military preparatory academies in Israel that prepare high school graduates for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). What distinguishes the Tamir Academy is that many of its students who come predominantly from low socioeconomic backgrounds, do not want to enlist, and the Israeli military is not interested in teens with criminal records. The Tamir Academy takes these at-risk teenagers, picks up the pieces broken by circumstance, and puts them back together again. In the past 15 years, Tamir has transformed the lives of over 500 at-risk teens, inspiring many of them to believe in their own worth for the first time in their lives. All Tamir graduates enlist in the IDF, 80 percent end up in combat units, 30 percent become commanders and officers, and 15 percent enter elite units.

The teens at Tamir arrive with very low self-esteem. The first challenge of the staff is to help these teens believe that they can overcome their backgrounds. The joint course of study developed by the Rotenberg Institute and Tamir– in which the entire Tamir staff participated – was designed to embed in-depth tools for enhancing the quality of dialogue with the at-risk teens. After undergoing both theoretical and practical training, the Tamir staff were able to implement their new learning, and to help the teens engage meaningfully with the wider society in general and with the IDF in particular. All Tamir staff continue to be trained in this course of study.

Melabev Alzheimer Institute

Melabev provides care for those plagued by, and suffering from, Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, and offers appropriate services to their entire support system. These services include day care centers, a national telephone reassurance service, palliative care for end-stage Alzheimer’s patients, and a computer software for mental stimulation for people with dementia, which is sold around the world and has been translated into numerous languages. Other services include Memory Clubs, multi-disciplinary clinics, nursing aid services agency, and a range of cognitive therapies including art, music, dance, movement, horticulture animal-assisted therapy and more.

Graduates of the Rotenberg Institute claim that they gained new insights into the communication challenges facing Alzheimer’s sufferers. In particular, the lessons of Jewish Psychology point to the existence of other levels of language beyond spoken words. The graduates report that they feel empowered to be more respectful to their patients, to help them access their internal world, and to place less focus on their disabilities.

Neve Chana Girls Seminary

Neve Chana Girls Seminary is a high school that provides an intellectually stimulating environment for girls who are committed to Jewish observance. The school caters to girls who are broadminded and intellectually curious, who are able to meet rigorous academic demands, and who want to increase their knowledge and understanding of Torah. With a reputation for academic innovation and excellence, Neve Chana integrates courses in creative arts with Bible, Talmud, computers, sciences and literature. The school also emphasizes participation in volunteer programs.

Neve Chana turned to the Rotenberg Institute for help in solving the pressing educational challenge of helping the girls cope with the challenges of the post-modern era, and cope with the different streams within Israeli society. The Rotenberg Institute’s ethos has now become integrated into the Seminary’s ethos.

HakolKoreh School for Psychodrama, Theater and Midrash

HaKolKoreh is the first organization established exclusively according to the Rotenberg Institute ethos. Using psychodrama as a platform for change, HaKolKoreh offers a year- long study course to educators and therapists, with an emphasis on Jewish texts and Jewish approaches that enhance established psychotherapeutic theories. HakolKoreh uses psychodrama and theatrical psychotherapy intertwined with the language of Jewish-Hassidic philosophy, as a platform for using language as a tool for bringing internal peace and peace between ourselves and others. The psychodrama practitioners who attended the training report that their ability to work with people in grief was significantly enhanced.

Other institutions that have benefited from the Rotenberg Institute’s training programs:

Centre for Drug Addiction Treatment, Beer Sheva Municipality
Dedicated Treatment Program for Teens at Risk in high schools, in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Education
The Boydem – rehabilitation social enterprise second-hand stores
Mental Health Center, Mayanei Hayeshua Hospital
Rehabilitation Beit Midrash for Mentally Challenged Adults