Carnegie Hall Hosts One-Night Only Show With Star-Studded Cast to Benefit Kibbutz Be’eri Restoration

Carnegie Hall on Tuesday night hosted the New York premiere of a star-studded show highlighting Jewish pride, unity, and love for Israel while also benefitting the rebuilding of Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel, which was almost completely burnt down during the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023.

“Letters, Light and Love” was a one-night only production that featured a cast of celebrities reading on stage real-life letters about Israel written across centuries by leaders and thinkers – including Maimonides, Julius Caesar, Winston Churchill, Golda Meir, and Albert Einstein – as well as letters with deeply personal and previously untold stories of ordinary people whose lives and families are connected to the Jewish homeland. At one point during the event, pro-Israel attorney and activist Elica Le Bon read a letter about Israel that was sent from Emir Feisal, the former king of Iraq, to former US Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter in March 1919.

“Woven together with music and song, these letters formed one continuous, deeply human narrative,” organizers said in a released statement. “For many in attendance, the evening was not only a cultural event, but a communal act of healing, solidarity, and shared purpose at a time of profound challenge for Israel and Jewish communities worldwide.”

The event was originally scheduled for Monday but was moved to Tuesday night because of the snowstorm in New York. The production was sponsored by the UJA-Federation of New York and presented by Michal Noé and Sarah Sultman.

The cast for the New York show included Amy Schumer, Mark Feuerstein, Lawrence Bender, David Draiman, David Schwimmer, Debra Messing, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Jonah Platt, Judy Gold, Julianna Margulies, Matishyahu, Michael Aloni, Rona Lee Shimon, Noa Tishby, and Tovah Feldshuh.

Eli Sharabi, who was abducted during the Oct. 7 attack and survived 491 days in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, also performed on stage.

All ticket sales and event proceeds from the production will support the rebuilding of Kibbutz Be’eri, which was one of the Israeli communities hit the hardest during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of the Jewish state. During their deadly rampage across southern Israel, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists killed about 130 people in the kibbutz, which is about 10 percent of the community’s residents.

“Letters, Light and Love” was recently performed in Central London with a cast that included Aloni, Messing, Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli, television presenter Rachel Riley, journalist and activist Eve Barlow, British-Israeli actress and musician Noa Bodner, peace activist Loay Alshareef, Israeli musician and actress Ester Rada, and Olivier-award winning actor Elliot Levey.

“‘Letters, Light and Love’ began in London as a way to remind people that our history told through our voices, our stories, our words, and our music are intertwined, and that we are strongest when we take ownership of our narrative and stand together,” Sultman said. “To see that spirit fill Carnegie Hall, and to know that the impact will be felt in Kibbutz Be’eri, is profoundly humbling and deeply hopeful.”

Noé added that the production is “a celebration of not just the shared history and heritage of our people but of the beauty and resilience that we find together.”

“Throughout the centuries when faced with hate our response is always to focus on the light and to look forward and rebuild and we are honored to be a conduit for people to come together and take comfort and joy in our eternal story,” he explained.

UJA-Federation of New York CEO Eric Goldstein said the letters showcased in the production spotlight the “age-old connection to the Jewish homeland that has sustained our people for millennia.”

“From Be’eri to New York, our strength and resilience transcend time and oceans — an enduring testament to our shared responsibility for one another,” he noted.