Dr Jeremiah Lubasch, President & Founder

“Fleeing Germany in 1939 my parents managed to reach the shores of Argentina.  Arriving penniless, they had to start again from scratch. My father was a doctor and my mother a nurse and kinesiology expert. Our home was warm and hospitable and anyone and everyone was welcomed with open arms. My parents dedicated themselves to their family, to society in general, and to the community in particular. Amongst their many accomplishments, they established a Jewish Day School in Buenos Aires – a cultural school with high level studies. I learned there. The values my parents endowed me with emphasized the importance of helping those in need and giving to the community.

In 1977 I graduated from Medical School in Argentina, and made Aliyah to Israel with my wife Sharon. Here I specialized in pediatrics and set up my practice as a doctor in the community, serving mainly the ultra-orthodox. I was one of the only doctors at the time who treated children and adults from all health services. The result was that I developed an awareness of family and social problems that were going untreated. With the realization that I have the ability to make a difference, I waited for the right opportunity.

One day, in 1989 a new patient visited my clinic with her children. She had recently moved to Haifa and had special education qualifications. I asked her if she wanted to work with me to establish a framework for orthodox children with learning difficulties. Mrs. Pnina Berkowitz agreed, and since then she has been the Pedagogic Director of the Center.

Together, we made a number of significant breakthroughs in Haifa.

We opened the eyes of the religious population of Haifa to the importance of early intervention and treatment of learning problems. Through  outreach programs parents realize that by assessing and addressing problems early, they have better chances to reach optimal results. There has been amazing success in this area. At the outset we began to treat children age 10 -16 with serious learning difficulties. However, as awareness of the importance of catching the problems early grew, the age of children at our Center has become younger and today we assess and treat children under the age of 6.

I also established an Early Childhood Center – comprising two programs:

• A Day Care Center for children of working mothers.
• 5 developmental preschools answer the needs of children age 3 to 7 not yet able to be mainstreamed in regular educational frameworks. Up till the establishment of this program no such preschools existed in Haifa for orthodox children – children were placed in mainstream classes and without the crucial help needed they would fall behind.

Over the years we have been helping other weak populations:

• An afterschool program for Russian immigrant pupils provided help with homework, a warm meal at lunchtime, and trips on special occasions – keeping children off the streets – with all the negative influences that characterized the suburbs of new immigrants – until parents came home from work. Most of the children were from single parent families.
• A program to help bridge gaps for Ethiopian immigrant pupils targets 30 children in 2 Haifa schools. Over a period of 10 years specialized staff went out to schools to provide remedial and emotional therapies for these children. This program enabled them to become successful students at school, on an equal footing with their Israeli friends and paved the way to successful integration into the Israeli society.
• Children living in a shelter for battered women often fall between the cracks – over the years we have provided important services to this population including professional assessments, didactic remedial help and emotional support.

The list goes on and on. Some of our projects have been stopped due to lack of funding.

I continue to work as a community doctor. Today I am the President of “Arugot” in a voluntary capacity and I feel that I benefit more than anyone else: the smile of success on the face of a child, the happiness of a family who sees improvements – all this gives me joy and strength to continue my life’s journey. I have much to be grateful for. I am grateful to G-d that He gave me the ability to give to others. I thank my parents who taught and guided me to be what I am today. Last but not least my special thanks to my wife and children who have supported me throughout and enabled me to give of my time to the community.”