Rabbi Daniel Jeremy Silver Biographical Sketch

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 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 its journal (1964-1974). 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).