Dustin Hoffman, Gene Simmons, Jon Voight and Bob Odenkirk had been among the many Hollywood names who gathered at UCLA’s Royce Corridor on Monday night time for “Letters, Mild and Love,” a theatrical manufacturing celebrating the centuries-old connection between the Jewish individuals and Israel by means of letters written by historic figures and atypical individuals.
The sold-out Oct. 19 occasion, organized by Jewish Federation Los Angeles, blended readings, music and storytelling to hint that relationship throughout generations, from Maimonides and Julius Caesar to Golda Meir, Albert Einstein and Leonard Bernstein. The night additionally featured private accounts of individuals whose lives and households have been intertwined with Israel.
All ticket proceeds will profit the Sha’ar HaNegev Resilience Centre, which gives emotional and therapeutic help to people and households in southern Israel as they work to get well and rebuild after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas assaults.
For Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of Jewish Federation Los Angeles, the occasion carried explicit significance due to its setting.
Lower than three years in the past, UCLA was the positioning of a pro-Palestinian encampment the place Jewish college students reported feeling unsafe. The campus turned a flashpoint within the nationwide debate over antisemitism and anti-Israel activism, with buildings and property broken throughout the demonstrations.
“This place [Royce Hall] was inundated with protesters throughout the encampment,” Farkas instructed the Jewish Telegraphic Company. “It was boarded up. Its home windows had been damaged. There was graffiti in every single place.”
On Monday, the corridor had been restored as a gathering place, with UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk and his spouse, Felicia Knaul, amongst these attending and collaborating within the staged readings.
“The truth that the chancellor himself is right here tonight is, I believe, actually restorative,” Farkas mentioned. “It’s virtually like teshuvah for the campus.”
The night’s movie star readings supplied moments of humor alongside extra solemn reflections on Jewish historical past and the enduring ties to Israel.
Simmons, the KISS co-founder who was born in Israel, launched himself with a joke that performed on the identify of the late tv character Richard Simmons.
“Hiya, my identify is Gene Simmons. I do know a few of you had been anticipating Richard Simmons,” he mentioned, earlier than including, “And I’m a Jew. I used to be born in Israel, however extra importantly, I’m a human being.”
Simmons later sang Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and browse a letter by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the late British chief rabbi.
Jon Lovitz drew laughs together with his comedian supply of a letter written by David Ben-Gurion recounting his arrival as a younger grownup on the shores of Jaffa. Bob Odenkirk, whose spouse is Jewish and whose youngsters are being raised Jewish, learn a letter by Bernstein, the conductor, about performing in Israel.
The movie star appearances introduced a component of Hollywood spectacle to the manufacturing, however the night’s most emotional second got here when Eliya Cohen, a former hostage who spent 505 days in captivity, appeared alongside his new bride, Ziv Abud, a survivor of the Oct. 7 Nova music pageant bloodbath. The looks of the 2 29-year-olds drew the night time’s solely standing ovation.
Abud — who traveled the world lobbying for Cohen’s launch whereas he was held in Gaza — highlighted the shared wrestle going through Jews in Israel and people dwelling within the Diaspora.
“Our story is completely different, our challenges are completely different, however we aren’t separate tales,” she mentioned at Royce Corridor. “The struggle for Israel, for the appropriate of a Jewish homeland, is linked to the rights of Jews in every single place to stay overtly and safely within the nations they name dwelling. A Jew ought to have the ability to stay safely in Tel Aviv, London, Los Angeles, Paris or Sydney.”
Musical performances strengthened the manufacturing’s themes of Jewish id, resilience and hope. Distant Cousins carried out Bob Dylan’s “Neighborhood Bully,” a music extensively interpreted as addressing the worldwide criticism directed at Israel, earlier than closing the present with Matisyahu’s “One Day.”
Produced by Michal Noé and Sarah Sultman, with Lawrence Bender and County District Lawyer Nathan Hochman as co-producers, the Los Angeles presentation adopted productions at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2024 and New York’s Carnegie Corridor in February.
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