Tribute to Dr. Abba Hillel Silver was paid by President Kennedy in a message sent to him yesterday on the occasion of Dr. Silver’s 70th birthday which was celebrated here last night at a dinner attended by national, state and civic leaders. Messages of greeting were received also from former President Eisenhower, Israel’s Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, Dr. Nahum Goldmann, Moshe Sharett, Dr. Emanuel Neumann, Israel’s Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim and other prominent Jewish leaders in the United States and abroad.
President Kennedy’s message was brought to the dinner by United States Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Anthony J. Celebrezze. The message stated that Dr. Silver “has served not only his congregation but his entire community and the nation. His advice and counsel, his keen insights and his wisdom have been made freely available to all of us.”
Former President Eisenhower’s message hailed Dr. Silver’s “constructive and dedicated service not only to the Jewish people but to all people of America and the world.”
Speakers at the dinner included Ohio’s Governor James L. Rhodes, Senators Stephen M. Young and Frank J. Lausche, Dr. Joseph Schwartz, executive vice-president of Israel Bonds; Louis B. Seltzer, editor of the Cleveland Press; Cleveland’s Mayor Ralph S. Locher; Dr. Silver’s sons, Rabbi Daniel Jeremy Silver of the Temple here and Raphael D. Silver, leader in business and civic life in Cleveland, as well as spokesmen of other religious faiths. The dinner also marked publication of a volume of essays in honor of Dr. Silver.
Responding to the tributes paid to him, Dr. Silver envisaged “a world moving slowly and at times painfully in the right direction. ” He said he feels confident that “mankind will achieve even greater good, unpredictable though the outcome of many issues, domestic and international, still may be.” The celebration of Dr. Silver’s birthday began with special service at the Temple addressed by Rabbi Leon I, Feure of Toledo on behalf of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Dr. Nelson Glueck, president of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion; Rabbi Solomon B. Freehof of Pittsburgh, and all of the rabbis who had served as Rabbi Silver’s assistants at the Temple over the past 45 years.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
