Rabbi Silver (1893-1963), born in Lithuania and living in the United States since 1902, is an influential Reform rabbi. Ordained at Hebrew Union College in 1915, he settles in Cleveland, where he serves as a congregational rabbi. A major champion of the Zionist cause, Silver chairs the Executive Committee of the American Zionist Emergency Council. In testimony before the U.S. Senate, he called for the abrogation of the British policy that dramatically slowed Jewish immigration to Palestine, recounted Jewish history and Jewish attachment to the Land of Israel, and noted that Jews had poured more than $600 million into the development of Palestine by 1943 to develop their national home. He addresses the U.N. General Assembly on behalf of the Jewish Agency for Palestine with a speech that David Ben-Gurion would have presented if his travel had not been delayed. In the address, offered before the United Nations commits to investigating Palestine’s future, Silver again articulately promotes the right of Jews to establish their state.
