The Downfall of Abba Hillel Silver and the Foundation of Israel

Contents

Contents Introduction 1 Part One. The Early 1950s 1. The “Bridges and Walls” Approach 7 2. The “American Century” in the Wake of the Holocaust 17 3. Where Judaism Differed: A Call for External and Internal Reform 38 Part Two. In Retrospect: Silver’s Pre-State Zionist Career 4. Silver’s Early Struggle against Anti-Semitism and Nazism 57 5. The 1940s: The Holocaust as Political Leverage 80 6. 1947–1948: An American-Jewish or a Pan-Jewish Leader? 106 Part Three. Israel Becomes an Ideological and Political Challenge 7. In the Wake of Israeli Statehood 121 8. Identification without Subordination 144 9. The Attempt to Regain Status in the Wake of Eisenhower’s Election 167 10. A Recurrent Existential Threat to the Jews 195 11. Unequivocal Support for Israel during the Suez Crisis 217 Epilogue. Reform Jewish Prophet or Zionist Leader? 12. Silver as a Progressive Visionary 245 13. Nonetheless, a Zionist Leader 257 References 273 Index 285 T h e Dow n fa ll of Abba Hillel Silver a n d t h e Foundation of Israel ...