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caseworkers. In turn, social
workers are turning to synago
gues and rabbis for help.
Rabbi David Wice of Phila
delphia. who is president of
the Family Service Association
of American, sums it up this
way: “Rabbis need not become
social workers nor social work
ers rabbis, but each should
know enough about the other’s
discipline to cooperate rather
than to compete.”
What are some of the prob
lems clogging channels of com
munication? Rabbi Ralph
Simon, a longtime board mem
ber of the Chicago Jewish
Federation, asserts that the
rabbi must be educated to see
the Jewish communal agency
as a place to find skilled help
for Jews. Rabbi Simon con
tends “it is shocking to dis
cover how many rabbis are
not acquainted wdth the per
sonnel of our agencies and who
rarely or never make referral
to them.” He proposes a con
tinuing program where neces
sary to inform rabbis on Jew
ish communal services and
how to refer congregants to
those services.
Sometimes, however, t h e
rabbi has reason to be irritated
when he does know and does
refer someone to a social
agency. In so doing, he cer
tainly does not want to end
his relationship to that person
but it often happens that once
the referral is made, the rabbi
is pushed out of the situation.
Says the report, “there is often
no reporting back to him of
subsequent developments and
almost never is he included as
a rest urce in working out a so
lution.”
Rabbi Simon touches deli-
atelv on the problem of the
lack of Jewishness of many
Jewish social work personnel.
Such personnel and their agen
cies are viewed by him as
literally parts of the Jewish
community. This means, he
argues, that “their goals, phi
losophy and aspirations should
be Jewishly motivated." Jew
ish social workers should be
imbued with the uniqueness of
the Judaic heritage, and with
a solid background in Jewish
tradition, beliefs and practices,
he adds.
Rabbi Wice believes that
rabbis and social workers
"stand on the threshold of a
new. cooperative period of
their relationships." But he
cautions there is a tendency
among rabbis to counsel trou
bled persons whenever asked,
regardless of a lack of training
for such counseling.
One rabbi deeply involved in
advancing such cooperative ef
forts is Isaac N. Trainin. direc
tor of the religious affairs de-
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partment of the Federation (
Jewish Philanthropies 01
Greater New York. He be
lieves there is almost no hos
tility on the part of the typical
Jewish social worker toward
the religious needs and sense
tivities of clients. More anri
more Jewish welfare agencies
consult rabbis in situation
where the social worker feel,
the rabbis can help, in hi.
view.
Rabbi Trainin’s departmem
has worked with . the New
York Board of Rabbis to con
duct many seminars for rabbis
to give them a working knowl
edge of social work agencies,
their rationale and their role
in the Jewish community. The
Federation’s Commission on
Synagogue Relations is work
ing on the other half of the
problem by seeking to bring
about better understanding
among Jewish social workers
of the rabbi’s role.
There have been a number
of conferences in a number of
communities on topics of mu
tual concern to rabbis and
social workers in such fields
as intermarriage, leisure time,
mental health, adoption, care
of the aged and others.
A recent conference in Phil
adelphia sponsored bv the
Board of Rabbis, the Federa
tion of Jewish Agencies and
the Jewish Y’s and Centers of
Greater Philadelphia yielded
some interesting information
on the scope of such coopera
tion. Participants were told
about a survey which indicat
ed that 60 per cent of Jewish
Centers had either informal or
formal representation from
synagogues on their boards
and that 30 per cent of such
representatives were rabbis.
Many examples of synagogue-
center cooperation 'were re
ported. These included pro
gramming for older adults,
teenage activities and Jewish
cultural and educational ac
tivities.
It is true. Rabbi Trainin re
ports. that there are inevitably
areas of overlap. Often there
are no sure answers to such
questions as: When does a
rabbi refer to a social worker 0
When does a social worker
refer to a rabbi 0 When do they
cooperate and work together?
The only way to find the an
swers. he concludes, is for the
rabbi and the social worker to
meet and tackle these prob
lems and learn from the pro
cess.
And Rabbi Edward T. Sand-
row. president of the New
York Board of Rabbis, submits
that good working relation
ships between the rabbi and
the social worker can definite
ly be advanced if “we focus
more on cooperation than on
the fear of competition.”
The Southern Israelite
