Learning about Jewish-Arab Coexistence at Hillel Yaffe

Last wee, 23 young men and women visited Hillel Yaffe to learn firsthand about the medical co-existence in the hospital. They came as part of a project launched by the OneFamily Fund, an association that helps bereaved families who have lost loved ones to terror as well as those injured in terrorist attacks – both Arabs and Jews alike.

Dr. Yaacov Weinberg, teaching psychologist at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center‘s Child Development Center and Director of School Psychological Services in the Hadera Municipality, who coordinated the hospital visit, says: “18- and 19-year-old students from the US, Canada and the UKcame on an educational visit to Israel. During their stay in Israel, they visited various sites to learn about different aspects of life in the country, including coexistence – Arabs alongside Jews. When Dr. Yitzhak Mansdorf, fellow psychologist and the project manager, asked me to come to our hospital so that the students could see the state of Jewish-Arab co-existence for themselves, instead of just hearing about it in a classroom setting, I involved Hillel Yaffe Medical Center Director Prof. Meir Oren, who immediately agreed to speak candidly to the students about the issue.”

Also participating in the visit were four bereaved Arab parents (Muslim and Christian) whose sons volunteered to serve in the IDF and were killed in action during their military service. 

As previously mentioned, students heard lectures on the hospital’s general activities, and they toured the Child Development Center.   

Hillel Yaffe Medical Center Director Prof. Meir Oren discussed the delicate balance of Jewish patients alongside Arab patients, as well as the delicate balance created by the joint work carried out by the Jewish and Arab staff. He explained that throughout his years in the hospital, he has never encountered a situation in which religious hostility affected the administration of medical treatment, as everybody is equal in the eyes of medicine and nursing. Moreover, to illustrate to these students, who had a hard time grasping life and medical treatment in coexistence, Prof. Oren provided an example of how occasionally when a Jewish patient is hospitalized alongside an Arab patient, the visitors of either patient help by bringing them a cup of water, calling the nurse, etc.  

Director of the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center Child Development Center, Dr. Muhammad Mahajnah, who also spoke to the students, supported Prof. Oren’s statements in his own discussion about the medical center and coexistence between Arabs and Jews who are hospitalized together, and Arabs and Jews who work together on the same staff. He noted that there were advantages in working on a multilingual team, in that all patients can receive explanation in their own language, thereby preventing any misunderstandings and lack of communication due to language barriers.

Students were enthusiastic about the hospital visit and noted that they truly learned firsthand about a facet of Jewish-Arab relations they had been previously unaware of. They stated that this visit would be entrenched in their memory. 

The students with by Prof. Oren, Dr. Weinberg and Dr. Mansdorf