Col (Ret.) Dr. Zohar Rubinstein
Research Fellow, International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), Reichman University, Lecturer at Reichman University, head of the practicum in the M.A. program in Organizational Behavior and Development; founder of The Morphic Institute.
Dr. Zohar Rubinstein is a clinical and organizational psychologist specializing in trauma, emergency response, and resilience. He is a lecturer at the Ivcher School of Psychology and at the M.A. program in Organizational Behavior and Development at Reichman University, where he has also been a founding member. As part of his academic role, he teaches a range of graduate-level courses and oversees the program’s practicum, guiding students through applied organizational consulting projects. Alongside his academic work, Dr. Rubinstein continues to run a private clinical practice focused on individual and couples therapy, with particular emphasis on crises and trauma. Zohar is leading short-term dynamic group interventions and is a supervisor in that field. He is also the founder of The Morphic Institute, a consultancy specializing in organizational development, crisis and systemic preparedness for emergencies and disasters, trauma in organizations, and resilience development.
Past Roles
Over the past four decades, Dr. Rubinstein has held a wide range of senior roles in clinical, academic, military, and governmental settings. He played a central role in developing Israel’s national model for Community Stress Centers, which provided frontline psychological care to
civilians during the Second Lebanon War and subsequent conflicts. His government advisory work included membership in the National Council for Mental Health and since 2024, he is a member in the National Council for Post-Trauma. In the academic domain, he co-founded the Master’s Program in Emergency and Disaster Management at the School of Public Health, the Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University,
where he also taught for many years.
Fields of Expertise
Dr. Rubinstein’s expertise spans clinical psychology, organizational development, trauma studies, and emergency mental health. Clinically, he is trained in individual, couples, and group therapy, with particular specialization in trauma, and acute psychological crises. He is a certified group therapy supervisor, and the developer of a short-term, intensive group intervention based on a dynamic approach, which he has implemented in hospitals and health care centers. In the organizational sphere, Dr. Rubinstein has worked extensively in crisis management and organizational learning. He specializes in conducting structured debriefings (after action) processes among security, healthcare, and public service systems and the private sectors. His experience includes consulting for the Ministry of Defense and local authorities during emergencies and disasters. His focus on resilience includes the development and implementation of training models for
first responders, healthcare workers, and organizational teams operating under extreme uncertainty. He integrates clinical insight with systems thinking to address collective trauma, mental preparedness, and the challenges of functioning under pressure. In recent years, he has
expanded this work through The Morphic Institute, where he serves as a founding member, focusing on trauma in organizations, adaptability, and resilience-building methodologies for teams and communities.
Education
Dr. Rubinstein holds academic degrees in psychology, philosophy, clinical psychology, and the history and philosophy of science. He earned his B.A. with honors in Psychology and Philosophy from Tel Aviv University in 1979, followed by an M.A. with honors in Clinical Psychology from the same institution in 1984. Between 1985 and 1987, he completed advanced training at the Israel Institute for Group Analytic Psychotherapy. In 2009, he was awarded a Ph.D. from the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas at Tel Aviv University. His doctoral dissertation, titled “From Shell Shock to Combat Reaction: A Paradigmatic Shift as Reflected in Therapist Narratives and Military Psychiatry during the Yom Kippur and Lebanon Wars,” explored the evolution of combat trauma understanding within Israeli mental health systems.
