The late Elie Wiesel will be honored with a marathon reading of his first book, NIGHT, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage on January 29 (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Who: Elisha Wiesel, Andre Aciman, Ambassador Katalin Bogyay, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Ambassador Dani Dayan, Ambassador François Delattre, Tovah Feldshuh, Joel Grey, Sheldon Harnick, Jessica Hecht, Fanya Gottesfeld Heller, David Hyde Pierce, Bill T. Jones, Daniel and Nina Libeskind, Sheila Nevins, Itzhak Perlman, Ron Rifkin, Geraldo Rivera, Daryl Roth, Brita Wagener, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, more
What: Marathon reading of Elie Wiesel’s Night
Where: Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, Edmond J. Safra Hall, 36 Battery Pl., 646-437-4202
When: Sunday, January 29, free, 3:00 – 8:00
Why: “In retrospect I must confess that I do not know, or no longer know, what I wanted to achieve with my words,” Elie Wiesel wrote in a 2006 translation of his seminal 1960 memoir, Night, about his and his father’s experience in Auschwitz. “I only know that without this testimony, my life as a writer — or my life, period — would not have become what it is: that of a witness who believes he has a moral obligation to try to prevent the enemy from enjoying one last victory by allowing his crimes to be erased from human memory.” The Museum of Jewish Heritage and National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene are honoring the legacy of Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Wiesel, who passed away last July at the age of eighty-seven, with a free five-hour marathon reading of Night on January 29 from 3:00 to 8:00. Among the participants are Tovah Feldshuh, Joel Grey, Sheldon Harnick, Jessica Hecht, David Hyde Pierce, Bill T. Jones, Itzhak Perlman, Ron Rifkin, Geraldo Rivera, and Dr. Ruth Westheimer. There will also be free admission to the museum itself, which is currently featuring such exhibitions as “My Name Is . . . The Lost Children of Kloster Indersdorf” and “Seeking Justice: The Leo Frank Case Revisited” in addition to its Core Exhibition that places the Holocaust in context with modern Jewish history. You can join the waitlist for this sold-out event or livestream it for free on Sunday afternoon.