West Coast Chabad celebrates 50 years with annual telethon

It’s become Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin’s token slogan: “Call the music! Call the tote!” 

He belted it out after a live segment with actor Jon Voight during Chabad’s 34th annual “To Life” telethon on Sept. 7. Music blasted, the tote board displaying the amount of money raised so far was displayed, and dancers piled onto the stage, creating a sort of Chasidic mosh pit with people dancing around in circles, swinging their arms and kicking their legs. Even Voight joined in on the dancing — and after 28 years of experience, he’s nailed the tote dance down to an art form. 

By the show’s end at 11 p.m., following innumerable dances and a steady rotation of appearances by celebrities and politicians, the telethon had raised $2,634,377. The amount is a little less than the $3 million collected last year, but it’s enough to pay off monies owed on its headquarters in Westwood.

The Chabad house at that site burned down in 1980, taking the lives of three people. The first telethon, 34 years ago was conceived as a way to help procure funds to rebuild the house. Cunin, the West Coast Chabad leader, said the group hasn’t forgotten that as it celebrates its golden jubilee in this part of the country. 

“This year, which is our 50th year, we intend to do more,” Cunin said. “We intend to pay off the mortgage of the Chabad house. That’s a very, very urgent and important thing.” 

About one-third of the telethon was live, whereas the remainder of the material was pre-recorded. Segments from the past 33 years also were peppered into the evening. It was like watching a whole reel of Chabad’s history, and it included a scripted skit featuring Carroll O’Connor, the non-Jewish star of ’70s sitcom “All in the Family,” who originally came up with the idea for Chabad to have a telethon to rebuild its headquarters years ago.

Before show time at 5 p.m., actress Leslie Grossman tweeted an Instagram photo of herself sporting a long-sleeved, black blouse and knee-length skirt and standing next to a portrait of Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson: “Hey kids I am dressed like a Hasid because I am helping to host the Chabad telethon tonight.”

Grossman hosted alongside her father, attorney Marshall Grossman; radio personality and Jewish Journal columnist Dennis Prager and Voight. The telethon was filmed at KSCI-TV studios in West Los Angeles and could be viewed on KSCI, JLTV and