Wurzweiler Partnership With Sara Schenirer Institute to Begin in New Year
Beginning in 2019, the Wurzweiler School of Social Work will be partnering with the Sara Schenirer Institute to offer master’s degrees in Social Work for Sara Schenirer students.
The Sara Schenirer Institute is an educational program for Orthodox women located in prominent Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods such as Lakewood and Crown Heights, according to its website. While not a college program in of itself, Sara Schenirer offers credit and degrees via partnered programs with accredited colleges and universities. They offer BA degrees in Social Sciences and Social Work, and MS degrees in Education and Special Education through a partnership with Concordia College, a Westchester-based liberal arts college.
The Master’s in Social Work program will be designed to be accessible to the specific expectations and standards of the Ultra-Orthodox community. “There is a tremendous need for qualified social workers who possess a deep understanding of the Charedi community … we’ve reviewed the syllabi to ensure their suitability and established protocols to ensure that internships for these students take place in environments that conform with their standards,” concluded a Wurzweiler spokesperson.
Rabbi Elazar Meisels, Dean of the Sara Schenirer Institute, said in a prepared statement, “We are very excited by our partnership with Wurzweiler. Their faculty and administration have worked tirelessly with our team to develop a customized program that guarantees a first-rate education and an environment in which our students can feel comfortable. The Wurzweiler staff has gone above and beyond in their efforts to understand what our community requires in every sense.”
Another program in development at Wurzweiler is an an 18-credit program in elder care and end-of-life care, which will be geared to rabbis, to endow them with “the ability to understand psychosocial and developmental issues around aging and serious illness, promote healthy aging in the community, initiate and sustain difficult conversations about aging and dying, and provide guidance that is both holistic and spiritual, while also being uniquely Jewish,” the spokesperson said.
Specific skills to be taught include counseling for the elderly or the sick and their families, to provide support systems for those struggling and for the rabbis themselves to better understand the aging process and the unique needs that come with it.
