Daniel Jeremy Silver (1928-1989) was a Reform rabbi at the Temple-Tifereth Israel in Cleveland, Ohio. He was the son of Virginia Horkheimer Silver and Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, who preceded and served with him at The Temple. Daniel Jeremy Silver was born in Cleveland and graduated from Shaker Heights High School and from Harvard University in 1948. He received his rabbinical ordination in 1952 from Hebrew Union College, and earned a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1962. Following his ordination, Silver served in the United States Navy as a chaplain.
From 1952 to 1954 Silver was the rabbi at Congregation Beth Torah of Chicago Heights, Illinois. In 1956 he became the associate rabbi at The Temple-Tifereth Israel, one of the largest and most influential Reform Jewish congregations in the United States. He became senior rabbi in 1963, serving until his death. He died on December 20, 1989.
Rabbi Silver married Adele Zeidman of Birmingham, Alabama, in 1956, and they had three children, Jonathan, Michael, and Sarah.
Silver was active in local Jewish and secular affairs. In 1967 he was appointed to chair the Rights of Welfare Clients Work Group of the Mayor's Commission on the Crisis in Welfare. He chaired the Israel Task Force for the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland (1967-1969) and presided over the Cleveland Board of Rabbis (1967-1979). He was chairman of the Congregational Plenum from 1980-1989 and was an adjunct professor of religion at both Cleveland State University (1973-1989) and Case Western Reserve University (1968-1979). He served as a vice-president of the Cleveland Museum of Art from 1970-1989.
Nationally, he was active in the Reform movement's Central Conference of American Rabbis, and edited (1964-1974) its journal. He was president (1966-1974) of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture where he created and chaired (1970-1989) its Academic Advisory Council.
Rabbi Silver was an internationally known Zionist and scholar. He served on Synagogue Council of America, an interdenominational group that met with international Catholic leaders to bring greater understanding between the two religions.
Silver was the author of numerous articles, both popular and scholarly. His sermons were often reproduced in other media. He wrote four books: Maimonidean Criticism and Maimonidean Controversy, 1180-1240 (1965); A History of Judaism: Volume I, From Abraham to Maimonides (1974); Images of Moses (1982); and The Story of Scripture, published posthumously in 1990. He edited In the Time of Harvest: Essays in Honor of Abba Hillel Silver (1963) and Judaism and Ethics (1970).
The Daniel Jeremy Silver Papers, 1907-1993 and undated, consist of appointment books, correspondence, minutes, reports, newspaper clippings, programs, sermons, notes, and writings.
This collection is of value to researchers investigating rabbis and Reform Judaism in general, and in Cleveland, Ohio, in particular. Silver's opinions of the issues of the day, both secular and religious, unfold in his chronologically arranged collection of sermons. Subjects include the city of Cleveland, civil rights, busing, welfare and poverty, the Vietnamese Conflict, campus unrest, important individuals and events in Jewish history, Zionism and the Arab-Israeli conflicts, and issues in Reform Judaism. His subject files show the range of his involvement in activities outside the Temple with such organizations as Case Western Reserve University, where he taught in the Religion Department; the Cleveland Museum of Art; and the Jewish Community Federation, particularly the Public Welfare Committee. He held several positions in the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, and the Zionist Organization of America. He was an invited lecturer at many synagogues and churches in Cleveland and throughout the United States. Of note is a speech made at a memorial service at Kent State University one year after the 1970 deaths of three students there. Also notable are correspondence between Silver and his father-in-law Eugene Zeidman, a Birmingham, Alabama, lawyer, and their discussion of the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. His many trips to Israel resulted in newspaper articles about his travels and the antiquities he found there. Silver's writings reflect his deep interest in the two historical figures named Moses: the biblical Moses and Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides (1135-1204). Also of interest is his personal correspondence, including letters to and from his parents Virginia Horkheimer Silver (1907-1984) and Abba Hillel Silver (1893-1963) and letters written to him by congregants, fellow rabbis, and community leaders when he announced his illness in 1988 and condolence letters in 1989 and 1990.
The collection is arranged in four series.
All photographs have been removed to the photograph collection. Sound materials have been removed to the audio-visual collection.
The researcher should also consult MS 4962 Daniel Jeremy Silver Papers, Series II; MS 4787 Abba Hillel Silver Papers and MS 4842 Abba Hillel Silver Papers, Series II.
Processed by Jane A. Avner in 2001. The microfilming of this collection was made possible through a gift of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland.
Researchers will be asked to use the microfilm of this collection. Access to Container 24 is restricted. Consult the WRHS Curator of Manuscripts for details.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4850 Daniel Jeremy Silver Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Adele Z. Silver, 2000.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.