Jewish Unity Live – Going Live Nationwide March 1

Jewish organizations across the USA are gearing up for Jewish Unity Live 2005, a large-scale international effort on March 1, 2005. Hosting 3,000 Jews at its event, the largest Jewish event in New Jersey history will serve as the flagship event. Other community-wide events will be held in Long Island, Atlanta, Ottawa, Phoenix, and Baltimore, as well as on college campuses around the US and on worldwide U.S. military bases.

Event participants and supporters include Dr. Elie Wiesel, Senator Joseph and Hadassah Lieberman, international performer Dudu Fisher, actor Josh Malina, musician Peter Himmelman and other Jewish stars and leaders who will be kicking off a new movement designed to bolster Jewish unity. With Mortimer B. Zuckerman at the helm as International Chairman, Jewish Unity Live will launch an effort by Jews to reclaim their standing as the People of the Book through a united focus on Jewish exploration and study.

Jewish Unity Live 2005 was designed to coincide with the international culmination of the 7 ½ year cycle of the Daf Yomi, being held in over 50 venues around the world on March 1, 2005. Daf Yomi, the daily study of a folio of Talmud, was instituted in 1924 by Polish Parliament member and Orthodox Rabbi Meir Shapira, who thought it would be a powerful uniting factor to have Jews throughout the world study the same text on a daily basis.

Jewish Unity Live seeks to take this concept and offer the opportunity of collective study to the entire Jewish nation. “March 1st had already been designated around the world as a day to celebrate Jewish study and learning. We wanted to find a way participate, but offer more than an inspiring lecture or Jewish learn-a-thon,” said Rabbi Aron Gruman, one of the initiators of Jewish Unity Live. “By combining celebration, entertainment, and inspiration, we hope what we start on March 1st will snowball into a strong response to the steady decline in Jewish literacy.”

Jewish Unity Live will serve as the worldwide premier a new Jewish movie, produced and directed by veteran filmmaker Ricky Magder, offering a humorous presentation of the issues facing contemporary Jewry.