Rabbi Eliezer Silver i1J1.l., 17,,y 1JT floundering under financial burdens, or a single Jew who needed help, he brought to bear the same Ahavas Yisroel which reached its apex in his monumental rescue work for European Jewry, which literally snatched thousands of souls from certain death. And the same driving force, and the same seemingly boundless energy which motivated Rabbi Silver in his dynamic leadership, propelled him into a greatness in Torah learning achieved by few rabbis on the American scene. Rabbi Eliezer Silver was twenty five years old when he came to America, and shortly thereafter became the Rabbi of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He had already reached a high degree of lomdus before coming to America, having been a talmid of the sainted R' Chaim Ozer Grodzensky, ""lT; but he continued to pursue learning throughout his career as a rabbi. In Harris­ burg, the energetic young rabbi who was concerned with the well-being of every Jew in his community, for twenty five years spent hours of every day and night, sitting in the shul's Beis Medrash and learning in a loud voice, as though he had never left the yeshiva. And he had to explain one day to some of the bale­ batim, that it is the prime responsibility of a rabbi in Israel to learn. They may not have understood at first -"Doesn't a rabbi already know everything?"-but his dedication to his people explained more eloquently than words, the power of Torah learning. Within a short time, Rabbi Silver became a powerful force in the Agudas Harabonim, respected by rabbis two- and perhaps three-times his age. He demonstrated the leadership qualities which later gained him the respect of senators and cabinet members and pres­ idents, when he served on a delegation representing the Agudas Harabonim which met with President Wil­ American Jewish life has become departmentalized. liam Taft. For decades, his close relationship with the There is the rosh yeshiva and mechanech who teaches Taft family, served him well in his constant interven­ Torah to our children; the rav who answers shaylos; tions on behalf of Jews throughout the world. the rabbi who ministers to his congregants; the exec­ Rabbi Silver quickly rose to a position of leadership utive who is concerned with rescue and philanthropic in the Agudas Harabonim, and for forty years served efforts; and the executive director and fund-raiser who both as president and presidium member, making supplies our yeshivas with the funds to meet their ever­ tremendous contributions to the organization and to growing needs. Rabbi Eliezer Silver, ""lT, who died the status of the rabbi in America, while at the same in Cincinnati last month at the age of 87, carried all tin1e serving as rabbi of Cincinnati, Ohio, and breathing of these responsibilities throughout a long and produc­ new life into that community. tive life which radically altered the American Jewish In 1937, on the eve of the Third Knessia Gedola scene. Rabbi Silver, in his dedication to Kial Yisroel, of Agudath Israel, Rabbi Silver received a request from made no distinction between any of the great spectrum his Rebbe-R' Chaim Ozer-in Vilna, urging him to of klal needs and concerns which confronted him as attend the Knessia. At that time, Agudath Israel was a rabbi in Tsrael. Whether it was a yeshiva that was yet to become a national force in American Jewry, and 14 The Jewish Observer, / March, 1968 .. · . Reh Chaim Ozer had sin�led out . his btiHian� talmid ••. meanin�: :r�sc�e of the Torah and· rescue of the / .··· to raise the colors of Aguda on American soil. When ··Nation. One hinges on the other and the two Rabbi Silver returned from Marienbad, he convened cannot be separated. This is the view of the Torah a conference of rabbis and laymen, and established and this is the foundation of Halacha-and the Agudath Israel of America, which he served with his laws concerning the saving of life are clear and dynamic Jcadership until his last days. well-known to us all. His leadership of American Jewry would itself have It was this Torah approach to the saving of lives ,. earned for Rabbi Silver a place of honor in the annals that not only motivated Rabbi Silver and his Joyal of modern-day Jewry. But the dark clouds which co-workers; it was also his guide in determining the covered Europe in the forties projected him into lcad­ techniques of rescue. It was this approach which made ershi p of rescue efforts which dramatically demon­ it possible for the Vaad Hatzalah, organized and led strated the combination of Ahavas Yisrocl and personal by Rabbi Silver, to effect the rescue of thousands of ·· dynamism which was at the core of his being. Rabbi Jews, where other groups had failed. Silver expressed his philosophy of the rescue work in these words: (A report of the historical rescue operations initiated by Rabbi Silver through the Vaad Hatzakih will appear The fate of the Jewish people has a two-fold in our next issue.) O A Letter to the Editor In Defense of Assimilationislll · To the Editor: LET us CONSIDER this last point a decisive criterion. Jn short, the .. · As an historian, Rabbi Raphael first. Rabbi Weinberg begins by convictions of the "Torah Only" ·· Weinberg should know, perhaps considering what he calls, "two school are articles of faith which basic responses to the challenge of are used to explain history rather . .· better than anyone else, that at­ tempting to prove general principles Jewish survival-the isolationist and than empirical principles learned ·· from history, even Jewish History, the assimilationist," the former typ­ from history. 1f my surmise is cor­ is a rather hazardous enterprise. ified by the East European Jew and rect then the interpretation of his­ The "deeds of the fathers" can serve the latter exemplified by Spanish tory by people Jike Rabbi Weinberg as "signs for the children" only Jewry during the Golden Age. He must be approached with great . ... because their history was proph­ claims that the fact that Spanish caution. Jewry, in the main, when put to ·· .•· ctically recorded. Furthermore, this Rabbi Weinberg's major point ·· principle strictly speaking, applies the supreme test became Marranos rests on the assumption that the ·· .. only to the Patriarchs, which ac­ while Ashkenazic Jewry accepted cause of Spanish Jewry's choice of . ..· cording to the Talmud is a name martyrdom, shows that the Judaism Marrano status rather than martyr­ · · to be given to three and only three of the latter "was more potent." dom was the weakness of their personages. For periods following This is supposed to prove that religious convictions which were .. · the Patriarchal age and particularly isolationism is good and assimila­ nurtured by the assimilationist view­ for those epochs where no prophetic tionism is bad. I should like to ask point. But do we know all of the · .· account exists, we are in the same Rabbi Weinberg if we can imagine elements operative at that time to boat as the general historian whose as a result of some startling new enable us to isolate with any degree · conclusions usua11y suffer from two discovery it was suddenly shown of assurance, assimil ationism as the disabilities: • he can never really that Spanish Jewry did opt to die Al causal factor? Rambam had already would he be pre­ .. be sure that he is in possession of Kiddush Hashem, ruled in his /ggeres Hashmad, that · . all the relevant facts to be able to pared to change his judgement and the Moslem persecution was differ­ accord assimilationism equal val­ .· .. determine the cause of a particular ent because it involved only a verbal .· event; • his interpretation may be idity? I doubt it very much. I would affirmation and if one were to ask ·· a mere tendentious app1ication of an guess that he would then argue for guidance the answer would be ·· a priori bias which he brings to his either that this was some exception .. Utter the formula and live!" Per­ · study of history rather than infers to the rule or that the ability to haps Spanish Jewry's collective con­ from it. undergo martyrdom is perhaps not ditioning to the Marrano response · · ii1e Jewish Observer, / March, 1968 · 15 .