By Ariela Gordon-Shaag, David Brodet, JNS
Strengthening Israel starts with rebuilding and investing in well-being of its citizens after trauma nationwide.
The Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 profoundly changed Israel. They also laid bare a stark reality: Israel’s health and mental-health services need urgent renewal.
Even before the war began, the nation had 2,250 fewer social workers and 2,000 fewer speech pathologists than needed. Those numbers have grown larger in the past 16 months as countless Israelis cope with loss, displacement and disruptions.
In the aftermath of Oct. 7, nearly 1 million Israelis are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety or depression, with 340,000 in urgent need of care to prevent long-term trauma.
This mental-health crisis has been on full display over the past few weeks as we have watched hostages return from months of captivity, bearing visible and invisible scars. Our nation is grieving and processing these traumas, and our need for skilled professionals to provide care has never been greater.
This crisis requires not just short-term intervention but long-term investment in training those professionals who will serve Israel’s evolving needs. That starts by looking inward and investing in homegrown talent. That talent must include Jews and Arabs, secular Israelis and Haredim (ultra-Orthodox), as well as students from families where college and advanced degrees have never been an option before.
Institutions like ours play a key role in addressing these shortages by training a diverse and skilled workforce. One of us is a founder and chair of the board of trustees at Jerusalem Multidisciplinary College. The other is a professor of optometry now serving as president of the college, which is one of the largest and most impactful institutions of higher education in Israel.
On our main campus in Jerusalem, Jewish and Arab students train side by side in health and mental-health fields, while our Strauss campus gives Haredi students access to higher education in fields like speech therapy, social work and biotechnology—helping bridge employment gaps in that underemployed segment of society.
Education is a powerful engine of progress. As Israel’s workforce needs grow, we are preparing the next generation of health-care and mental-health professionals, as well as skilled graduates in IT and business. Half of our students are the first in their families to attend college and 90% secure jobs in their fields upon graduation.
This war has affected us all, personally and professionally. Like many Israelis, our families have been called to serve—spouses, children and grandchildren—alongside more than 600 of our students. As a college, we mourned the loss of faculty member Dr. Hayim Katsman, an American killed in his kibbutz on Oct. 7, and students who have lost their lives in military and security service.
Yet in crisis, our community has come together—supporting soldiers, grieving families and 150,000 displaced Israelis. Since the war began, our aphasia center has treated brain injury patients; optometrists have provided vision care to evacuees; and social workers have supported those coping with trauma and displacement.
This service reflects the future we strive for: a nation strengthened by diverse professionals working side by side to rebuild. Looking ahead, we will expand enrollment by 40%, ensuring that Israel has the skilled workforce it needs to meet its growing health-related demands.
Strengthening Israel starts with rebuilding and investing in the health and mental well-being of Israelis. Strengthening such education isn’t just about jobs. It’s about the future of Israel itself.
