PHOTO BY MATTHEW MURPHY

book — there are not many with the
insight of the characters of Fiddler
on the Roof that Silber possesses.
“The fact that Sheldon Harnick
wrote the forward to Alexandra’s
book, that in itself speaks volumes,”
Temple Beth El Rabbi Emeritus
Daniel Syme says. “Alexandra is such
an extraordinary young woman.
I’m just so fortunate to be able to
count her as part of my life. She has
a gift for saying and doing beauti-
ful things. And the book is really
fabulous — I’m urging everyone to
read it.”
Rabbi Syme tracked down Silber
a few months ago after repeatedly
hearing that there was a “Rabbi
Syme” character in After Anatevka.
“I posted a story on my blog
[“London Still”] about how the
fictionalized Rabbi Syme is loosely
based on the real Rabbi Syme,”
Silber says. “It was coincidental and
beshert that someone sent him the
post as I was coming to town for
a book discussion and signing at
Temple Israel.”
That day in February at Temple
Israel, Rabbi Syme and Silber were
reunited after nearly 17 years, when
Rabbi Syme delivered the eulogy
at the funeral of Silber’s father,
Michael, who died when she was 18

after a long battle with cancer.
“Rabbi Syme was a real advocate
for my father and his human story,”
said Silber who devoted a whole
chapter in After Anatevka about the
fictional Rabbi Syme, artistically
represented as Perchik’s teacher
and advocate. Silber will feature the
“real-life” Rabbi Syme in her upcom-
ing memoir White Hot Grief Parade,
due out in July.
“Rabbi Syme gave me the gift of
my dad’s eulogy and he set me on
my path of healing and pointed
me in the direction of my personal
and chosen adult relationship to
Judaism and faith,” she said.
Silber had a secular upbringing,
celebrating the cultural aspects of
all of the holidays with her Jewish
father and her Catholic mom, “a
mixed bag of Latin America and
Ireland.”
“Now, I host a huge Chanukah
blowout every year,” says Silber, 34,
who lives in New York City following
her professional start in the U.K. “I
love the symbolism of Chanukah; it’s
a beautiful metaphor of having no
fuel to go on but, with a little faith,
they do. Both of my books have
incredibly strong Jewish themes
— the historical fiction of shtetl
life and what happens to Hodel
and Perchik in Siberia after leaving
Anatevka — and White Hot Grief
origin
Parade is about my personal orig
of discovering Judaism, all set in
Detroit. ”
And as far as the real l Rabbi
Daniel Syme?
destined
“I think Alexandra is destine
for greatness in whatever she
undertakes. I texted her that my
m
con-
wife and I are coming to her con
cert. I can’t wait to hear
hea
her sing.” •

CAP

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“The glamorous and hyper-
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March 15 • 2018

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