Eliezer Silver

He helped save many thousands of Jews in the Second World War and held several Rabbinical positions in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Ohio.

At his direction, synagogues in Cincinnati and across the country sent contracts to rabbis, thereby securing 2,000 emergency visas that were telegraphed to Eastern Europe.

With the increasingly desperate race against time, the Vaad, under Silver turned to all channels, whether legal or not,[4] to save as many lives as possible by bringing Jews to the US, Canada and Palestine.

In October 1943, as the scale of Nazi atrocities was becoming clearer, Silver helped organise and lead a mass rally of more than 400 rabbis in Washington, D.C. to press for more decisive action by the US government to save European Jews.

One of his star students was Rabbi Shlomo Wahrman, who came from Leipzig for fifteen years and went on to becoming principal and Rosh Yeshiva of the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County.

Wahrman attributes his success to Silver's insistence and encouragement to hone his writing skills and record his copious chidushei Torah.

[9] Wahrman writes in the short biography he published on Silver:I remember at times he screamed at me for lack of understanding-however, even then I sensed his great love and concern for me and not the slightest hint of hatred.