The Israel-Hamas War and subsequent conflict with Iran have left deep wounds: physical, psychological, and social. Israel, as a small nation with limited resources, faces an unprecedented challenge in managing the longest war in its history. Our economy, built on entrepreneurship, civilian industry, and innovation, is now required to allocate enormous resources to security and rehabilitation, at the expense of growth, education, and welfare.
The workforce, already suffering from severe shortages in therapeutic professions, has been further depleted as thousands of workers were drafted into reserves or forced to absent themselves from their workplaces. Rehabilitation institutions – hospitals, mental health centers, welfare services – are collapsing under unprecedented pressure, with the number of casualties far exceeding existing capacity.
Israel is currently facing a severe shortage of welfare and healthcare workers. Even before the war, reports warned of a deficit of approximately 3,000 physiotherapists, 2,000 social workers, and 2,000 speech therapists. Now, with over 14,000 soldiers entering rehabilitation cycles – and many more in other civilian trauma circles – this need has only intensified.
In such circumstances, a comprehensive reorganization is required: civilian, social, and economic.
One answer to such broad challenges lies specifically in academia, whose role has become critical. Higher education institutions are not merely centers of knowledge but active players in the nation’s recovery, both through training professional personnel and developing interdisciplinary solutions to address the implications of the crisis.
Education will be key in Israel's recovery
Since the outbreak of war, academia has been working to fill this gap and can do even more. Students in health and welfare professions are conducting clinical practice and fieldwork, integrating into the actual rehabilitation process during their studies. Since October 7, there has been a significant increase in interest in psychology, social work, physiotherapy, and paramedical professions, indicating the younger generation’s strong desire to help, assist, and effectively become an integral part of Israel’s recovery.
Even in professions not directly related to treatment and rehabilitation, there is indirect attention and focus on this issue. Industrial design students, for example, take part in intensive joint projects with rehabilitation departments to find solutions for the needs of trauma victims and the wounded, all evidence of the younger generation’s growing awareness of their social responsibility.
In recent weeks, changes have been announced in medical schools, designed to admit more students to the system, a vital move that cannot stand alone. Israel must allocate dedicated budgets to academic programs and assist in establishing faculties for rehabilitation and health profession studies.
At the academic institution I lead, we are working to establish an interdisciplinary faculty that will train a wide range of professionals in treatment and health fields, focusing on rehabilitation. Furthermore, we intend to upgrade and expand our infrastructure to significantly increase the number of professionals in these fields.
All of academia must mobilize for Israel’s recovery and provide the younger generation, who see importance in health profession studies, with the most convenient and best infrastructure so that these students will soon become the nation’s rehabilitators.
Decision-makers must view academia as fulfilling a strategic role in the national recovery process while training the required professionals, instilling innovative and interdisciplinary thinking, and contributing to advancing values of inclusion, partnership, and social resilience.
This requires bold and extensive government investment. Budgets, infrastructure, and long-term planning are needed. Only thus can we meet the historic challenge before us.
The writer is president of the Jerusalem Multidisciplinary College (formerly Hadassah Academic College).