Draft:Yonasan Bender
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Yonasan Bender | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jonathon Bender |
| Education | Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Washington University in St. Louis; Drake University; Jerusalem Kollel |
| Occupations | Therapist, clinical social worker, rabbi, researcher, writer |
| Known for | Psychotherapy, social work, Jewish thought |
| Website | https://www.jerusalemtherapy.org/ |
Yonasan Bender (born Jonathon Bender) is a Jerusalem-based therapist, clinical social worker, rabbi, researcher, and writer. He is the clinical director of Jerusalem Therapy, a psychotherapy practice in Jerusalem.[1][2] His professional and scholarly work has focused on psychotherapy, human values and prosocial behavior, social work, Jewish thought, and the philosophical foundations of social justice.[3][4]
Bender trained in social work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and in philosophy and ethics at Washington University in St. Louis and Drake University.[3][5] He received rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovits and graduated from the Jerusalem Kollel in 2013, after which he served as a Jewish chaplain at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.[3][6]
Early life and education
[edit]Bender was born Jonathon Bender and grew up in Fort Dodge, Iowa, a rural farm community in Iowa[1]
Before studying social work, Bender studied philosophy and ethics at Washington University in St. Louis and Drake University.[3][5] He later studied at the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he received his clinical social-work education.[3][5]
Bender subsequently undertook postgraduate training in several approaches to psychotherapy. His professional biographies identify training in cognitive behavioral therapy at the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, as well as dialectical behavior therapy, behavior- and emotion-focused therapies, marital therapy, psychodynamic methods, and parenting interventions.[3][5][7]
Rabbinic training and chaplaincy
[edit]Bender received rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovits.[3][5] He also studied at the Jerusalem Kollel, an institution focused on training rabbis for communal positions.
Bender graduated in 2013 and took his first rabbinic position as a Jewish chaplain for University Jewish Chaplaincy at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.[6]
Bender served there as well as surrounding Jewish communities in northern England and has taught Jewish philosophy and ethics in yeshivas and seminaries.[3] His teaching and writing have included the relationship between Jewish philosophy, moral symbolism, psychology, and contemporary psychotherapy.[3]
Clinical career
[edit]Bender is the clinical director of Jerusalem Therapy, a psychotherapy practice based in Jerusalem.[1][2] His clinical work has included individuals, couples, families, and children.[3]
His professional profiles describe an integrative clinical approach drawing from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), emotion-focused approaches, psychodynamic psychotherapy, Jungian approaches, and couples therapy.[1][5]
Bender has worked with clinical presentations including anxiety, depression, emotion-regulation difficulties, anger, low self-esteem, insomnia, autism, eating disorders, psychosis, parenting difficulties, and marital conflict.[3] Other professional profiles describe his work with relationship problems, intimacy concerns, addictions, and trauma.[5][8][7]
He has collaborated with Machon Dvir as a dialectical behavior therapy skills trainer. He has also served as an instructor for the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder's Family Connections program.[3]
Bender is a member of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science, the professional organization associated with the development and dissemination of acceptance and commitment therapy.[3][5]
Research and scholarship
[edit]Bender has participated in social-work and psychological research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was a member of psychologist Maya Benish-Weisman's research laboratory at the university's Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, where his research examined relationships between human value structures and prosocial behavior.[3]
Bender has also worked in qualitative social-work research. Social-work researcher Dafna Tener acknowledged Bender as her research assistant and credited his contributions to the research underlying her article The Journey to Becoming a Qualitative Social Work Researcher: Seven Mile-Markers, published in Social Work Education.[9]
In 2026, Bender co-authored a peer-reviewed article with social-work scholar Mary K. Twis in the Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought.[4] The article examines philosophical tensions within contemporary social work between Enlightenment-derived humanism and universalism on the one hand and postmodern and critical-theoretical approaches to power on the other. It uses professional debates concerning Zionism and Jewish collective self-determination as a case study for examining differing conceptions of human rights, social justice, power, and political legitimacy.[4]
Bender and Twis argue that Zionism, when defined as the movement for Jewish collective self-determination rather than as a synonym for particular policies of the Israeli government, developed partly within the same modern intellectual environment that produced universal human-rights discourse. Their analysis distinguishes criticisms of Zionism formulated within universalist frameworks from critiques based primarily on theories of structural power and oppression, and considers the implications of these competing philosophical frameworks for social-work ethics and professional identity.[4]
Bender's scholarly work is indexed through Google Scholar, and publications and citations involving his work appear in the Taylor & Francis academic database.[10][11]
Psychotherapeutic approach
[edit]Bender's clinical writings emphasize an integrative understanding of psychotherapy in which different therapeutic traditions address different dimensions of psychological functioning. His clinical practice draws from cognitive and behavioral approaches concerned with thought and behavior, emotion-focused and attachment-oriented approaches concerned with emotional and interpersonal processes, and psychodynamic approaches concerned with identity, recurring psychological patterns, symbolism, and unconscious processes.[1]
A recurring theme in his clinical writing is the role of values in psychological change. His approach emphasizes not only symptom reduction but the relationship between psychological functioning and a person's ability to engage in meaningful actions, relationships, and commitments.[1] His academic research into value structures and prosocial behavior parallels this interest in the relationship between values and behavior.[3]
His work also incorporates philosophical and religious perspectives on meaning, identity, moral responsibility, and human development, reflecting his parallel backgrounds in psychotherapy, philosophy, and rabbinic studies.[3][5]
Writing and public commentary
[edit]Bender has written on psychotherapy, interpersonal relationships, Jewish thought, ethics, and Israeli society. His essays have appeared on Aish.com and The Times of Israel blogs platform.[5][2]
His writing for Aish has addressed subjects including marital conflict, emotional connection, fear, decision-making, and psychological growth.[5] Essays include Screaming for Connection: How to Find Each Other Through the Fog of Pain, Why You'll Never Feel Ready—and That's Okay, and How to End the Fight Before It Begins.[12][13][14]
In The Times of Israel blogs, Bender has written on psychological, religious, cultural, and social themes, including trauma during periods of conflict in Israel, Jewish remembrance, family relationships, and biblical narratives.[2]
Selected writings
[edit]- Screaming for Connection: How to Find Each Other Through the Fog of Pain, Aish.com, 2025.[12]
- Why You'll Never Feel Ready—and That's Okay, Aish.com, 2025.[13]
- How to End the Fight Before It Begins, Aish.com, 2025.[14]
- Understanding Trauma in a Threatened Israel, The Times of Israel, 2025.[2]
- Should We Keep the Siren? Israel's Sound of National Remembrance, The Times of Israel, 2025.[15]
- Estrangement and Reconciliation: Yaakov's Path to Family Unity, The Times of Israel, 2024.[16]
External links
[edit]- Jerusalem Therapy
- Profile at the VIDA Lab, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Yonasan Bender at Aish.com
- Yonasan Bender at The Times of Israel
- Google Scholar profile
- LinkedIn profile
Category:Living people Category:Psychotherapists Category:Rabbis in Jerusalem Category:Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Jerusalem Therapy: Mental Health Clinic". jerusalemtherapy.org.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Yonasan Bender's Blog".
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "Rabbi Yonasan Bender". VIDA Lab.
- 1 2 3 4 Twis, Mary; Bender, Yonasan (July 27, 2026). "Reclaiming Zionism as a rights-based social justice movement". Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought. 0 (0): 1–29. doi:10.1080/15426432.2026.2692467 – via Taylor and Francis+NEJM.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Rabbi Yonasan Bender, LCSW – Therapist | Author at Aish.com".
- 1 2 "All Alumni".
- 1 2 "Yonasan Bender: Licensed Clinical Social Workers in City..." TherapyRoute.
- ↑ "Yonasan Bender". International Therapists.
- ↑ Tener, Dafna (May 19, 2025). "The journey to becoming a qualitative social work researcher: seven mile-markers". Social Work Education. 44 (4): 770–788. doi:10.1080/02615479.2024.2340701 – via Taylor and Francis+NEJM.
- ↑ "Yonasan Bender". scholar.google.com.
- ↑ https://www.tandfonline.com/action/doSearch?AllField=yonasan+bender
- 1 2 Therapist, Rabbi Yonasan Bender, LCSW- (April 9, 2025). "Screaming For Connection: How to Find Each Other Through the Fog of Pain | Aish".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - 1 2 Therapist, Rabbi Yonasan Bender, LCSW- (May 11, 2025). "Why You'll Never Feel Ready—and That's Okay | Aish".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - 1 2 Therapist, Rabbi Yonasan Bender, LCSW- (May 20, 2025). "How to End the Fight Before It Begins | Aish".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ Bender, Yonasan. "The Blogs: Should we keep the siren? Israel's sound of national remembrance".
- ↑ Bender, Yonasan. "The Blogs: Estrangement and Reconciliation: Yaakov's Path to Family Unity".
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