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Rabbi Eliezer Silver of Cincinnati
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- 2/15/1882: born in Kovno, Lithuania
- 1906: semicha from Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski
- 1907: immigration to US
- Rabbi in Pennsylvania
- WWI relief efforts
- 1925: rabbi in MA
- 1929: elected first president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis
- 1931: rabbi at Knesseth Israel Congregation in Cincinnati, Ohio
- 1968: died in Ohio
Rabbi Silver exemplifies the classic Jewish affirmation "kol Yisrael aravim zeh l'zeh." Although he himself was an immigrant to the United States, Rabbi Silver felt responsible to do everything in his power to help those Jews left in Europe and newly immigrated, during both world wars and for the remainder of his life. Especially during WWII, Rabbi Silver's leadership and devotion demonstrated the incredible level of concern he felt for his fellow Jews.
Rabbi Eliezer Silver of Cincinnati
By: Nora Yagolnitser
Life Lesson
A Stand Out Because...
Rabbi Silver's devotion to saving Jewish lives was boundless.
"We are ready to pay ransom for Jews and deliver them from concentration camps with the help of forged passports. We are prepared to violate many laws in order to save lives. We do not hesitate to deal with counterfeiters and passport thieves. We are ready to smuggle Jewish children over the borders, and to engage expert smugglers for this purpose, rogues whose profession this is. We are ready to smuggle money illegally into enemy territory in order to bribe those dregs of humanity, the killers of the Jewish people!”
Stories
Biography & Main Contributions
- Shema
- R. Silver visited Catholic orphanages in Europe post-WWII to find Jewish children
- Often told by nuns or priests that there were no Jewish children
- Returned at night to say Shema
- Children would recognize Shema and leave with him, reunited with their culture
- Simon Wiesenthal in Mauthausen after liberation
- R. Silver visited to comfort, pray
- invited Wiesenthal to pray with them
- Wiesenthal refused, relating story about man "abusing" siddur to eat more, dying anyway
- R. Silver proposed an opposite perspective
- Wiesenthal prayed
- 11/1939: emergency meeting in NYC about Nazis in Europe
- Formation of the Vaad Hatzalah (Pres)
- $5 million raised
- 2,000 US visas to Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe
- Marches to Washington DC, incl. 10/6/1943 Grand Rabbis’ March
- 400 rabbis
- Met with VP Wallace
- Memorial for the dead at Lincoln Memorial
- Effect: establishment of the War Refugees Board
- Allowed over 100,000 Jews into US