MONTREAL — Academy-Awarding winning actor Jon Voight gave an impassioned endorsement of Israel and Judaism’s contribution to the world at the launch of the 2012 Combined Jewish Appeal (CJA) last week.
He described the state as “God’s gift” after “the slaughter of six million men, women and children,” a refuge that has allowed the Jewish people to survive and flourish in what was a barren land.
“A new generation is now facing enemies who do not understand democracy, love and life,” said the 73-year-old Voight, who was raised a Catholic.
“Jew and non-Jew must band together to keep Israel safe forever.”
The nearly 700 campaign leaders and canvassers attending the evening at Place des Arts gave Voight, who rose to Hollywood stardom with his role in Midnight Cowboy and won the Oscar for best actor in the 1978 movie Coming Home, a standing ovation for his heartfelt expression of gratitude to the Jewish people.
Voight, now active with the Republican Party, said his respect and fascination with Jews began in childhood in New York state. His father was a golf pro at a German-Jewish country club, where he had caddied since age eight.
Young Voight noticed how his dignified father was “head and shoulders above” his four siblings, and he attributes that to the influence the golf club members had on his demeanour and education.
“My father was a recipient of Jewish culture… a product of Yiddishkeit,” said Voight, who felt saddened that such “great people” were not liked by everyone.
The actor, a graduate of the Catholic University of America, of course, came into contact with many Jews in Hollywood. He regrets the passing of the era of the Jewish moguls and what they gave to the American way of life.
Even the trademark happy ending of Hollywood movies of old can be attributed to Judaism’s “message that things are going to be all right,” he thinks.
In the late 1980s, Voight became a familiar figure on the Chabad telethons, “dancing with the rabbis… With the long blond hair I had then, I looked like such a goy.”
Over the years, Voight said he deepened his knowledge of Judaism by reading the works of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and the Zohar. He has visited Israel several times.
Voight’s appearance took the form of an on-stage interview with sex therapist and radio show host Laurie Betito, but he steered the conversation away from his career and himself to express his feelings about Israel and Jews, and “the spiritual work” of CJA.
At the dessert reception afterward he mingled congenially with the crowd, posing for innumerable photos, signing autographs and chatting with young and old. The former were especially struck to be meeting the father of Angelina Jolie. General campaign chair Evan Feldman stressed the importance of finding new donors, as CJA has been losing a significant number of donations over the past decade, about 1,600 to 1,800 a year.
Almost 21,000 donations were received in 2001, compared to 16,200 in last year’s campaign, which netted $37.4 million. The slogan this year is “I’m in it for one another.”
Feldman noted that the CJA has one of the lowest overheads among North American federation campaigns. Thanks to corporate sponsorship of events, such as the launch, totalling more than $1 million this year, 90.8 per cent of the money raised is available for the cause.
The evening also included a performance by Hagit Yaso, a winner of Kohav Nolad, Israel’s equivalent of American Idol. The 22-year-old from the southern border town of Sderot, the daughter of Ethiopian immigrants, thanked the Jewish federations of Canada for helping her achieve the success she is enjoying.