Metro

Sheldon Silver declines synagogue’s prayer offer

Disgraced Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver repeatedly turned down the offer of a special, individualized “hardship” prayer during Shabbos services Saturday — apparently the only perk he won’t accept.

“Shall we make a Mi Sheberach for you?” Rabbi Mordechai Greenberg asked the embattled pol during 7 a.m. services at the speaker’s neighborhood shul, the historic Bialystoker Synagogue on the Lower East Side.

“No, no. Thank you,” Silver answered, waving his hand and shaking his head. “No.”

“Could we make a Mi Sheberach?” echoed the gabai, the rabbi’s assistant.

Both holy men were offering Silver the traditional Jewish prayer for those who are sick or have fallen upon extreme hardship. The prayer beseeches God for strength and restoration.

Divine intervention could have been of some use to Silver, given his arrest Thursday on charges that he pocketed some $4 million in bribes and kickbacks.

But even when asked a second time, Silver, who is out on $200,000 bail, demurred.

“No need. Not now,” he murmured.

A somber Silver was one of two dozen congregants gathered in the synagogue’s dim, low-ceiling basement.

And while the Democratic power broker moved among the worshippers with a bowed head and a quiet humility, he was treated like a celebrity.

Silver was chosen to stand at the Torah and recite the sixth aliyah, or blessing, over the sacred text — an honor that in many Orthodox synagogues is reserved for the rabbi himself.

“It came to pass on that very day that the Lord took the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt with their legions,” the recitation concluded.

When he finished, Silver made his way back to his seat, stopping along the way, as is traditional, to shake the hands of the other men.

“Yasher koach!” they told him with enthusiasm — a greeting that colloquially means, “Nice job,” but which literally translates to “May your strength be firm.”

After politely declining the rabbi’s and gabai’s offers for a Mi Sheberach, Silver retook his seat at the back of the temple.

Later, he sat near the rabbi for the shared Kiddish meal of kugel, herring and schnapps.

The rabbi’s Kiddish sermon, again touching on the Jews’ ­exodus out of Egypt, appeared tailor-made for Silver.

“Where people do have merit, God will certainly take them out of their troubles,” the rabbi said.

Silver left nearly three hours after arriving, hat brim low, scarf high, secreted away from the waiting press in a huddle of similarly hatted and dark-coated worshippers.

Additional reporting by ­Amber Jamieson