From Exclusion to Reciprocity

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.

• PrefaceIntroductionPart I: My OriginsI.1. The Beginning of Life: Six Weeks in a Hospital I.2. A Father to FollowI.3. The Ways of my MotherPart II: Formative Years 1933-1955: From an Immigrant in Palestine to a Citizen of IsraelII.1. My Beginnings in PalestineII.2. Moving on: Training for Social Work in Post-War LondonII.3. My First Assignment: When the Army is a Place for more than just Waging WarII.4. Well-Baby Centers in Jerusalem: Being there at the BeginningsPart III: Six Years in Chicago: “Unleashing Hidden Potential” for Learning the Craft of Social WorkIntroduction: 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 ChicagoIII.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 LearningIII.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 CadetsIV.2. Serving Families of Sailors in the Israeli Merchant Marine, 1964IV.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 AbuseIV.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 ReciprocityV.1. On the Move from Exclusion to Reciprocity and how to Facilitate itV.2. On the Learning of Practices that Facilitate the Move from Exclusion to ReciprocityPART VI: The Evolving of Reciprocity: The Long Journey of Chaim who Survived the Holocaust at the Age of ThreePart 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 LearningVII.1. It's People Living in Poverty, Not PovertyVII.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 FamiliesVII.4. “Artisans of Democracy”: What Might “Learning Companions” do to Enable Organizations to Contribute to Moves beyond ExclusionVII.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 IsraelVII.6. Learning for Action in an International Seminar Sponsored by the ATD Fourth World MovementVII.7. Reflective Ongoing Learning from Success: A Chance for a Movement and Others with a Mission of ChangePART VIII: Epilogue: “Genocide” and “Poverty”: Two Collective Man-Made Evils of our Epochs: A Challenge for the FutureAcknowledgementsAppendicesI. ATD (“All Together in Dignity”)—The Fourth World MovementII. The Unit for Learning from Success and Ongoing Learning in Human Services, Myers-JDC-Brookdale InstituteIII. The Three Methods of Learning from SuccessIV. The Components of the First and the Second Methods of Learning from Past SuccessReferences