The downfall of Abba Hillel Silver and the foundation of Israel / Ofer Shiff.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-284) and index.

I. The Early 1950s. 1. The Bridge's and Wall's approach -- 2. The American century in the wake of the Holocaust -- 3. Where Judaism differed: a call for external and internal reform -- II. In Retrospect: Silver's pre-State Zionist career. 4. Silver's early struggle against anti-Semitism and Nazism -- 5. The 1940s: the Holocaust as political leverage -- 6. 1947-1948: an American-Jewish or a pan-Jewish leader? -- III. Israel becomes an ideological and political challenge. 7. In the wake of Israeli statehood -- 8. Identification without subordination -- 9. The attempt to regain status in the wake of Eisenhower's election -- 10. A recurrent existential threat to the Jews -- 11. Unequivocal support for Israel during the Suez crisis -- Epilogue. Reform Jewish prophet or Zionist leader? 12. Silver as a progressive visionary -- 13. Nonetheless, a Zionist leader.