A Portland, Oregon theater with a reputation for controversial marquees posted one for Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” that concerned many in the Jewish community. On July 16, the Lake Theater & Café’s marquee read: “Before there were Jews … there was ‘The Odyssey.’”
Rabbi Mark Blazer of Santa Clarita happened to be in the Portland area to perform a wedding Saturday night and didn’t think the sign about Jews was real. “It was crazy, I was sitting at a hotel five minutes away from the theater,” Blazer told The Journal. “I saw it and honestly thought it was AI. I told my wife, we’re going by the theater first, I’ve got to see this. It made no sense that it was factually incorrect. The Jews predated the time of the film. It’s offensive but I was trying to figure out what they were even saying.”
Blazer said he knew he had to do something but wanted to make sure he was not arrested on Friday because he needed to be able to officiate at the Saturday night wedding. He said his late father, Rabbi Phil Blazer “was an activist before Rabbi (Avi) Weiss was and my father didn’t like confrontation of breaking the law, but he did acts of civil disobedience.”
Blazer said he with a couple of other planned to disrupt the showing of “The Odyssey” on Friday afternoon, July 17 at 4:00 p.m. to dance the hora, perhaps disrupting the movie after the coming attractions, and would play music on his phone.
He said he called the theater and didn’t get the response. “I came on Friday and met the manager,” Blazer said. “The sign had been changed. (The new marquee said “Before there was Waze.”) It took me a second when I saw it changed to ‘Before there was Waze’ and realized that of course, it’s an Israeli-owned company. I asked the manager what he was thinking and what his logic was. I knew within five seconds he is anti-Isreal. I told him I was there in November, and I knew I would not change his mind and said ‘I know I won’t change your mind about Israel. But did you think by posting about Jews, it would cause antisemitism?’ He said ‘no, I just think antisemitism is overblown right now and a lot of it is generated by Israel.’ That was his point. He honestly feels this.” The manager told him he was “inundated” by a flood of calls and e-mails; a call to the theater by The Journal went unanswered.
Michelle Bombet Minch, who is on the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Portland, found out about the marquee through colleagues. “No, I did not think it was AI because I trusted my source and we are sadly accustomed to these kinds of things happening,” she told The Journal. “Far too often, we at Jewish Federation are responding to incidents. I suspected it was to provoke people and now we know, based on quotes from the manager that was his intent.” The manager, she said, stated in the media that people have become too sensitive to antisemitism. “I think people feel emboldened to publicly incite hostility rather than engage in a constructive conversation.”
I suspected it was to provoke people and now we know, based on quotes from the manager that was his intent … I think people feel emboldened to publicly incite hostility rather than engage in a constructive conversation.” – Michelle Bombet Minch
She added the manager has not responded directly to Jewish community members she knew who emailed the theater.
Rachel Saslow of The Willamette Week quoted Jordan Perry, the theater manager’s, email response as saying that his reason for writing “The Jews” on the marquee was “making light for those whom everything supposedly is being blamed on Jewish people and its counter, that any criticism of something even tangentially Jewish is antisemitic.”
Youroregonnews.com posted that Perry responded via text message that his goal was not to influence opinion but to raise eyebrows. “My intention was not to offend anyone, but rather to push back culturally back on what constitutes antisemitism, to signal, in solidarity, that it’s not about ‘the Jews,’ that it’s about Israel, and Palestine, and Lebanon, and Iran and AIPAC,” Perry told the outlet. “This is my ‘humor,’ this was the point, intentionally subtle, of what I put on the marquee.”
Blazer believed the second message was taken down on Sunday.
Rabbi Eve Posen of Congregation Neveh Shalom in Portland, said she was surprised by the original marquee. “I was caught off guard,” Posen told the Journal. “It’s one thing to have political commentary. It’s quite another to do it the way he did it and his comments in the media were surprising that he felt justified in using ‘the Jews’ on the marquee.” The Jewish community in the area, she said, views the second sign as “continuing to troll because of our understanding and the comments he made making it explicitly clear he think Isreal and AIPAC as the problems in our world.”
Posen couldn’t say if the owner will issue any apology. “In terms of expecting an apology there were calls for the owner of the theater to make a statement about whether this is acceptable, but I don’t think anyone holding their breath waiting for it to happen.”
