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io cement Zionist unity.
The first UPA campaign raised
.-lose to five million dollars includ-
ng two donations of $500,000 each
•or the Hebrew University from
Felix Warburg and Mrs. Sol Ros-
, abloom of Pittsburgh. Aside from
the wholesome aspects of coordi
nated Zionist fund raising, this
success prompted the UJC, under
the leadership of Felix Warburg
and Louis Marshall, to take steps
; , reassure the Zionists and pro-
Palestine elements by providing
that $1,500,000 to be raised in the
three year $15,000,000 U.IC cam
paign would be used for construc
tive effort in Palestine through the
Palestine Economic Corporation.
The UPA campaign was success
fully continued in 1920 and 1927.
Zionists had won their fund raising
spurs, and this strengthening of
the movement contributed to the
broadening of the base of Amer
ican philanthropic support for Pal
estine that was to be expressed so
dramatically in 1929 with the
formation of the enlarged Jewish
Agency for Palestine with its com
bined Zionist and non-Zionist
membership.
Looking back, we see that the
late 1920’s were fateful years in
American Zionist history. They
were years of conflict and growth
in which decisions were made that
influenced the development for
many years of the Zionist move
ment, the eventual establishment
of Israel, and the now prevailing
pattern of life in the American
Jewish community. With the suc
cess of Neumann’s statesmanlike
and timely projection of unified
Zionist fund raising under the
ferceful leadership of Dr. Wise, the
stage was set for the Allied Jew
ish Campaigns of the 1930's, the
first coordinated fund raising ef
forts of the JDC.and the UPA.
culminating in th.? permanent or
ganization of the United Jewish
Appeal and the multi-million dol
lar campaigns that are now an ac
cepted part of our current every
day Jewish community life.
All of this comes to mind as the
name, United Israel Appeal, takes
on a new meaning as a result of
its merger with the Jewish Agency
for Israel, Inc. As some American
Jewish leaders still lament com
petitive and overlapping fund
raising today, it is both interesting'
and valuable to recall those days
forty years ago when the first step
in coordinated Palestine fund
raising was achieved through the
organization of the UPA
RABBI
VERSUS
Social Worker
By FRED A STERN
(A Seven Arts Feature)
When a rabbi finds that a
congregant is involved in a
severe personal difficulty
stemming from a family prob
lem, he should refer the con
gregant to a caseworker. He
often does not.
When a social worker finds
that a Jewish client is involv
ed m a problem dealing with
religious issues, he (or she)
should bring a rabbi into the
consultation. He (or she) often
does not.
From the viewpoints of the
functionary involved, there are
good reasons for not doing
what would seem to be the
obvious procedure. To a rabbi,
i caseworker, particularly a
Jewish caseworker is—if not
actively hostile to religion in
general and to Judaism in par
ticular—at best indifferent to
the significance of Judaism in
terms of faith, history and cul
ture. A large number of prac-
tictioners in the social work
lield tend to more or less ac
cept Freud’s view that religion
is a neurosis. How could a
rabbi expose a religiously-
troubled congregant to such,
a counselor'.’ Correspondingly,
why should a social worker
bring an exponent of “obscur
antism" into the effort to aid a
client?
But the fact remains that, in
many cases, the rabbi lacks the
trained skill to deal with dif
ficult personality problems
and the social worker is often
damagingly blind to that as
pect of the client’s problems,
when it is an aspect.
As these facts have become
manifest, there have followed
encouraging efforts toward
ending the breach between the
religious and social work func
tionary. According to a recent
issue of “The Jewish Com
munity," the publication of the
Council of Jewish Federations
and Welfare Funds, coopera
tion between rabbis and social
workers, as well as between
synagogues and c o m m u n a 1
agencies, is growing steadily.
Rabbis are recognizing that
many of the problems brought
to them by congregants re
quire the special skills of psy
chiatrists. psychologists and
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The Southern Israelite
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