This class was supported by the Committee for the Relief of Polish Jews, which received its funding from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (“the Joint”), a humanitarian relief organization founded in 1914. World War I and its disruptive aftermath threatened the survival of the many religious, educational, and cultural institutions that prior to the war had made Poland one of the most important centers of Jewish scholarship, learning, and culture. In the interwar period, the Joint, played a vital role in restoring and helping to support Jewish schools and institutions, working in partnership with the wide spectrum of Jewish groups and ideologies: Hasidic groups, Zionists, Bundists, Yiddishists, and representatives of mainstream Orthodoxy, ensuring that Jewish education was available for all.