David S. Silber

Rabbi David S. Silber was born and raised in New York City, where his family’s achievements stressed both Judaic and secular education. His parents, both children of immigrants, received their secular education in New York at City University and Hunter College, and both pursued graduate degrees at Columbia University. His maternal grandfather was a noted Talmud scholar at the Volozhin Yeshiva in Lithuania, where his great-grandfather had also taught. After immigrating to the United States, his grandfather ran a small kosher bakery in Manhattan and, with the help of David’s grandmother, their home became a meeting place for the great Talmudists of Europe who lived in or visited the U.S. Through the stories of his grandparents coupled with the academic focus in his own parents’ home, perhaps this is where he learned the perfect ingredients for Jewish education: kneading Jewish texts together with the tradition and the sensibilities of the modern world.

While his formal elementary and secondary education experiences at Modern Orthodox day schools were negative, these episodes provided him with the impetus later to build an institution that, conversely, reflected the values that were anchored in his home and his synagogue. In synagogue, initially reluctant, David regularly participated in small group study. It was here, one Shabbat afternoon, as a young teenager, where his fascination with the study of the Bible was secured. A young teacher brought in a small book entitled The Documentary Hypothesis by Professor Umberto Cassutto. When David read it, the Bible began to make sense.

As a high school student he chanted the weekly Torah reading in his synagogue. Later, he entered and became a finalist in the National and International Bible Contest, and as a result, was able to study in Israel at Yeshivat Keren B’Yavneh. Upon his return, he studied at Yeshiva College and Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. It would be only a few years later that he would take on the role of the teachers he had respected; teachers who led him towards helping others make sense of Judaism and the world surrounding them.

Upon moving to the West Side of Manhattan in 1976, he taught a text class at Lincoln Square Synagogue and began a Bible study group which lasted for seven years. He taught others the techniques he had developed as a way to probe the Hebrew Bible and to understand different approaches to Jewish life.

In 1979, he founded the Drisha Institute, first, to advance his own learning and, then, to address the need for quality Torah study for women. As the Founder and Dean of the school, he is responsible for the creation of programs within Drisha including the Summer High School Program, the Scholars’ Circle (which received support from the Covenant Foundation in 1991), Ha Sha’ar (with Devora Steinmetz, his wife), and the Joseph Straus Institute for Continuing Education. The institution Rabbi Silber has built, along with his work for the Wexner Heritage program (which he has been associated with since 1987), has engaged Jews from differing backgrounds and has sought to symbolize the values that he holds close—seeking an authenticity in and towards Judaism; valuing multiple perspectives; and maintaining a strong commitment to the community that he has served so well, and for so many years.