ABSTRACT
Judaism has something to contribute here, not in offering pat solutions to complex problems, but in projecting a system of values directing man to serve God by serving his fellow man. Judaism rejects the concept of ''survival of the fittest.'' Man is not engaged in a struggle for survival against his fellow man. The man who owned a well in a field had to make the water available to the inhabitants of a nearby community. Such requirements evolved out of the fundamental Jewish conviction that material possessions are gifts from God, to be used for the benefit of all men. Jewish tradition wrestled with the problem of how to preserve the dignity of recipients of charity. The practices and theories of Jewish philanthropy anticipated many of the most advanced concepts of modern social work and became the basis for the excellent programs and high standards of American Jewish welfare agencies.
