Silver, Abba Hillel

Silver, Abba Hillel, 1893–1963, American rabbi and Zionist leader, b. Lithuania. He was taken to the United States in 1902. Educated at the Univ. of Cincinnati (B.A., 1915) and Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, he became rabbi of the The Temple, Cleveland, in 1917. He was cochairman of the American Zionist Emergency Council during World War II and chairman of the American section of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, and he thus played a part in the founding of the state of Israel. He was the author of several books, including Democratic Impulse and Jewish History (1928), Vision and Victory (1949), and A History of Messianic Speculation in Israel (1959).

Bibliography

See his selected writings, ed. by H. Weiner (1967).

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Silver, Abba Hillel (1893–1963) rabbi, Zionist leader; born in Sirvintos, Lithuania. He was brought to the U.S.A. in 1902. He was educated at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, the University of Cincinnati, and Western Reserve University. He served as rabbi of Congregation Tifereth Israel in Cleveland (1917–63) and published several books, including Religion in a Changing World (1930) and The World Crisis and Jewish Survival (1941). A militant Zionist, he headed many organizations including the Zionist Organizations of America, American Zionist Emergency Council, United Jewish Appeal, United Palestine Appeal, and Central Conference of American Rabbis. He was president of the World Zionist Organization (1945–48).