The Downfall of Abba Hillel Silver and the Foundation of Israel (Modern Jewish History)

In early February 1949 American Jewry's most popular and powerful

leader, Abba Hillel Silver (1893-1963), had summarily resigned from all

his official positions within the Zionist movement and had left New York for

Cleveland, returning to his post as a Reform rabbi. In the immediate years

prior to his resignation, during the second half of the 1940s, Silver was the

most outspoken proponent of the founding of a sovereign Jewish state. He

was the most instrumental American Jewish leader in the political struggle

that led to the foundation of the State of Israel. Paradoxically, this historic

victory also heralded Silver's personal defeat.

Soon after Israel's declaration of independence, he and many of his

American Zionist colleagues were relegated to the sidelines of the Zionist

movement. Almost overnight the most influential leader-one who was admired

and feared by both supporters and opponents-was stripped of his

power within both the Zionist and the American Jewish arenas.

Shiff's book discerns the various aspects of the striking turnabout in

Silver's political fate, describing both the personal tragic story of a leader

who was defeated by his own victory, and the much broader intra-Zionist

battle which erupted in full force immediately after the founding of Israel.

Drawing extensively on Silver's personal archival material, Shiff presents

an enlightening portrait of a critical episode in Jewish history. This book is

most relevant for anyone who attempts to understand the complex homeland-

diaspora relations between Israel and American Jewry.