Well, while I was an overseas student at Hebrew University in 1971, the first news story I helped research concerned poverty in Jerusalem. I'll never forget visiting Jerusalem's small social services department located in what looked like a misplaced caravan of a 1950's transit camp. Looking back, I see how ironic it was that Shuli Nathan's hit proved to be the most popular song of the early 70's. Kollek fired social work professor, Eliezer Jaffe, as head of the Department of Social Services because Jaffe demanded that the city's department of social service receive their fair share of allocations from the Israel Ministry of Finance and the UJA campaigns abroad. Nearly three decades after that first interview with Jerusalem's Welfare Department, I encountered a totally different atmosphere when I re-entered their offices.
Poverty exists in Jerusalem.
Poverty is a fact of life in Jerusalem's capital, said Aliza Shabu-Hayut, the head of the Planning Division of the Jerusalem Municipal Department of Social Services. Pointing to the city's income graphs, Shabu-Hayut explained the raison d'etre of the city. What we do is plan, research, give service, and fund-raise for our clients. The basis of our social work in the city of Jerusalem is that our city is among the 'leading cities of the country in poverty' and that we will never get their necessary resources from the government to help all who are in need. The very idea that a social worker would attempt to find out who is poor and who is in need was unheard of in the 1970's.