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Convention of Jewish Social Workers Discusses Problems of U.S. Jewry

May 27, 1957
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“In outward appearance, Judaism in this country is becoming like another Protestant sect, with the synagogue like the church and the rabbi like the minister,” Dr. Oscar Handlin, Professor of History at Harvard University, told the delegates attending the 59th annual meeting of the National Conference of Jewish Communal Service. More than 2, 000 Jewish social workers are attending the conclave which will continue through Tuesday.

Maurice Samuel, noted author, told the delegates that the response of American Jews to recent events in Israel and the Middle East may well make the “psychological coming-of-age of American Jewry.” He said: “for many decades the American Jewish community, by far the largest in Jewish history, has been timid in the recognition of its identity. The events following Israel’s invasion of the Sinai Peninsula revealed the coincidence of Jewish sentiment and American interest,” and thus had an “extraordinary effect” in making American Jews understand that there was no contradiction between “good Judaism” and “good Americanism.”

The possibilities of Jewish immigration into Latin American countries were discussed at the parley by James P. Rice, executive director of the United Hias Service, and Sidney Nelson, director of the Joint Distribution Committee for Latin America. Mr. Rice said that his agency “regards Latin America as a major developing area of immigration.

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