MARATHON READING OF ELIE WIESEL’S “NIGHT” UNITES VOICES FROM AROUND THE WORLD IN A CHORUS AGAINST PREJUDICE AND HATRED

Prominent New Yorkers from the arts, politics, human rights/social justice, the media, and academia will gather in New York for a community reading of Nobel Peace laureate Elie Wiesel’s landmark Holocaust memoir, “Night,” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place, on Sunday January 29, 2017, starting at 3pm.  The reading coincides with the International Holocaust Rememberance Day, which falls on January 27.

Produced by The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and the Museum, this tribute to Wiesel will feature readings in several languages, including French and Yiddish, and will bring together up to sixty readers from around the world, many of whom have had first-hand experience reporting on, fighting and overcoming racial, ethnic, and religious hatred. Elisha Wiesel, Wiesel’s son, will also participate.

The list of participants includes: Broadway’s Tovah Feldshuh; Joel Grey; Sheldon Harnick; Jessica Hecht; David Hyde Pierce, and Ron Rifkin; Bill T. Jones; Itzhak Perlman; Rwandan anti-genocide activists Jean-Baptiste Rudatsikira, Jacqueline Murekatete, and Consolee Nishimwe; Jewish Week’s Gary Rosenblatt; The Forward’s Jane Eisner and Sam Norich; producer Daryl Roth; Letty Cotton Pogrebin; Pia Lindstrom; Geraldo Rivera; authors Ruth Wisse, and Rabbi Blu Greenberg; HBO’s Sheila Nevins, NY 1 News’ Stephanie Simon, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Rabbi Amichai Lau Lavie, child activist Andzelika Berestko, 9/11 Memorial Museum director Alice Greenwald, The NY Times’ Joseph Berger, the Wall Street Journal’s Edward Rothstein; The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik; Israel’s Consul General in NY Dani Dayan; France’s Ambassador to the UN Francois Delattre, Senator Joseph & Hadassah Lieberman; Elliot Spitzer; NYC Education Chancellor Carmen Fariña; NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer; Germany’s Consul General Brita Wagener; Yiddish Book Center founder Aaron Lansky; Holocaust survivors Faye Gottesfeld Heller and Susanne Kaplowitz, and architects Daniel & Nina Libeskind. Since Wiesel wrote “Night” in Yiddish, then published it in French and then English, the readings will be primarily in English, as well as in a number of other languages, including its original French and Yiddish.

Prior to the reading, from 12pm to 2pm, a number of distinguished Holocaust survivors will share their testimonies in the Museum’s Core Exhibition.  The continuous reading is expected to last to 8pm.