The 80th birthday of Rabbi Eliezer Silver, venerable leader of Orthodox Jewry in this country, will be celebrated here at a dinner tendered in his honor, sponsored by a committee composed of religious and lay leaders of all groups in Jewry, it was announced today. The dinner will be given on Feb. 21. Rabbi Silver’s anniversary will also be celebrated in New York by the Histadrut Harabonim, Orthodox rabbinical body.
Rabbi Silver, who has a long and colorful career of service, came to the United States from Lithuania in 1907. He led a delegation of Orthodox rabbis in 1913 to the White House appealing to President Taft to void the American commercial treaty with Czarist Russia because of injustices to Jews there. The treaty was abrogated by the President.
Rabbi Silver was one of the organizers, in 1915, of the Central Relief Committee to help Jews during World War I. The CRC later became a part of the Joint Distribution Committee. During World War II he helped organize the Vaad Haatzalah, a relief group of Orthodox Jews. He is the founder of the Agudat Israel Organization in America.
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