Letter Handwritten and signed by R. Eliezer Silver, Av Beit Din of Cincinnati and head of the presidium of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada. [Cincinnati], Iyar 1964.

Sent to Jerusalem, addressed to R. Yechezkel Abramsky, head of the Beit Din of London, who had asked him to act against the plan to grant recognition and authority to perform gittin and kiddushin to liberal and Reform rabbis immigrating from the USA to Israel, which according to him, could potentially undermine the sanctity of the country and encourage assimilation. R. Silver then writes about various actions to be taken in the USA and Israel to ensure the success of this effort. At the bottom of the letter, after his signature, R. Silver writes about his plan to come to Jerusalem that summer to participate in the Fifth World Congress of Agudath Israel.

R. Eliezer Silver (1882-1968), one of the greatest rabbis in the USA and a leader of Orthodox Judaism. Son of R. Bunim Tzemach, Av Beit Din of Obeliai, northern Lithuania. Known from his youth as a prodigy and exceptional Torah scholar, he was a disciple of the Or Sameach and the Rogatchover Gaon in Dvinsk, and later of R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski and R. Chaim of Brisk.
In 1907, he immigrated to the USA, where he served as rabbi of several communities. In 1931, Silver was appointed rabbi of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he served until his last day. In 1932, he was elected president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, a position he held for over thirty-five years, and was considered the highest rabbinic authority in the USA during all those years.
In 1939, he established a branch of Agudath Israel in the USA and was its first president. During the Holocaust, R. Silver was the initiator and head of the "Vaad Hatzalah" of US rabbis, which worked worldwide to save Jews from the Nazis. R. Silver was among the leaders of the Rabbis' March in Washington in 1943, in which more than 400 rabbis marched to the steps of the Capitol, demanding more decisive action by the US government to save European Jewry.

[1] leaf, official stationery. 28 cm. Good condition. Folding marks.

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