Prof. Jona Rosenfeld is one of Israel's pioneering social workers. This, his autobiography, is a vivid testimony to his long life dedicated to social work, sociology, psychotherapy and social action. Born in Germany, in 1933 he immigrated with his family to Palestine. In the nascent state of Israel, Rosenfeld very quickly made his mark on the field of social work that was still in its infancy. Then, through his drive, determination and creativity saw it develop and mature. Significantly, he clarified the task of social work: serving the excluded in our midst, and showed how they can be enabled by social workers to improve their lives. After aligning himself with ATD The Fourth World Movement, he worked internationally with families living in extreme poverty and exclusion. The book ends with a call to address two man-made evils, genocide and poverty, as a world-wide challenge for the future.
Prof. Jona Rosenfeld is one of Israel's pioneering social workers. This, his autobiography, is a vivid testimony to his long life dedicated to social work, sociology, psychotherapy and social action. Born in Germany, in 1933 he immigrated with his family to Palestine. In the nascent state of Israel, Rosenfeld very quickly made his mark on the field of social work that was still in its infancy. Then, through his drive, determination and creativity saw it develop and mature. Significantly, he clarified the task of social work: serving the excluded in our midst, and showed how they can be enabled by social workers to improve their lives. After aligning himself with ATD The Fourth World Movement, he worked internationally with families living in extreme poverty and exclusion. The book ends with a call to address two man-made evils, genocide and poverty, as a world-wide challenge for the future.
Preface
Introduction
Part I: My Origins
I.1. The Beginning of Life: Six Weeks in a Hospital
I.2. A Father to Follow
I.3. The Ways of my Mother
Part II: Formative Years 1933-1955: From an Immigrant in Palestine
to a Citizen of Israel
II.1. My Beginnings in Palestine
II.2. Moving on: Training for Social Work in Post-War London
II.3. My First Assignment: When the Army is a Place for more than
just Waging War
II.4. Well-Baby Centers in Jerusalem: Being there at the
Beginnings
Part III: Six Years in Chicago: “Unleashing Hidden Potential” for
Learning the Craft of Social Work
Introduction: Learning the Craft of Social Work from the Past and
for the Future
III.1. On Becoming the Social Worker I became at the School of
Social Service Administration in Chicago
III.2. To Be a Social Worker One Needs to Overcome the “Strangeness
between Helper and Client”
III.3. To Serve the Excluded in our Midst Requires the “Invention
of Interventions”
III.4. When an Outsider who Belongs Initiates Moves Beyond
Exclusion
III.5. Serving the Individual and the Collective: An Unresolvable
Dilemma that Leads to Learning
III.6. On Psychoanalysis and Social Work as the Key for Introducing
Personal and Professional Reciprocity in the Present and thus for
the Future
Part IV: On Trails towards “Learning from Success”: Seven
Examples
Introduction: Seven Pursuits which in Retrospect was an Unexpected
Precursor of “Learning from Success”
IV.1. Training of Air Force Pilots in Israel (1954-55): How to Put
an End to Excessive Flunking of Cadets
IV.2. Serving Families of Sailors in the Israeli Merchant Marine,
1964
IV.3. The Unpredicted Mobility of Boys from a Low-Income Community:
Which Patterns of Parenting Made their Resilience Possible?
IV.4. When a Crisis is an Opportunity: What Enabled New York
Families whose Homes Burned down to Achieve a Better Life
IV.5. On Forced Evacuations: From Sinai (1982) and then the Gaza
Strip (2005)
IV.6. “To Be a 'Good Enough' Parent”: How Nurses in Well-Baby
Centers in Israel Implement a Learning Program Addressing Early
Childhood Neglect if not Abuse
IV.7. “Out from Under”: A First Study on “Learning from Success of
Organizations Serving Socially Deprived Families in Israel”
Part V: Moving beyond Exclusion Means Initiating and Introducing
Reciprocity
V.1. On the Move from Exclusion to Reciprocity and how to
Facilitate it
V.2. On the Learning of Practices that Facilitate the Move from
Exclusion to Reciprocity
PART VI: The Evolving of Reciprocity: The Long Journey of Chaim who
Survived the Holocaust at the Age of Three
Part VII: My Acquaintance with ATD the Fourth World Movement: Where
the Introduction of Reciprocity is a Means for Moving beyond
Exclusion
Introduction: On Initiating Reciprocity and Ongoing Learning
VII.1. It's People Living in Poverty, Not Poverty
VII.2. How I Got to Know the ATD Fourth World Movement: “The Man
who was Shushed”
VII.3. “Emergence from Extreme Poverty”: So You Want to Know about
the Successes of the Families
VII.4. “Artisans of Democracy”: What Might “Learning Companions” do
to Enable Organizations to Contribute to Moves beyond Exclusion
VII.5. From Learning that “Only the Best is 'Good Enough'“ to
Introducing the 17th of October—The World Day for the Eradication
of Poverty—into the Knesset (Parliament) of Israel
VII.6. Learning for Action in an International Seminar Sponsored by
the ATD Fourth World Movement
VII.7. Reflective Ongoing Learning from Success: A Chance for a
Movement and Others with a Mission of Change
PART VIII: Epilogue: “Genocide” and “Poverty”: Two Collective
Man-Made Evils of our Epochs: A Challenge for the Future
Acknowledgements
Appendices
I. ATD (“All Together in Dignity”)—The Fourth World Movement
II. The Unit for Learning from Success and Ongoing Learning in
Human Services, Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute
III. The Three Methods of Learning from Success
IV. The Components of the First and the Second Methods of Learning
from Past Success
References
Jona M. Rosenfeld, professor emeritus and former Dean of Social
Work and Social Welfare, studied at the London School of Economics,
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the School of Social
Service Administration at the University of Chicago. He is the
founder of the Unit for Learning from Success and Ongoing Learning
in the Human Services at the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute,
Jerusalem Israel. He is the first recipient of Israel Prize for
Social Work (1998)
French author of bestselling novels translated into six languages,
Jean-Michel Defromont is a permanent activist of the international
movement ATD Fourth World since 1974. His work has been seeking to
give a voice to people struggling with extreme poverty, starving
for recognition of their human dignity. His books include life
stories in Europe, Africa, Indian Ocean, the Caribbeans and the
Middle East.
An exceptionally well written and moving account of a life devoted
to inventing innovations in social work.
*Reinhart Wolff, Professor Emeritus*
This book is both an autobiography and synthesis of lessons learned
from one of the most accomplished social work scholars and
practitioners of the past century.
*Dennis K. Orthner, Ph.D.*
On his way From Exclusion to Reciprocity, Jona Rosenfeld has become
crafted such an instrument, so that the silence of the voices of
men and women, adolescents and children, might be heard.
*Eugen Brand, author of Artisans of Peace Overcoming Poverty*
[Rosenfeld] is capable of translating the opposite poles of social
transactions and enterprises, in which human service professionals
engage, into an interactive and reciprocal whole…
*Bruno Tardieu, Professor Emeritus*
Rare are the books that both provide in-depth analysis leading to
new paradigms…as well as the intellectual lifetime journey that
lead someone to build this paradigm.
*Bruno Rees, author of Artisans of Democracy*
This is a brave, insightful and often inspiring work.
*Stuart Rees, Professor Emeritus*
[This book] weaves together his life story with the emergence of
ideas and ways of working that have deeply influenced the thinking,
feeling, and actions of generations of social workers, educators,
and other practitioners.
*Victor Friedman, PhD.*
![]() |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
![]() |