NEWS

A born teacher with a silver tongue, Rabbi Samuel Silver could have them rolling in the aisles. But by the time they got up to leave, his audience would always take away a more essential message.

Master of the light touch, he imparted his great love of humanity and faith in God to a congregation that would leave happier, wiser and he hoped, that much more kind.

Silver regaled his Congregation L'dor Va-dor west of Lake Worth at Friday services a week ago. No notes, just a tack-sharp memory and humor to match.

At 95, he never slowed down. Instead, he just kept going until he took a nap before Sabbath services Friday and didn't wake up. He left behind Elaine, his wife of 54 years; five sons; and 14 grandchildren.

'He was quite sharp until the end. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have my dad so active and vibrant for so long,' said his son Barry Silver, a rights and environmental lawyer. Barry, who is also an ordained rabbi, joined his father at the pulpit at L'dor Va-dor in recent years. 'He always focused on the positive. I think that's why he lived so long and why his mind was always active. He thought young.'

Born June 7, 1912, Rabbi Silver often joked that the other disaster that same year was the sinking of the Titanic. He was the son of a Wilmington, shoemaker and was cited in a 1993 University of Delaware alumni magazine profile as joking that before he went to rabbinical school he sold shoes. 'What a career change,' he joked. 'From shoes to Jews.'

He was a father to five boys, a grandfather to 14 and a pioneer in interfaith marriages. When other rabbis were shunning the practice, Rabbi Silver was performing the ceremony for thousands of mixed-faith couples.

'He was devoted 100 percent to humanism,' his son said. 'It was unheard of. He did thousands of weddings and never charged a fee. He loved what he did. He loved Judaism. He thought it was a wonderful influence on people. He loved to talk and to help people become better.'

A rabbi for 68 years, Rabbi Silver served his first four years as a religious leader as a military chaplain in the Philippines in World War II. He credits his experience as a rabbi to servicemen of all faiths as one of his most formative in him becoming what he termed an 'ecumaniac,' because he liked to bridge various sects of Judaism as well as the various religions.

'He taught me that the word religion comes from the same root as ligament,' Barry Silver said. 'A ligament binds parts of the body together. He thought religion should bind people together. He saw religion as a source of harmony.'

It was a message he took home with him. His son remembered a home filled with laughter, and an idealistic father who never lost his temper. It just wasn't his way.

'Raising us, he taught us to be able to have a good sense of humor. To be able to make fun of ourselves. He taught us not to take ourselves too seriously,' Barry Silver said.

'He was a self-proclaimed pacifist. I used to say he was a pacifist, not a use-a-fist. I never heard my father raise his voice. Growing up as kids, if we didn't act in a way he thought appropriate, he'd say he was disappointed. That's all it took for us to fall in line, we respected him that much.'

In addition to leading congregations in Stamford, Conn., Delray Beach and finally at L'dor Va-dor, Rabbi Silver wrote books, a weekly column and book reviews, and was a frequent radio figure. He was known to engage in banter with such luminaries as Victor Borge, Norman Vincent Peale, Ann Landers and even Franklin D. Roosevelt's Vice President Henry Wallace.

'I asked Vice President Wallace if he had ever been to Israel,' Rabbi Silver told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in 2005. 'I said, 'Do you know why the Hebrew word shalom means hello and goodbye?' He said, 'No, why?' and I said, 'Because Jews never know whether they are coming or going.' '

Rabbi Silver began Congregation L'dor Va-dor about a decade ago, after leading Temple Sinai in Delray Beach for 18 years. Before that, he led Temple Sinai in Stamford for 18 years.

In the Jewish tradition, the Hebrew word for life is Chai , with a total sum of the numerical value of the letters being 18. So Rabbi Silver always felt he had lived a lifetime at each of his congregations before he moved on, son Barry said.

The theme of his life, though, he took with him from lifetime to lifetime. His entire belief, his son said, was that Judaism as a religion wasn't important. It was the actions it produced, making people nicer.

Funeral services for Samuel Silver will be on Monday, but arrangements are not final. A more public memorial service will be held June 8, a day after what would have been his 96th birthday. Details will be announced later.

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