1ISRAEL

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WORKOUT IN YOUR HOME OR OUR STUDIO —
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A Jewish member of the Beit Hatikva staff teaches a resident how to
catch a ball as part of his occupational therapy.

'House Of Hope' Helps
Israeli Mentally Disabled

3 DAY

MIRANDA ROSE SMITH

Special to The Jewish News

JAN. 12th, 13th & 14th

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92

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 1989

High
Blood
Pressure?

Only your doctor can tell. Like
more than 10 million other
Americans, you could have
high blood pressure and not
know it until it leads to stroke,
heart or kidney failure. It has
no special symptoms and of-
ten gives no warning. But your
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and follow his orders.

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qUp

WE'RE FIGHTING FOR
YOUR LIFE

American Heart
Association

of Michigan

erusalem — Beit Ha-
tikva (Hebrew for
house of hope), nestled
in a hillside on the Neve
Michael moshav outside Beit
Shemesh is truly a "house of
hope," not only for its 40
residents who are behavioral-
ly disabled and retarded, but
for their parents, for the mix-
ed Jewish Arab staff, and for
the director, Dr. Larry
Genstil, who holds a Ph.D.
degree in educational
psychology from the Univer-
sity of Southern California.
Dr. Yitzchak Kandel, direc-
tor of S.R.I. (Services for the
Retarded in Israel), expressed
interest in the idea that
Genstil should come to Israel
to set up a center for
behaviorally disabled people.
This he did, and after much
searching found a site on.the
Neve Michael moshay.
The center was opened in
1987 and was initially fund-
ed by the Joint Distribution
Committee, the National In-
surance Institute, and the
Hatikva chapter of B'nei Zion
is Los Angeles. Its residents
are mainly Jewish, although
there is one Druze and one
Arab. All suffer from mental
retardation and behavioral
disorders such as aggression
and self-abuse. Child abuse
and neurological conditions
are the main causes.
On the executive staff are
four Jews, a Christian Arab
and a Moselm Arab, and all
cooperate happily.
Dr. Genstil hires people
from disadvantaged
backgrounds. "Working with
people in a less fortunate
situation," he explains,
"helps one to appreciate
oneself." Thus, workers in-
clude rehabilitated prisoners,
a girl with learning
disabilities, an ex-drug addict
and a recovering alcoholic.

The residents are housed in
two long, low, red-roofed
buildings, each of which con-
tains two three-bedroom
apartments. Each apartment
houses 10 residents. Meals
are taken together in the din-
ing hall and two other
buildings house the
classrooms, dispensary and
offices.
Occupational therapy is
given regularly to the
children. The less functional
among them receive training
in activities such as walking
through hula hoops and over
mattresses and learning how
to throw and catch balls. The
more advanced children learn
painting, collage and making
paper cut-outs. Their
residence
is
brightly
decorated
with
their
creations.
Sara Sivek, the music
therapist, uses music and
movement to relax the
children and assist memory
training.
Among the most functional
of residents is a handsome,
slightly built boy of 16,
named Benny. He speaks
"English, Hebrew, French,
Arabic — all the languages."
He leads a davening group
and works as a class aide,
helping to feed and dress the
younger children. He is
popular with the families on
the moshav, often spending
Shabbat with them.
The residents spend two to
three years at the center,
after which they return to
small group homes or to their
families. During this time,
some parents attend classes
at Beit Hatikva in order to
learn how to understand and
help their children. This
helps many of them deal with
the guilt and anger that often
comes from having a retard-
ed child.
Dr. Genstil plans to acquire
pets for the residents. He also
hopes to have some of them
grow vegetables,

