Dear XXX,
On behalf of the leadership of Jewish Federation and our Annual Campaign, we want to thank you for being with us last night for our campaign opening. It was truly inspiring to be in the presence of such a tremendous personality in our Jewish world, and to be together for the largest community event we have ever hosted. We have had wonderful feedback from so many people.
We have also heard from people who were affected by the audio problems in the theatre last night, and who were therefore not able to hear, or hear fully, the dialogue between Elie Wiesel and Robert Krell. We know how much everyone was looking forward to hearing Professor Wiesel, and for those of you who could not, we share your deep disappointment. Mindful of Professor Wiesel’s age and soft-spoken nature, we worked diligently in advance with the technical director of the theatre, the stage manager and our event producers to ensure that audio would not be a problem. For reasons beyond our control, we still experienced problems, and the theatre was able to implement a solution only partway through the interview.
For most people there, last night represented a once in a lifetime opportunity to hear Professor Wiesel live. For those of you whose expectations for the evening were not met, we are deeply sorry.
A number of people have inquired about being able to access a recording or transcript. Due to the nature of our contract with Professor Wiesel we were not permitted to record the program, and therefore are able to provide neither. However, we are exploring the opportunity with Professor Wiesel’s agent and office to obtain a written response from him to the major questions posed last night, so that you all will still be able to access his words. If we are successful we will share this with you as soon as possible.
Thank you again for attending last night’s event. May we all embrace Elie Wiesel’s thinking in the New Year ahead, and work together to make our world a better place.
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