By COLlive reporter
Photos by Baruch Ezagui
Talk-show host Larry King will be hosting the 30th anniversary of Chabad’s “To Life!” telethon, broadcast live from Hollywood, California.
This year’s celebrity guest list includes Tom Arnold, Ed Begley Jr., James Caan, NBA champ Jordan Farmar, Louis Gossett Jr., Elliott Gould, Howie Mandel, Bob Saget, Martin Sheen and Jon Voight.
Scheduled to perform are Chassidic music superstar Avraham Fried, Broadway and Yiddish theater actor Mike Burstyn, singer-songwriter Matt Morris, 9-year-old piano prodigy Ethan Bortnick and the M-Generation boys choir.
The Telethon was created in 1980 by California’s Head Shliach Rabbi Shlomo Cunin in response to a devastating fire that destroyed Chabad’s West Coast headquarters in Westwood Village and claimed the lives of three young men.
The telethon supports a network of over 200 Chabad Houses and a range of programs providing social services to the needy and support for children with special needs.
Last year’s broadcast generated more than $7 million and you can expect the dancing rabbis in front of the tote board again this year.
The telethon is co-chaired by producer Jerry Weintraub and attorney Marshall Grossman.
Its producers are Rabbi Chaim Nachum Cunin (Executive Producer), Chaim Yechiel Marcus (Producer), Rabbi Ari Baitelman (Supervising Producer), Rabbi Simcha Backman (Associate Producer) and comedian Mendy Pellin (Segment Producer).
“We are beyond excited,” Rabbi Chaim Cunin told COLlive.com Friday.
“We’re marking 30 years of Hafotzas Hamaynos. As the Rebbe said, the telethon inspires an untold amount of Jewish people to do Mitzvos like Tefillin and Shabbos candles.”
The show will be broadcast live Sunday, Aug. 29, from 8 pm to 11 pm GMT in Los Angeles, KTSF Channel 26 and on DirecTV’s Jewish Life Television.
Tune in to COLlive.com at 11 pm Eastern Time for a live webcast.
that beard in the last pic is just plain cool!
thanks for the compliment. G-d almighty bless you with long and healthy years, gutteh zezunteh yoren, nachas from all your children and grandchildren, and may you keep donating to the telethon for many years to come.
D.K.
omg hahahaha youre really funny!
should not be part of a Chossid’s lifetsyle
read up what the Rebbe said about having a TV in one’s home-you will do yourselves the greatest bracha and throw it out head-first
making me hungry
its so awesome
Also we are kind of tired of Fried. Give us someone new or if old go with the king MBD.
is canada eastern time?????????????
probably cuz the producer is part of the 8th day, so they can’t perform cuz it’s conflict of interests, kinda like rahm emanuel being pro-israel.
love it
It is good to see a shliach wearing sneakers, which means he is keeping in shape, as our holy Torah of life commands us. Great work Rabbi Cunin-to Life!
Miriam Katz
no offense to the other performers, which are great, but no 8th day?! like, hello.
it is on channel 55 go to to life.com for info
its the emmys tonight!
why is it cut to 3 hours?
why is it not show in nyc anymore; for all these years,we had it telecast on channel 55 for 5 or 6 hours; can someone please explain.
He’s so flipping talented!!!
what channel in new york?
it starts at 8pm on to life.com
What channel on Direct Tv? I have no internet in my house for the live stream.
we love chaim marcus
they would not be able to pull it off with oit him
chaim good luck we know you can do it
Ad mosai? Beautiful. I heard the rebbe once watched the telethon Live.
Can anyone shed some light on this? Is it true? Or false?
i love m-generation!!
they shortened it this year to 3 hours? i remember it being 6 hours in the past….