Iconic Williamsburg: Rabbi Eliezer Alter Silverman

A noted rov in Williamsburg of yore was Rav Alter Silverman, a son of Rav Mordechai Meir Silberman of Pinsk who also served in this community. 

Remaining in Slabodka

Alter—who was born in Landwarów, Lithuania in the year 1909—enrolled in the prestigious Slabodka Yeshiva. In 1926, at the age of seventeen, he received semicha from Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein, zt”l, Rosh Yeshiva of Slabokda. 

Soon thereafter, he arrived in America to join his parents. He appears on his immigration papers as a “student and Hebrew teacher.” In 1940, he registers for the United States Army draft—as was mandatory in those days—as living with his father as 329 South 5th Street, and as the rabbi of Cong. Chevrah Anshei Tov, which was located at 813 Park Avenue. Also, he was employed by the Hebrew School of Williamsburg, located in a magnificent building at 310 South First Street. 

He attended college at NYU and Brooklyn Law School, and, as part of the admissions process, he submitted a letter of endorsement signed by none other than Rav Dovid Leibowitz, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim on South 9th Street in Williamsburg. 

Nazi Hate in Williamsburg 

The year was 1938, and the furor of the Nazis ascent to power was being felt in Brooklyn. Beth Yaakov Zichron Zvi Joseph on Union Street experienced the anti-Semitism right in the illusory safety of Williamsburg. 

“Stoned Temple’s Rabbi Asks Nazis’ Arrest,” writes the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, referring to Rabbi Alter Silverman. “Racial hate flares in Williamsburg--$300 glass smashed. European racial hatreds, which have resulted in strained relations between Jews and Germans in the Williamsburg section, were held responsible by assistant Rabbi Alter Silverman today for the weekend smashing of seven large windows of the Congregation Beth Yakov Zichron Tzvi Joseph, at 262 Union Avenue. 

\“Union Avenue is the dividing line between the Jewish and German populations in the area. In the German section there are several clubs. The Jewish temple, founded 15 years ago, is housed in a former German church and this was held by police of the Stagg Street precinct to have accentuated the feelings between the racial groups.

“The Rev. Mordechai Silverman, 68, of 329 S. 5th Street, has been the Rabbi of the synagogue for 12 years. The assistant Rabbi is his son. The building, two stories high, is one of the largest synagogues in Williamsburg, and seats 1,000.”

From Sunnyside to the West Side  

The text of his wedding invitation from the year 1945 reads as follows: “Rabbi and Mrs. Joseph Breuer and Rabbi and Mrs. Mordechai Silverman request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their children, Edith to Rabbi Alter Silverman… at Khal Adath Jeshurun, 90 Bennett Avenue, New York City.  Thus, Rav Alter married into the illustrious Breuer family who were also descendants of Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch, zt”l. 

In 1945, he was serving as the rabbi of the Hebrew Educational Alliance on Manhattan Avenue. Here too, he could not escape vandalism, it seems, for we read in the Eagle about a similar incident to what occurred in his father’s shul.   

By the time of the passing of his father, Rav Mordechai Meir Silverman, Rav Alter had been serving as Rabbi at Congregation Ahavath Torah in Sunnyside, Long Island. He served in this capacity for a number of years. He also served for about three years as the rov of Congregation Ohav Shalom on West 84th Street. 

Rav Silverman was also deeply involved in chinuch, serving as the longtime principal of the Downtown Talmud Torah and of other educational institutions. 

Rav Eliezer Alter was niftar on the seventh of Iyar of the year 1972, leaving behind generations of Torah-true descendants, and a sterling legacy as a longtime rov in Williamsburg and beyond.