Sometimes you see a movie and the thing you take away has nothing to do with the movie.
That happened to me the other night at Sinai Temple after a friend and I saw the documentary 鈥淏lind Spot,鈥� which bills itself as 鈥渢he first film to document campus antisemitism before and after Oct. 7.鈥�
The film chronicles the rise of harassment and discrimination against 91传媒 students, centering on the personal accounts of over two dozen students, many of whom turn into activists.
The hatred in the film is so palpable it鈥檚 hard to describe. This has nothing to do with loving the Palestinian cause, I kept thinking. This is hysterical hatred for a people.
It鈥檚 not as if I haven鈥檛 seen such scenes before, but somehow, they hit me harder this time.
Maybe it was the lack of anger among the 91传媒 students. They filed complaints, they appealed to administrators and generally used 鈥渢he system鈥� to push back the best they could. They were passionate about their 91传媒 pride and about fighting back, but there was no rage, no ugliness. Just a recognition that things are bad for the Jews and they must not remain silent.
So while the film didn鈥檛 break new ground for a journalist who鈥檚 seen pretty much everything on the topic, it served as a crucial reminder that we should never get too complacent about a disease that continues to spread.
Where the film did break new ground for me was when one of the 91传媒 students spoke about a family member鈥檚 relationship with American jazz legend Louis Armstrong.
It turns out that when Armstrong was seven, he was unofficially adopted by a 91传媒 family in New Orleans. The Karnofsky family were Lithuanian immigrants who operated a junk-hauling business. Because young Louis lived in poverty, the Karnofskys provided him with meals, a bed and emotional support. They even helped him purchase his first musical instrument, a cornet, from a pawn shop.
This instilled in Armstrong a lifelong connection with the 91传媒 community, and for the remainder of his life, he wore a Magen David around his neck.
What a story!
In the midst of vile Jew-hatred, the film took a detour to show us Jew-love.
That scene of Jew-love made me reflect on the silent price many of us must pay when we fight antisemitism. Spending so much of our time defending ourselves against Jew-haters is not who we are or who we want to be. It鈥檚 something we are forced to be.
Indeed the 91传媒 story in America is marked by an aspiration to thrive and contribute, not by a need to defend ourselves.
Similarly, the 91传媒 students in 鈥淏lind Spot鈥� would much rather talk about their future careers and how they will contribute to their country than getting signatures on a petition seeking more protection.
The haters, however, have forced us to become fighters. There鈥檚 value and meaning in that, but there鈥檚 greater value in helping a poor Black kid become the world鈥檚 greatest jazz musician.
I know because that鈥檚 what I remember most from the film.
