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SILESIA

SILBERT, SAMUEL H., judge, b. Kiev, Russia, 1882. He was brought to the United States at the age of six, attended grammar school, peddled newspapers in Newark, N. J., and subsequently settled in Cleveland. He worked as a watchmaker, and attended evening high school and law school, receiving the LL.B. and LL.M. degrees. Silbert practised law, and in 1911 was elected municipal judge at Cleveland. In 1922 he was elevated to the common pleas bench; in 1943 he was completing his seventh term as judge, having led the ticket on six occasions, and was unopposed at his last election. From 1912 on Silbert was professor of law on bailments and domestic relations at the Cleveland University Law School. He was active in B'nai B'rith work.

SILESIA, a Prussian province. The earliest evidence of Jewish settlements in Silesia dates back to the middle of the 12th cent., although the Spanish traveler Ibrahim ibn Jakub mentioned the fact that Jews lived in the area between the old Jewish settlements of Gnesen and Prag in 973.

Documentary evidences of Jews in Silesia are the tombstone dated the 25th of Ab, 4963 (August 4, 1203), and several seals of that time found in 1917 in the north side of the cathedral in Breslau. Early settlements of Jews are documented in cities which are situated along the two old trade routes from Breslau to Leipzig and from Breslau to Magdeburg and Hamburg. Breslau also was the center of trade between Gnesen and Prag.

The Emek Habacha mentions massacres of Jews in Silesia in 1147, and there are vague traditions of persecutions in Glatz (1163) and Leobschütz (1163). The existence of Jews is mentioned in the following other cities: Löwenberg (1209), Bunzlau (1190), Liegnitz (1301; in 1348 the Liegnitz cemetery is mentioned), Gorlice (1230), Lahn (1362), Rosenberg (1226), Beuthen (Upper Silesia; 1226; here Jews were active in developing silver mines, in 1298), Beuthen (1227), Schweidnitz (1270), Jauer (1364), Striegau (1350), Reichenbach (1367), Nimtsch (1320), Münsterberg (1285), Glogau (1264), Brieg (1324), Neisse (1319; a synagogue is mentioned), Neumarkt (1332), Goldburg (1320), Haynau (1320), Hirchberg (1345), Steinau (1336), Guhrau (1336), Lüben (1336), Fraustadt (1336), Namslau (1359), Strehlen (1336; here a Judengasse as well as a synagogue are recorded), Ohlau (1357), Zuckmantel (1339), Namslau (1321; a Jewish district is recorded), Braunau (1354), Ottmachau (1357), Ujest (1357), Weidenau (1357), Grottkau (1357), Bernstadt (1354), Ratibor (1367), Oberglogau (1349), Kosel (1373), Peiskretscham (1373), Ziegenhals (1357), Neustadt (1350), Jägerndorf (1386), Trebnitz (1348), Kanth (1401). The Memorbook of Deutz mentioned Jews murdered in 1348 to 1350 in Neisse, Oels, Guben and Zülz.

In Breslau, the oldest tombstone is dated 1203. Three synagogues are mentioned, in 1352, 1349 and 1375. The latest discovery by Alfred Grotte that the consecrated Gymnasialkirche in 1253 was formerly a synagogue destroyed by the Tatars points to an organized Jewish community at the beginning of the 13th cent. Since the first named tombstone mentioned a Hazan, that statement can be easily believed. Two Jews, Joseph and Chazkel, are mentioned as farmers in the "Falknerdorf" that was part of Breslau. Although there were no ghetto restrictions in Silesia until the 14th cent., the Jews preferred to live together in the Judengasse, due to various practical motives (religious, ritual and community purposes, better protection, and the like). The Breslau community was under the leadership of the episcopus judcorum, the "Jews' Bishop." The ritual butcher (Shohet) and the different teachers were under his supervision. On September 27, 1345, King Ian gave permission to use all the stones of the Jewish cemetery in Breslau for the fortification of the city. Fifty men worked for nine days removing the stolen stones.

The Jewish community of Breslau grew rapidly through the influx of newcomers from the Reich after the German

izing of the east, yet the Jews were deprived gradually of their equality of civil rights. Antagonism toward Jews grew with the improvement in the Jewish economic position, and anti-Semitism spread also to Silesia. A provincial synod in Breslau (1267) issued exceptional regulations against the Jews, resulting in the separation of Jews from Christians. They had to wear pointed hats, and were prohibited from using public bathhouses and hotels. They were not allowed to buy food in the same stores as Christians. Jewish doctors were not allowed to treat Christian patients, and conversion to Judaism was punished by death. Also dealing in money (exchange banking, pawnbroking, and the like) was considerably restricted.

During the period of the Flagellants Jew-hatred was propagated also in Silesia, particularly in Gorlice, Glatz and Upper-Glogau, which resulted in Jews being murdered throughout all the settlements. The growth of the Jewish community in Breslau started again in the middle of the 14th cent., but in 1360, following an incendiary fire, the Jewish quarter was plundered again and all the Jews who resisted conversion (baptism) were murdered or expelled. They fled primarily to Schweidnitz. The Jews did not even then vanish entirely from Silesian history in spite of unbearable persecutions. In Schweidnitz, known in the 14th cent as the city of great Talmudic scholars, the Jews stood in good favor with Duke Bolko II, and later with his widow. The Hussite war again brought hardships to the Jews (15th cent.). Indescribable was the furious Johann Capistrano, who almost exterminated the Jews of Breslau in 1453. Capistrano ordered forty-one Jews to be burned at the marketplace (May 2). The rabbi, who was among these victims, committed suicide. After the execution 318 Silesian Jews who had been imprisoned had to leave Silesia and in 1455 King Ladislaus issued a decree banning Jews from Breslau "until eternity." The synagogues were converted into storehouses and the property of the Jews confiscated. During the 16th cent. ensued the expulsion of the Jews from the duchies of Oels and Münsterberg, later also from the other Silesian towns by decree of Ferdinand I (1527). After 500 years only four Jewish communities were still in existence: Glogau, Zülz, Dyhernfurth and Breslau. The community in Glogau retained its status, and even developed prosperity. But the Jews of Silesia had continually to defend their position as regards dwellings and industrial privileges. During the Chmielnicki revolt (1648-49) in Poland many Jews fled to Silesia, and brought about an increase in the Jewish population; new Jewish communities were founded, especially in Upper Silesia, with Beuthen as main center, and Dyhernfurth, where Sabbatai Bass established a famous print-shop in 1688. Dyhernfurth was the first place in Silesia to be settled by Jews since their expulsion. Bass es tablished a cemetery there (1689) which served the Jews of Breslau and vicinity until 1761. The tolerated Jews, refugees from Polish persecution, had to challenge the landlords, the municipal councils, the court-officers and the emperor. These conditions ceased finally after the issuance of a decree of tolerance by Charles VI (January 10, 1713). This decree provided the right of dwelling not merely for old inhabitants, but also for aliens after payment of a so-called “tolerance tax."

The year 1740 brought Silesia under the rule of Frederick the Great. Thereafter began a new era in the history of the Silesian Jews, which developed with the history of Prussia. Frederick II of Prussia brought Jews to Upper Silesia to develop the mines. Solomon became the founder and owner of the "Solomon-Mines." The new spirit of tolerance induced Ephraim Kuh of Breslau to write poetry in German. The philosopher Solomon Maimon found a refuge in the castle of the count of Niedersiegersdorf, near Glogau. As regards the internal affairs of the Silesian Jews in the 19th cent., the conflict within the Breslau community which is perpetuated in the names of Abraham Geiger and Solomon Tiktin is well-known.

During the 19th cent. Jews became instrumental in the industrial development of Silesia. Moritz Friedlaender and Simon Levy founded the outstanding foundry, Friedenshütte, in 1867, Salo Hultschinski founded the Gleiwitzer Walzwerke, Albert Hahn built

the famous Oberschlesische Röhrenwerke, and Simon Pringsheim the Bismarkhütte. Rudolf Pringsheim, grandfather of the wife of Thomas Mann, organized and owned the Silesian-Oder-Railroad Schmalspurbahn. Otto Friedlaender founded the Moritz foundry and owned the Heinitz mine. Oskar and George Caro owned the Herminen foundry. The Kern family became well-known in Germany as steel masters. Adolf Jarislowski developed the Donnersmark foundry. Caesar Wollheim founded and owned the greatest inland trade organization connected with ports of the river Oder. Lippmann Bloch and Rawack and Grünfeld became internationally known as Germany's outstanding ore dealers. Jews developed the lumber, leather and paper industries. After Silesia became part of Prussia Jews became very active in the textile industry, and founded firms of world fame: in Landeshut, I. Rinkel, Meyer Kauffmann, Albert Hamburger; in Neustadt, S. Fraenkel; in Sagan, Moses Loew Behr; in Reichenbach, Albert Cohn and S. Fleischer.

In the first third of the 20th cent. Jews were living in all the cities of Silesia, taking active part in its cultural, economic and political development. They numbered 45,000 (1925). The leading city of Jewish life was Breslau. In the province of Lower Silesia (district of Breslau, and Liegnitz) lived 35,000 Jews, and in the province of Upper Silesia nearly 10,000 Jews. The principal community was Beuthen. After the plebiscite in Upper Silesia (1920) more than 4,000 Jews came under Polish rule, but many moved to Germany.

The Jews took an active part in the defense of Upper Silesia against the Polish insurgents. They joined the "Free-Corps," and several of them fell in the battle of Annaberg. The hero of that period is the fifteen-yearold Jewish boy Rudolf Haase, who was executed by the Poles for his activities as a German. The Nazi government (Der Stürmer, for instance) later praised him as a typical German hero, the "Silesian Schlageter." Dr. Max Bloch became the head of the German civilian defense organizations against the Poles. Chief Rabbi Kopfstein of Beuthen was taken by the French army of occupation as a hostage, since many Jews had been active in guerrilla warfare against the Poles and French. Many of them were killed.

Jews were active in the cultural development of Silesia during the time of the German Republic. They became leaders in practically all fields of science, art and trade, and in the cultural organizations in Silesia. Dr. Immerwahr of Beuthen founded its Museum, and Josef Pinkuss of Meustadt founded and collected the greatest library of Silesian writers and scientists. Willi Cohn helped to enlarge the museum in Breslau.

The rise of the Nazi government in 1933 put an end to all this in Lower Silesia. Upper Silesia was under a special Versailles edict, and the Jews were therefore protected to a certain degree. This special status expired on July 15, 1937, and the Nuremberg Laws were instituted. On that day a great riot was staged in Beuthen, the synagogue windows were destroyed, stores pillaged and many persons cruelly beaten. On November 9, 1938, all synagogues in Silesia were destroyed and 5,000 Jews thrown into the concentration Camp at Buchenwald. The famous Jewish hospital of Breslau was handed over to the government at one hour's notice after the outbreak of the second World War. Emigration of Jews from Silesia was organized by the Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden, with its two main headquarters in Breslau and Beuthen. In 1942 there were still three rabbis active in Silesia, the courageous Reinhold Levin in Breslau, Herbert Bileski in Beuthen, and Albert Saretzki in Gleiwitz. The latest (1942) reports from France and Belgium stated that thousands

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of Jews were deported as forced laborers to the Upper Silesian coal mines and foundries, which were founded by Jews, and also that the entire Jewish population of Silesia who had not been found fit to serve Hitler's war effort was annihilated by mass deportation to Lublin and mass executions in the Polish part of Silesia, leaving the country almost judenrein.

See also BRESLAU; GERMANY. FRANK ROSENTHAL.

Lit.: Brann, M., Geschichte der Juden in Schlesien (1896-1917); idem, "Die schlesische Judenheit vor und nach dem Edict von 11. März 1812," Jahresbericht des jüdisch-theologischen Seminars; Cohn, W., Das Judentum in der Geschichte Schlesiens, with an introduction, "Die Geschichte der Juden in Schlesien" (1929); Grotte, Alfred, Synagogenspuren in alten schlesischen Kirchen (1937); Rabin, Israel, Vom Rechtskampf der Juden in Schlesien (1927); Weinryb, B., in Kiryath Sefer, vol. 14 (1937-38)

112-17.

SILKIN, LEWIS, member of parliament and communal worker, b. London, 1889. He studied law at the Universities of London and Oxford, became a solicitor and was elected on a Laborite ticket to the House of Commons from the Peckham Division of Camberwell in 1936. Silkin served as chairman of the Town Planning Committee of the London County Council and was a member of the Central Housing Advisory Committee and of the Select Committee on National Expenditure.

SILKINER, BENJAMIN NAHUM, Hebrew poet, b. 1888; d. New York city, 1934. He was one of the first of the Hebrew poets to become prominent in America, and the quality of his verse made him also the outstanding Hebrew poet of his time in the United States. Silkiner was the first to introduce American Indian themes into Hebrew poetry, especially in his epic Mul Ohel Timura, which appeared around 1910. Others of his longer poems deal with spiritual and moral legends, as well as with Jewish national themes. A collection of his verse was published posthumously.

Silkiner's poetry shows a break from the Hebrew poems of his predecessors in being free from gloom and forward-looking. His writing is delicate, resembling skilled embroidery. He is in his happiest mood in depicting the calm that comes after a storm. His Indian themes show force and power of narration, the fate of the disappearing tribes and of a minority. Silkiner translated Shakespeare's Macbeth into Hebrew, and collaborated with Ephrath and Judah Kaufman in compiling an English-Hebrew dictionary.

Lit.: Ribalow, M., Soferim Veishim (1936) 116-21; idem, edit., Sefer Zikkaron Le-B.N. Silkiner (1934).

SILOAM INSCRIPTION, see SHILOAH.

SILVA, ALBERTO CARLOS DA, librarian, b. Lisbon, Portugal, 1850; d. Lisbon, 1912. He was official and then Primeiro-Conservador of the Bibliotheca Nacional de Lisbon from 1887 to his death. In his later years he collected rare books written by Portuguese Jews, most of which he gathered in England, Germany, and Holland.

Lit.: American Jewish Year Book, vol. 25, p. 148.

SILVA, ANTONIO JOSE DA (frequently called O Judeu ["the Jew"]), Marrano dramatist, b. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1705; d. Lisbon, Portugal, 1739. After studying in Coimbra he became a lawyer in Lisbon. At an early date he began to write for the theatre, sketching in comedies, comic operas, marionette shows and songs the viciousness of his contemporaries. His

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comedies, later known as the "Comedies of the Jew," were successfully performed in 1733 to 1738. Until the end of the 18th cent. his productions were published anonymously, for fear of the Inquisition. Some of his acrostics, however, indicate the author's name. A portion of his work was still unpublished in 1943.

At the age of twenty-one Silva was accused of writing impudent satires and of observing the Jewish religion secretly. A few months thereafter the tribunal of the Inquisition announced that Silva, who was subjected to torture, was to be considered a penitent sinner. He nevertheless continued to observe the Jewish ritual. Silva thereupon took two peculiar steps: he submitted to circumcision, and joined the Franciscan Order, for the purpose of dissipating the rumors that he still adhered to Judaism. In 1737 he and his wife were imprisoned by the Inquisition and sentenced to death; two years later, despite the intercession of King João V, Silva was burned at the stake in the presence of his wife at Lisbon (October 19, 1739).

Silva's principal works include: Don Quixote (1733); Esopaida (1734); Os encantos de Medea (1736); Labyrintho de Creta (1736); Guerras de Alecrim e Mangerona (1737); As variedades de Proteo (1737); Precipio de Faetonte (1738).

Lit.: Denis, Ferdinand, Chefs d'oeuvre du théâtre portugais (1823); Varnhagen, Florilegia da poesia brazileira (1850); Wolf, Ferdinand, Don Antonio Jose da Silva (1860); Kohut, George Alexander, Bibliography of Works Relating to José da Silva and Don Antonio's Compositions; Kayserling, M., Biblioteca Española-Portugueza-Judaica (1890); Bell, A. F., Portuguese Literature (1922); Roth, Cecil, A History of the Marranos (1932) 165, 180, 393; Moraes, E. de, Carceres e fogueiras da Inquisição.

SILVA, FRANCISCO MALDONADO DE, Marrano physician and martyr of the Spanish-American Inquisition, b. San Miguel, province of Tucuman, Peru, 1592; d. Lima, Peru, 1639. He was baptized and brought up by his father, the Marrano Diego Nuñez de Silva, in the Catholic faith. At the age of eighteen he learned through his father of his Jewish origin, began to study Judaism, and became a devout Jew.

Silva, who practised medicine and surgery in the city of Concepcion, Chile, endeavored to convert his sister, Doña Isabel Maldonado de Silvia, an ardent Catholic, to Judaism. Thereupon she denounced him. to the authorities, and on April 29, 1627, Silva was arrested and thrown into a cell of the convent of San Domingo. Later he was removed to a prison in Lima, Peru, where he spent the last twelve years of his life.

All efforts made by the heads of the Inquisition to have Silva renounce Judaism and to return to Catholicism were fruitless. At the first hearing before the tribunal, on July 23, 1627, the prisoner refused to take the customary oath on the crucifix. In prison he entered upon a series of religious disputations with theologians who vainly sought to win him over. On the contrary, he wrote commentaries on the Bible and treatises intended to reclaim Marranos to Judaism. He even succeeded in inducing several of his fellow prisoners to return to Judaism. After the last efforts of the Inquisition to convert the prisoner had failed, he was burned at the stake along with ten others, on January 23, 1639. His last words were: "I shall see the God of Israel face to face."

Lit.: Medina, J. T., Historia del Tribunal del Santo Officio de la Inquisicion en Chile, vol. 2 (1890) 71 et seq.; Kohut, George Alexander, "The Trial of F. M. de Silva,' Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No. 112 (1903) 163-79; Wiernik, Peter, History of the Jews in America (1931) 27; Roth, Cecil, A History of the Marranos (1932) 163, 165, 173, 279.

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SILVA, SAMUEL DE, 18th cent. painter. He is known to have worked in London, but evidently lived for the most part in Holland, from which country the name originates. The German poet Karl Gutzkow derived the name de Silva for his drama, Uriel Acosta, from his Amsterdam studies. Only one work of Samuel de Silva's is known, a portrait of the chief rabbi of London, Moses Gomez Mesquita (1688-1751), and this has come down only through a mezzotint reproduction by J. Faber (1752). But the engraving shows it to have been an outstanding accomplishment.

Lit.: Rubens, Alfred, Anglo-Jewish Portraits (1935); Landsberger, Franz, "Jewish Artists Before the Period of Emancipation," Hebrew Union College Annual, vol. 16 (1941) 377.

SILVER, ABBA HILLEL, rabbi, orator and Zionist leader, b. Neinstadt, Lithuania, 1893. He was brought to the United States by his parents in 1902, settling in New York city.

As a boy he was a leading member of a Hebrew speaking club, named after Theodor Herzl, which conducted debates and performed plays in the Hebrew language. He studied at the University of Cincinnati and the Hebrew Union College, graduating from both in 1915. He then became rabbi of Eoff Street Temple, Wheeling, W. Va. Two years later he received a call to The Temple of Cleveland, the largest Reform congregation in the United States, where was still serving in 1943. During his ministry the beautiful new Temple was built. In 1925 he received the D.D. degree from the Hebrew Union College.

Silver was active in the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Hebrew Union College. He took a leading part in the civic and philanthropic affairs of the Cleveland community. He sponsored the first unemployment insurance law in Ohio, was a member of the board of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union, and was interested in child labor legislation. He was chairman of the Cleveland Jewish Welfare Fund from 1935 to 1941, and co-founder of the Cleveland Bureau of Jewish Education and its first presi

dent. Silver was co-chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, and chairman of the United Palestine Appeal from 1938 on.

During the first World War Silver was sent to France by the United States government and at the invitation of the French government, which later gave him a decoration. He attended a number of international Zionist congresses and in the spring of 1942 visited England on a diplomatic mission for the Zionist Movement as well as to aid the campaign of British Jewry for the Palestine Foundation Fund.

Since the beginning of his career, Silver had played an important part in the American Zionist Movement. He held a number of important offices, serving as vicepresident of the Zionist Organization of America and a member of the Zionist Actions Committee, the Council of the Jewish Agency and of the American Emergency Committee for Zionist Affairs. In 1921 he was a leading member of the Brandeis-Mack group but was among the first of the dissenters to return to active Zionist service. Silver favored the plan for the extended Jewish Agency proposed by Weizmann and Marshall, which was later ratified at Zurich (1929). He entered the lists actively against the British government's plan to partition Palestine, later abandoned. Silver was a consistent critic of British administration in Palestine and spoke with vigor and skill in condemnation of British violation of their mandatory undertakings. Together with Samuel Untermyer he organized the anti-Nazi boycott in the United States.

In addition to skill in negotiation and administration, Silver possessed a unique and unrivalled gift of oratory. On occasion his fervor and passion made lasting impressions on large audiences. His sermons and public addresses were distinguished for grace of expression and vision, for fine style and originality of thought, which often rose to lofty dramatic heights, and for boldness and courage. It set a standard for Zionist platform utterances and Jewish pulpit oratory.

His writings include: Messianic Speculations in Ancient Israel (1927); The Democratic Impulse in Jewish History (1928); Religion in a Changing World (1930); World Crisis and Jewish Survival (1941). He was awarded honorary degrees by Western Reserve University (Litt. D., 1928) and the Hebrew Union College (D.H.L., 1941) and in 1940 was Dudleian lecturer at Harvard University.

LOUIS LIPSKY.

Lit.: Freehof, S. B., in Congress Weekly, Jan. 15, 1943,

p. 10.

SILVER, ELIEZER, rabbi and Orthodox Jewish leader, b. Abel, province of Kovno, Lithuania, 1882. The son of Rabbi Bunem Zemach Silver, he received his rabbinical education in the Kibbutzim of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, and settled in the United States early in 1907. He served (1907 to 1925) as rabbi of the Orthodox congregations Chisuk Emuno, Kesher Israel and Machzike Hadas in Harrisburg, Pa. In 1925 he was called to the pulpit of the united Orthodox congregations in Springfield, Mass. (Kodimo, Bney Israel, Beth Israel and Kesher Israel), serving until 1931, when he became rabbi of the United Orthodox Congregations in Cincinnati; he was still serving in this position in 1943. Silver was president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada (1929) and, together with Rabbi Israel Rosenberg of New York city and Rabbi Bernard L. Levinthal of Philadelphia, he was (1943) on its presiding board.

In 1939 he was elected president of the newly founded United States branch of the Agudath Israel. In 1943 he was still the head of the Greater Cincinnati Vaad Hair (Orthodox city council). In addition to articles contributed to the

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Degel Torah (Warsaw), Hapardes and Migdal Torah (New York), Silver wrote a Talmudic encyclopedia on the divisions Zeraim, Kodashim and Toharoth.

SILVERBERG, PAUL, industrialist, b. Bedburg, Germany, 1876. In 1903, after having studied law and economics, he succeeded his father as general manager of the lignite mine Fortuna, and developed to pre-eminent position his mines and briquette factories. Silverberg was board member of numerous industrial and financial institutions. For many years he was vicepresident of the Reichsverband der deutschen Industrie, the principal association of German industry. When Stresemann directed German foreign policy, Silverberg was particularly influential with German industrialists and endeavored to make them sympathetic with the republican government.

Even after Stresemann's death, Silverberg increased his efforts to prevent leaders of German industry from following Hitler, but he was finally defeated. In 1932 Silverberg was still elected president of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Cologne, but in 1933 he was forced to retire into private life.

SILVERMAN, ALEXANDER, chemist and glass technologist, b. Pittsburgh, 1881. After working as a chemist with a glass company, he was appointed to the chemistry faculty of the University of Pittsburgh (1905) and there received his master's degree (1907). In 1918 Silverman was made head of the department of chemistry, a post he still occupied in 1943. Under his guidance, the department became famous in university circles. His pioneer researches in the chemistry of glass were outstanding and internationally famous; in that field he contributed numerous discussions to the professional press and appeared regularly as lecturer before scientific societies. His collection of modern glass came to be reputed one of the most notable in the world, from the standpoint of both art and technology. He received a number of patents in the United States and Europe for coloring agents for glass, as well as patents for his microscope illuminator. As delegate of the American Ceramic Society, of which he was vice-president (1931) and trustee (1932), he attended several international chemistry conventions; in 1938 he was official United States delegate to the Tenth International Congress of Chemistry held at Rome, Italy.

In addition, Silverman published prolifically on other phases of chemical knowledge, and together with A. L. Robinson was author of the book Selective Experiments in General Chemistry (1939). A member and fellow of many learned societies, Silverman received the Pittsburgh Award of the Pittsburgh section of the American Chemical Society in 1940 for his contributions to industrial chemistry and to chemical education. Previously he had been awarded the honorary degree of doctor of science by the University of Pittsburgh (1930) and Alfred University, Alfred, New York (1936).

SILVERMAN, DANIEL S., physician, b. New Orleans, 1894. He graduated from Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans (M.D. 1917), and was made professor of gastro-enterology in the university's Graduate School of Medicine. Silverman described a rapid method for the determination of gastric acidity by means of test papers (1925), isolated and first identified the bacillus of Duval as a cause of endemic and sporadic bacillary dysentery in the United States (1931). He made several other discoveries in the field of bacillary dysentery and other regions of gastro-enterology.

Lit.: Kagan, Solomon R., Jewish Contributions to Medicine in America (1939) 595.

SILVERMAN, SAMUEL

SILVERMAN, HENRY P., rabbi, b. Bournemouth, England, 1895. He became minister of the Oxford Road Synagogue, Manchester, England, and later served as rabbi of Temple B'nai Israel and People's Temple Beth-El, Elmira, N. Y. In 1935 he became minister of the United Congregation of Israelites at Kingston, Jamaica, which combined the former Sephardic and Ashkenazic congregations. Silverman was also active in several charitable organizations of Kingston. He was a delegate to the American Prison Congress, and author of Friday Night Evening Service, Hymns and Special Prayers (1936). He was a contributor to the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia.

SILVERMAN, HERBERT A., educator and writer on economics, b. Leeds, England, 1896. He studied at the University of Leeds and became a lecturer in economics at the Chatham Technical Institute (1917-19) and at the University of Birmingham (1919-29). In 1929 he was appointed head of the department of adult education of University College, and director of Vaughan College, Leicester, England.

His published writings include The Substance of Economics (1922; 11th ed., 1939); The Economics of Social Problems (1925); The Groundwork of Economics (1926); Taxation: Its Incidents and Effects (1931) and Economics of the Industrial System (1931).

SILVERMAN, IDA M. (Mrs. Archibald Silverman), Zionist leader, b. Russia, 1882. She was brought to the United States as an infant. She early became interested in the Zionist Movement, and played an important part in the preparation of plans for the expansion of Jewish settlement, organizing and serving as chairman of the Jezreel Development Co. and as a member of the board of the Herzlia Development Co., both of which engaged in irrigation and planting.

Her active participation in Zionist affairs resulted in her holding office in both the world movement and in the American branches. She was a deputy delegate of the inner actions committee of the World Zionist Organization, a member of the Council of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, vicepresident of both the Zionist Organization of America and Hadassah and active in the interests of the Hebrew University. Prior to the second World War she spent six months out of every year in Palestine.

Her other interests included the American Jewish Congress, of which she was a national vicepresident, membership on the Women's Advisory Committee of Rhode Island for the New York World's Fair, and local activities in Rhode Island. In 1941 she spent seven and a half months in South America, visiting practically all the Jewish communities on the continent, and assisted in the organization of the Inter-American Jewish Conference held in Baltimore in November of that year. In 1942 she toured England in the interests of the Keren Hayesod. She visited thousands of communities in the United States, speaking in behalf of Zionism.

ARCHIBALD SILVERMAN (b. Russia, 1880), was the husband of Ida M. Silverman. He was brought to the United States in 1890 and early entered the jewelry manufacturing business in Providence, R. I. He was president of the Lincoln Trust Company, the National Realty Company, and the City Real Estate Company. Following the first World War, he served as chairman of Jewish war relief work in Providence and maintained his interest in Jewish affairs by serving for eight years as president of the Jewish Orphanage of Rhode Island, as a director of the HIAS and the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society of Denver, and as a member of the American Jewish Committee.

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SILVERMAN, JOSEPH, rabbi, b. Cincinnati, 1860; d. New York city, 1930. He was ordained in 1884 by the Hebrew Union College, from which he received the D.D. degree in 1887. Silverman served as rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas, and of Temple Israel in Galveston. In 1888 he became junior rabbi of Temple Emanu-El of New York, then served from 1903 to 1922 as senior rabbi and from 1922 to his death as rabbi emeritus. In 1923 he visited Palestine and wrote a series of articles for the New York Tribune on his Palestinian experiences. He toured extensively as a lecturer, and wrote numerous theological works.

Silverman was founder and first president of the Emanu-El Brotherhood, president of the Eastern Council of Reform Rabbis and of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (1900-3), honorary president of the New York Board of Jewish Ministers, and a founder and first president of the Association of Reform Rabbis of New York City and Vicinity.

Lit.: New York Times, July 27, 1930.

SILVERMAN, MORRIS, rabbi, b. Newburgh, N. Y., 1894. After studying at Ohio State University (A.B., 1916), Columbia University (M.A., 1917) and the Jewish Theological Seminary (Rabbi, 1922), he became rabbi of Emanuel Synagogue at Hartford, Conn., in 1923, and was still serving there in 1943.

He was instructor of Jewish history at the University of Connecticut from 1934 to 1936. He participated actively in communal affairs, being the first rabbi to be president of the Hartford Association of Ministers and Rabbis (1934) and a director or member of the executive committee of numerous local Jewish organizations. He served on the executive board of the Rabbinical Assembly of America, and was chairman of its committee on ritual.

Silverman made a notable contribution to the liturgy of Conservative congregations by preparing a series of prayer-books containing the traditional prayers with an English translation, explanatory notes and supplementary material. The books were hailed as inspiring and adopted by many Conservative Congregations. They are: The Junior Prayer Book (vol. 1, 1933; vol. 2, (1937); Sabbath and Festival Services (1936); High Holiday Prayer Book (1939).

SILVERMAN, SAMUEL SYDNEY, deputy, b. Liverpool, England, 1895. He studied law at the University of Liverpool, received the B.A. and LL.B. degrees, and was a lecturer in English at the National

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