“Am I speculated to be mad in regards to the Bradley Cooper state of affairs?” learn the textual content from a befuddled non-Jewish good friend one morning this week.
She was referring to the prosthetic nostril Cooper had slapped on to play Leonard Bernstein in Maestro, the forthcoming Netflix movie in regards to the legendary composer, which Cooper co-wrote, directed, and produced.
The movie’s trailer had simply been launched on-line, and my social media shtetl was abuzz.
By donning a prosthetic honker to play the function, Cooper was perpetuating stereotypes about Jews having huge noses! Why did the factor must be so large? And why was Cooper, a non-Jew, enjoying this iconic Jewish function anyway?
“No,” I wrote again. “It actually doesn’t matter.”
That’s the humorous factor about on-line outrage—it doesn’t matter what the trigger du jour, it’s straightforward to really feel like we should bounce onboard.
However whether or not you’re Jewish or not, take into account this your decidedly non-rabbinic dispensation to take a seat Schnoz-gate out.
It’s not simply because there have been a bunch of Jews concerned with the movie: Cooper co-wrote the screenplay with Josh Singer, and one in every of its producers is Steven Spielberg.
Or that Bernstein’s property signed off on Cooper’s challenge.
Or that the world will get the pleasure of seeing the uber-Jewess Sarah Silverman play Bernstein’s sister Shirley.
Or that Bernstein’s children, who had been included within the course of of constructing Maestro, issued a press release on Twitter saying that Cooper “selected to make use of make-up to amplify his resemblance, and we’re completely advantageous with that.” (They added that they’re “sure that our dad would have been advantageous with it as nicely.”)
Dayenu, as we Jews say. It will have been sufficient.
However actually, I’m not upset about this non-story for one easy motive: It gives us a golden alternative to take a deep breath and refocus our consideration on what actually issues.
What’s that, you ask? The reply is straightforward, and it’s one the maestro himself would’ve liked: Artwork.
Why is Bradley Cooper (who isn’t Jewish) enjoying Leonard Bernstein (who was very Jewish)? As a result of pretending to be different individuals is the very definition of appearing.
And why is he sporting an enormous faux nostril? As my good friend, colleague, and celebrated Jewish actor Joshua Malina not too long ago instructed Web page Six, not as a result of Cooper wished to perpetuate some nefarious stereotype about Jews and their appendages, however as a result of he was attempting to look loads like one particular Jew who had one particularly nobly-sized nostril.
However now that I’ve saved you the time and hassle of getting upset about Cooper and his putty proboscis, right here’s one thing a lot better you are able to do together with your psychological vitality: Fear about actual Jews, not the glamorous and deceased ones however all of us alive at the moment who’re seeing and battling precise, unprecedented antisemitism on this nation.
When the Excessive Holidays start subsequent month, we are going to head to synagogue underneath heavy safety, and face individuals just like the self-professed group of “on-line trolls” who this week known as in faux bomb threats towards greater than two dozen synagogues throughout the U.S., making the lives of 1000’s of Jews hellish.
On this period of takes and takedowns, talking out towards one thing like Cooper’s faux nostril shouldn’t be what passes for Jewish engagement.
The information cycle strikes quick, however we don’t must elevate each perceived slight right into a referendum on the state of Jews in America. As a substitute, we should always focus our vitality on real-life bigotry.
And as for the best way to battle it? We are able to do what the world’s best orchestras did and observe the maestro’s lead.
Bernstein himself confronted horrible prejudice however took it in stride, digging deeper into his Jewish identification and creating stunning artistic endeavors.
So let’s all pay much less consideration to Bernstein’s sniffer and extra to his spirit, the one which, even a long time after his dying, continues to encourage Jews to have interaction extra totally and passionately with our millenia-old custom. At our greatest, we don’t spend an excessive amount of time worrying about what the haters consider us.
As a substitute, we ponder tradition—our personal and the world’s at giant—and create artistic endeavors actually worthy of Bernstein’s legacy.
Every thing else is simply noise.
Noses included.
Stephanie Butnick is a co-host of Unorthodox, a podcast from Pill Journal.
