Rabbi Yair Silverman recently had the opportunity to meet with Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.). While talking, Durbin looked him over and said, “You’re a mighty young rabbi.” Silverman immediately responded, “You’re a mighty young senator.” The reply was an appreciative laugh.
Though he declines to say how old he is, Silverman says his humor about his age as well as his ease with others helped him get the position as the new rabbi at Berkeley’s Orthodox Congregation Beth Israel. His plans for the future of the congregation and his hopes for the Jewish community of the East Bay are two others.
In November, Silverman replaced Rabbi Eliezer Finkelman, who moved to the East Coast last August.
Silverman grew up in Montreal, where he lived until he was 12. His family was Orthodox, and he says that he was brought up in a “house of learning,” where education was highly important.
His mother, Anita, is still the greatest role model in his life. Despite getting polio at the age of 2, she went on to lead a normal life and raise three children. She now works in Montreal as a speech therapist for cancer patients.
Silverman lived for five years in Israel, one of which was spent in the Israel Defense Force where he earned two stripes. He says that the experience made him “realize the value of life greater than before.” It also gave him a sense of commitment to teamwork and of maturity. Paraphrasing an old saying, he remarks that it was good, but part of the reason that it was good is that it is now over.
The other four years there were spent studying through a Yeshiva University program. It was at Yeshiva that he received his rabbinical ordination in New York in the spring of 1999.
Silverman worked for one year as an associate rabbi for Manhattan’s Ramath Orah. He also worked as a management consultant for one year at Perry Davis Associates in New York. He says that despite how different the two careers may seem, they are both part of “the world of management.”
California has always been an attractive place for Silverman, because of the “great energy and power in the Jewish community.”
It has been an interesting time for Silverman to be taking over Finkelman’s former position. The 200-household congregation has been raising funds for its planned 8,000-square-foot synagogue, which it expects to open next year. With $2 million raised and $3 million more needed, Beth Israel has applied for various foundation grants.
The building design resembles a 17th century Polish synagogue that was burned down by the Nazis.
As soon as Silverman began the job, he had to start looking for a place to hold services for the year that construction will be going on. Although nothing is definite, he says the synagogue has received quite a few offers and is getting ample support from the community.
While some people might be intimidated with coming into a new congregation when so many changes are occurring, Silverman says that it is a challenge that he enjoys. “Life is made interesting by change,” he says with appreciation. He thinks that going through this transition could be easier for the congregants with a new rabbi going through it with them.
He says that he will be “working on making the atmosphere of the synagogue more welcoming to children.” He wants to go beyond day care and start offering “education, a sense of ownership and consequence.”
Silverman’s plans also include working with other synagogues in the area, both Orthodox and non-Orthodox. He has recently taken part in a discussion panel titled “Jewish Law and Change” that included Reform Rabbi Ferenc Raj of Congregation Beth El and Conservative Rabbi Stuart Kelman of Congregation Netivot Shalom.
Silverman hopes that this will lead to other opportunities for local rabbis to come together for a common cause. He feels that discussion like this can assist in bringing about peace in Israel.
“God will send light and wisdom to the leaders of the land,” he quoted from Shmuel Yosef Agnon’s “Prayer for the State of Israel.” “We must turn to God and ourselves.”
When asked about his hobbies, Silverman points out that allowing time to yourself prevents you from “burning out.” His long-time passion has been backpacking. He says that the area around the East Bay is perfect and also lists the Andes, Himalayas, Appalachian Trail and Western Canada as some of his favorite spots.
Thailand will always be special to him though because it is where he and his wife, Ilana Fodiman, went for their honeymoon last year. He doesn’t like to say much about his wife, though, because he believes that “a spouse should be her own person” and he wouldn’t want to speak for her. But he was quite proud to point out that she has just received her master’s degree in intellectual Jewish history at Yeshiva University.
Silverman is having a big year. With a move from the East Coast to the West Coast, plans to bring the East Bay Jewish community together for the sake of Israel, his wedding still fresh in his mind and a whole new area to explore with a backpack, his plate is full.
But if anyone thinks that he is too young to be handling all of it, Silverman seems to have it on his agenda to prove that it is his experience and not his age that has gotten him this far already.