Abba Hillel Silver

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Dr. Abba Hillel Silver
Abba Hillel Silver c. 1920
Born
Abba Hillel Silver

January 28, 1893
Lithuania
DiedNovember 28, 1963
Cleveland, Ohio
NationalityAmerican
OccupationPresident of the Zionist Organization of America
Known forRepresentative of the American Zionist movement at World Zionist Congress
Signature
Abba Hillel Silver, Menachem Ussishkin and Israel Goldstein during a Zionist Congress, 1937.

Abba Hillel Silver (January 28, 1893 – November 28, 1963) was an American

State of Israel
.

He saw such a settlement as a means to protect Jewish heritage, rather than having it serve as a main point of purpose for Jews.[1]

Biography

Born Abraham Silver in

Cleveland, Ohio
, one of the nation's largest and best-known Reform congregations, where he served for forty-six years.

Abba Hillel Silver was an early champion of rights for labor, for worker's compensation and civil liberties, though his highest priorities were to advance respect for and support of Zionism. He canvassed first Reform Jewish congregations, then American Jewry, then the American public and politicians, and last the international community, the United Nations in particular. Silver was a keynote speaker in the Allied Jewish Campaign to raise funds jointly for Zionist projects in Palestine and for European Jewry.[3]

At a meeting of the American Zionist Emergency Council in May 1944, Silver argued that ‘our overemphasizing the refugee issue has enabled our opponents to state that, if it is rescue you are concerned about, why don’t you concentrate on that and put the politics aside…It is possible for the Diaspora to undermine the Jewish state, because the urgency of the rescue issue could lead the world to accept a temporary solution…We should place increased emphasis on fundamental Zionist ideology’.[4]

Silver was one of the chief Zionist spokesmen appearing before the United Nations in the

Moshe Shertok made the case for Israel on 17 October 1947.[6] Silver accepted the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine
as the best means to rapidly create a homeland for the Jewish people. After the plan was approved in the UN by 33 votes to 13, Silver wrote:

We extend a hand of genuine friendship to the new Arab state which is to be established in Palestine. The Jewish nation in Palestine will be eager to cooperate fully with its Arab neighbor and to contribute within the framework of the economic union to the progress and prosperity of the whole of Palestine. In this historic hour we call upon the Arab people of Palestine and all neighboring Arab countries to join with us in an era of peaceful and fruitful collaboration.[7]

Abba Hillel Silver was a leading proponent of Zionism in America and met with President Truman several times to discuss his views until his uncompromising manner caused friction with the White House, leading to estrangement from the Truman White House,[8] including Truman's appearance on national television to announce the formation of the State of Israel. The story of his pounding on Harry Truman's desk at the White House, however, after much research by Rafael Medoff, has been shown to be untrue.

By mobilizing Jewish and non-Jewish support and through a relationship with the Republican party that resulted in 1948 in a pro-Israel plank in their platform, Silver left Truman no choice but to support Israel and recognize it immediately after it declared its independence.

A nationally-known orator and author of many scholarly works, including important studies of the history of Jewish-Christian relations,[9] Silver also served as head of many Jewish and Zionist organizations.

He died on November 28, 1963, and was interred at Mayfield Cemetery in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.[10]

Works

  • A History of Messianic Speculation in Israel from the First through the Seventeenth Centuries. New York: Macmillan Company. 1927.
  • The Democratic Impulse in Jewish History. New York: Bloch Publishing Company. 1928.
  • Religion in a Changing World. New York: R.R. Smith. 1930.
  • The World Crisis and Jewish Survival: A Group of Essays. New York: R.R. Smith. 1941.
  • Vision and Victory: A Collection of Addresses, 1942-1948. New York: Zionist Organization of America. 1949.
  • Where Judaism Differed: An Inquiry into the Distinctiveness of Judaism. New York: Macmillan. 1956.
  • Moses and the Original Torah. New York: MacMillan. 1961.
  • Weiner, Herbert, ed. (1967). Selected Sermons, Addresses, and Writings of Abba Hillel Silver. New York: World Pub. Co.

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Abba Hillel Silver.
  1. ^ Abba Hillel Silver website
  2. ISBN 0-7146-4824-8
    p 88
  3. ISBN 0-8143-1891-6
    p 220.
  4. ^ Novick, Peter. The Holocaust and Collective Memory: The American Experience. London: Bloomsbury, 2001, p.43
  5. ^ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Highlights of Main Events 1947-1974
  6. ^ Mr. Moshe Shertok, as head of Political Department of the Jewish Agency, statement to Ad Hoc Committee on Palestine.
  7. ^ "We Extend a Hand of Amity to the Arabs" (PDF). Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  8. ISBN 0-7914-6687-6
    p 127.
  9. ISBN 9780521517409
    .
  10. ISBN 9780917256226
    .
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abba_Hillel_Silver&oldid=1229139077"