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It has been a year since his wonderful image disappeared from the landscape of Haifa and from among the city's workers.

From his youth, in his hometown of Bielsk Podlaski, near Bialystok, he showed a strong affinity for getting things done. He was a Hebrew teacher in Bialystok and Lithuania, founded schools and coordinated evening classes and high-profiled activities. When he was appointed principal of the Tel Hai School in Brisk [Brest], he quickly became involved with the public and was elected to the city council. Later he was elected national secretary of the Shulkolt educational network in Poland, where their language of instruction was Yiddish and they had a national-Zionist orientation. In 1934 he immigrated to pre-state Israel and settled in Haifa. Due to his health he left teaching and worked in a health clinic. Then he moved to the tax bureau where he coordinated the membership committee and was also a member of the management. For a while he was secretary of Mapai^[1] in Haifa. He devoted all his free time to social work. He was one of the initiators of “Mishan”^[2] and did much to establish summer day-camps for children, retirement homes for the elderly and clubs for pensioners. When he retired from his regular job, he headed “Mishan,” known to the people as the “Center of Troubles,” and ensured that loans and grants were given, especially for the rehabilitation of destroyed families. He established the institution “mayhaklal el hap'rat” [“From the Community to the Individual”]^[3] and thus helped establish^[4] thousands of lives and became a symbol of devotion and welfare. In recognition of his actions, Mishan's management decided to name after him the Haifa Pensioners' Club and the Special Welfare Fund for the Elderly. In the hearts of many he will always be remembered.

1. “Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael” lit. “Workers' Party of the Land of Israel”. This was a Labor Zionist and democratic socialist political party in Israel. Return
2. This is a network of social institutions that were set-up in pre-state Israel and still exists today. See the article by Aryeh Nesher on page 308. Return
3. See the article by Aryeh Nesher on page 308. Return
4. Due to a printing error some letters in the original Hebrew document are illegible. This word is believed to express the intended meaning. Return

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“Mishan”^[2] is a Histadrut^[3] social aid institution funded by an allocation of 6.5 percent of the consolidated tax.^[4] “Mishan” was intended to fulfill in an organized manner all the human commandments that Jews have observed in their communities since time immemorial – charity, visiting the sick, caring for orphans and widows, and such. But the names have now been changed. “Mishan” maintains old people's dwellings that are now known as “retirement homes.” They care for orphans, but the orphanages are now called “children's institutions.” “Mishan” also maintains “pensioner clubs.”

“Mishan” also provides loans to the needy at very low interest rates and for a long period.

There are people who have come right up to their last penny and need support. Others – including evacuees from poverty-stricken neighborhoods or new immigrants – need loans, sometimes as a first payment on a housing bill. During the austerity period^[5], “Mishan” would distribute food packages at a nominal price. During the Sinai Campaign, they helped many women whose husbands were suddenly drafted and left their homes penniless. Loans are given for needs that are considered essential, and this does not only relate to the expenses of repairing a leaky roof in an “abandoned property” apartment, but also for the purchase of an electric refrigerator that, by “Mishan,” is not considered a luxury.

However, it seems that routine work crushes one's soul, and sometimes discourages those in need of help. This feeling may have encouraged “Mishan” staff in Haifa to initiate an entirely new institution for social service in industry. The new service is called “From the Community to the Individual” [Heb. “Maihak'lal Lifrat”] and for now it is the first of its kind in Israel.

The institution decided not to wait until a person became destitute, and instead approach him first.

The initiator of the project, Mr. Aharon Grodnai, said that the municipality's Department of Social Work usually handles “social cases,” but it has reached its capacity. However, in addition to social cases, there are also “social situations.” It sometimes happens that people who are employed at a job with an average livelihood encounter difficulties that they cannot overcome on their own. Such people are embarrassed to seek help from an institution or are new immigrants and do not know where to turn. There are also patients who are bedridden after an accident or illness and do not have the power, and neither do their family members, to run around between institutions and bodies that need to or can help them in times of their stress.

And of course, Mr. Grodnai adds, in addition to the social aspect, these cases have an important economic aspect. If a factory worker is concerned because of his son who has a mental impairment and is not settled in an institution, not only does the worker's labor output decrease, but because of his

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many worries, he himself may “go off track” and become a social case. Similarly, if the wife of a person who is a craftsman in a workshop suffers from a chronic disease and has small children at home, and he occasionally begins to be absent from work, the employment relationship deteriorates and his employer begins to see him as a burden who must be let go. Sometimes a person hides personal troubles that may change his entire behavior and character and cause him to have financial difficulties.

For these type of scenarios, “Mishan” is now trying to provide advice, guidance and relief through the new department. The “From the Community to the Individual” department employs social workers who visit factories, meet with personnel managers and workers committee members, and investigate how and to whom help should be provided, and then they do their best.

At first, the factory workers were suspicious, but soon they saw that with the help of the department, social problems could be solved, thereby relieving the employer and the workers' unions from serious burdensome problems. It got to the point that many factories in Haifa voluntarily agreed to participate in maintaining the new service, recognizing its benefit.

Mr. Grodnai has no shortage of concrete examples of the achievements of the institution in its first year. In one case, they made arrangements for disabled parents of a worker whose status in the factory was completely undermined due to delays and prolonged absences. In a second case, for the rehabilitation of a troubled family, they assisted the children to be accepted to an institution. In a third case, the family of a mechanic in a factory became impoverished because of the expenses of caring for a child with a heart condition who was “limited” in terms of his benefits from the national health clinics.^[6] The department had to fight hard to persuade the health clinic to lift the restriction. In another case, it was enough to employ a housekeeper for a mother who broke a leg, to allow her husband to work properly.

I asked Mr. Grodnai again if this service did not constitute duplication of the services of the municipality or the Welfare Ministry. He argues that this is not so. On the contrary, in many cases the treatment is done in coordination with the Department of Social Work, which is happy that there is another entity operating in this area.

Mr. Grodnai admitted that the idea for the new Histadrut department came from what he saw in the “Atta” factory, which was the first factory to provide its own social service. But not every employer can afford to have a special social worker.

Mr. Grodnai speaks of the service with great emotion. It is clear that such an endeavor requires a lot of heart. Mr. Grodnai is as if he was born for this purpose, and those who know him testify that his character did not change at all even after the establishment of the State [of Israel]. By profession he was a teacher when he immigrated to [the Land of] Israel from Poland. He did not consider himself qualified for teaching and in order to “acclimate”

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he started to work in a health clinic. While writing referrals and instructions for people [lit. “giving out slips”], he began to handle the personal problems of those seeking medical help, and through this he naturally found his way to “Mishan” in Haifa, which he has headed for half a century. His work is voluntary, after paid hours working in the tax bureau. His workday and activities are very long and, as in the past, some visit his private apartment and receive responses there.

In his opinion, there is a great deal of room left for providing humane treatment and a humane approach to the person who is alone, and especially to the person in need. He says: “As for me, there is nothing new here. The commandment “Love your neighbor as yourself” has existed with us for thousands of years.”

[The photo on page 313 was mistakenly printed here in the original book. -Ed.]

1. This article was originally published in the Ha'aretz Israeli daily newspaper, known for its left-wing and liberal stances on domestic and foreign issues. Return
2. Lit. support, rest. This is a network of social institutions that were set-up in pre-state Israel and still exists today. Return
3. This is the Israeli national labor federation, which was especially prominent in the early days of the State of Israel as well as before its establishment. Return
4. Mas Achid is a tax that is deducted from a worker's salary towards the labor federation. Return
5. T'kufat hatz'neh is the period between 1949 and 1959 when the State of Israel put extreme economic restrictions on its citizens in order to maintain the stability of its currency. Return
6. The health clinics in Israel were owned by various political organizations with the largest clinic being that of the Histadrut and it is probably that which is referred to here. Return

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