Dustin Hoffman is one of the greatest actors of all time – and a Jewish one at that – so it is inevitable that people would wonder whether or not he is pro-Israel.
Until recently, the answer to that would seem to have been a resounding “no.”
Back in 2010, Hoffman and Meg Ryan reportedly backed out of attending the Jerusalem Film Festival, in an apparent reaction to the Gaza flotilla incident at the time. Then in 2013, he was set to present a Muslim Public Affairs Council award to the Palestinian co-director of anti-Israel documentary 5 Broken Cameras, but had to back out due to illness. He did, however, end up sending a recorded message speaking highly of the film.
Since October 7, 2023, Hoffman had been conspicuously quiet.
That is, until now
Color me surprised – in a good way.
Dustin Hoffman, Gene Simmons, Jon Voight and Bob Odenkirk were among the Hollywood names who gathered at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Monday night for “Letters, Light and Love,” a theatrical production celebrating the centuries-old connection between the Jewish people and Israel through letters written by historical figures and ordinary people.
The sold-out Oct. 19 event, organized by Jewish Federation Los Angeles, blended readings, music and storytelling to trace that relationship across generations, from Maimonides and Julius Caesar to Golda Meir, Albert Einstein and Leonard Bernstein. The evening also featured personal accounts of people whose lives and families have been intertwined with Israel.
All ticket proceeds benefited the Sha’ar HaNegev Resilience Centre, which provides emotional and therapeutic support to individuals and families in southern Israel as they work to recover and rebuild after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.
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Simmons, the KISS co-founder who was born in Israel, introduced himself with a joke that played on the name of the late television personality Richard Simmons.
“Hello, my name is Gene Simmons. I know some of you were expecting Richard Simmons,” he said, before adding, “And I’m a Jew. I was born in Israel, but more importantly, I’m a human being.”
Simmons later sang Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and read a letter by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the late British chief rabbi.
Jon Lovitz drew laughs with his comic delivery of a letter written by David Ben-Gurion recounting his arrival as a young adult on the shores of Jaffa. Bob Odenkirk, whose wife is Jewish and whose children are being raised Jewish, read a letter by Bernstein, the conductor, about performing in Israel.
The celebrity appearances brought an element of Hollywood spectacle to the production, but the evening’s most emotional moment came when Eliya Cohen, a former hostage who spent 505 days in captivity, appeared alongside his new bride, Ziv Abud, a survivor of the Oct. 7 Nova music festival massacre. The appearance of the two 29-year-olds drew the night’s only standing ovation.
Whatever Hoffman’s views may have been in the past, appearing at an event explicitly celebrating the Jewish people’s connection to Israel – and raising money to help Israelis rebuild their lives after October 7 – certainly sends a rather different message. And given how many celebrities have spent the past three years either attacking Israel or studiously avoiding showing it any support, Hoffman deserves credit for showing up.
Perhaps, at 89, Dustin Hoffman is aging like a fine wine.
And this might just be one of his better performances.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
