The article summarizes a longitudinal case study of the very first Israeli program in social work targeted to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox Jewish) population (1997-1999). The program's success played an important role in the last decade's dramatic change of attitude in the Israeli Council for Higher Education toward social work education and higher education for the Haredi population. Aside from describing an interesting case of intercultural educational encounter, exploring the dynamics of the interaction between the social work faculty and the Haredi students, and investigating changes in the participants' perceptions of themselves, the other, and the situation, the findings provide some theoretical and practical clues for the inclusion of culturally peripheral populations in social work and higher education.