Outreach Launches to Rowdy, Overflow Uptown Crowd!

A shout out and lots of love to all the people who came to our debut outreach event at the Washington Heights YMHA.  I felt comfortable and at home, but also challenged, by the sharp crowd that could have been about 15 of my grandmothers and 15 of my grandfathers (even though I could be one of those myself!).  It was really a thrill to see the room fill up and the extra chairs come out.  And of course what a bunch of characters.    I didn’t expect to get off easy and I didn’t.
The Israeli guy with the arm splint gave me the business from the get-go, and didn’t let up.   They warned me about him.    But he wasn’t that bad, and cooperated when it was time to move the Q&A along.   The gentleman who wanted to know why we focused on the West Bank and not how wonderful Israel is came up to me with his wife afterward and we had an interesting chat about their vacations in Haiti.

I got a lot out of it.   Our “sample reel” with six subjects played well.   I didn’t hear any snoring.    And most of the audience embraced our efforts to make a film with representative characters.  I’m a bit embarrassed that I choked up a bit in public when I talked about Rabbi Froman.   I was thinking about him a lot today.

Washington Heights YMHA outreach event for “Holy Land.”