Rabbi Eliezer Silver, former president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, died here at the age of 87. He was founder of Agudath Israel of America. During World War II, the Orthodox leader organized rescue efforts for Jews in Europe and helped to save many of them from the Nazi death camps. After the war, he was active in efforts to help Jews leave Communist-controlled European countries. In 1943, he led a delegation of several hundred rabbis to Washington to petition President Roosevelt to open Palestine and other nations to the “remnants of the people of the Book.” He served as rabbi of Congregation Kneseth Israel here for nearly 40 years.
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