More than 5 million was raised last week to benefit Chabad House at a star-studded West Coast telethon on KH! Channel 9. One hundred telephones rang non-stop for four hours on the show which was hosted by on Murray and Carroll O’Connor. One by one celebrities made their appeals for funds to rebuild the facility located on the University of California – Los Angeles campus, which was destroyed last May by a fire that killed three residents.
The program got off to a stirring note as Murray asked O’Connor why an Irishman would participate in a program to benefit a Jewish institution. “Vohden?” quipped O’Connor. The telethon was the first major television effort on this level ever attempted by the Jewish community of Los Angeles.
The driving force behind the telethon was Rabbi Shlomo Cunin, West Coast director of Chabad Lubavitch. “We will not rest until the job is done, the rabbi said as he thanked those in the studio audience who paid $1800 per couple to sit in the studio and attend a pre-performance dinner.
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