The alliance between Black and Jewish communities helped shape twentieth-century America, with shared influence extending through entertainment, sports, and politics. Often treated as outsiders within the broader cultural landscape, the two groups found strength in common causes, including joint campaigns against fascism and prejudice. Yet moments such as the 1991 Crown Heights riots and the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, attacks have also revealed deep and unresolved tensions.
The relationship is so central to both communities and to the country that Henry Louis Gates Jr. produced Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History, which premiered on PBS earlier this year. The four-hour series is engaging, although it barely scratches the surface of such a complex history.
Re/Pair
The Bottom Line: A weak historical overview, but a powerful catalyst for conversation.
Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF Docs)
Director: Lacey Schwartz Delgado
Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes
That broader context helps explain why Lacey Schwartz Delgado’s 101-minute documentary, Re/Pair, feels important even though it falls short of being essential.
For viewers unfamiliar with the Gates series—or with Black-Jewish history in America—Re/Pair offers only a faint introduction, moving quickly past details crucial to understanding the issues it raises. It works best after viewing Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History.
For viewers with a stronger foundation, Delgado’s conversations provide a valuable complement, illuminating the human misunderstandings that might be overcome through intelligence, sensitivity, and rigorous debate—albeit under unusually favorable studio conditions.
Delgado opens with a Martin Luther King Jr. quotation: “People fail to get along with each other because they fear each other. They fear each other because they don’t know each other. They don’t know each other because they have not properly communicated with each other.”
She then stages that communication through 19 paired conversations bringing together Black and Jewish artists, commentators, spiritual leaders, and others. Some participants are longtime friends, some are former collaborators, and some are meeting for the first time, although the film would benefit from making those relationships clearer.
The title Re/Pair reflects both its paired format and the Jewish concept of Tikkun olam, or repairing the world.
Participants include familiar faces such as David Schwimmer and Harry Lennix, whose friendship dates to their time together at Northwestern, as well as W. Kamau Bell, Robert Klein, Susan Orlean, Matisyahu, and Van Jones, who also serves as an executive producer. Others are less widely known but influential within particular cultural, intellectual, or religious circles.
The interviews take place in a sparse, relaxed setting: chairs arranged in a dimly lit room, carefully filmed, with no apparent dress code. Delgado remains mostly off-camera, allowing the exchanges to feel spontaneous. It is unclear whether participants received formal questions, brief prompts, or historical footage; the archival material is generally useful, though not especially developed.
The overall approach is loose, sometimes to a fault. With 19 pairings and 38 participants, achieving balance within 101 minutes is difficult, yet at least a third of the conversations receive limited screen time or only one-sided exchanges. A firmer directorial hand might have encouraged fuller participation and more probing questions. In one conversation, a remark with an antisemitic edge goes unexplored, leaving its intent and implications unresolved.
Several discussions remain on cautious ground. Matisyahu and Che “Rhymefest” Smith examine musical appropriation and authenticity, while others address Jesse Jackson’s notorious “Hymietown” remarks, including his daughter, the Rev. Ashley Jackson.
Other segments confront shifting political loyalties in Black America and evolving responsibilities among American Jews in relation to Israel and Gaza.
Intersectionality drives many of the film’s strongest conversations, particularly those involving participants who identify as both Black and Jewish.
Standouts include the pairing of Rabbi Sharon Brous and the Rev. Michael-Ray Mathews, as well as respectful exchanges between Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors and Rabbi Susan Goldberg.
Several participants, including some high-profile names, offer surprisingly little. Those missed opportunities are among the film’s clearest weaknesses.
Because the subject is so contentious, viewers with personal ties to either community may feel uncomfortable, overlooked, or selectively centered at different points. The same can be said of Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History.
“Solidarity is about growing our ability to be more compassionate toward each other,” Cullors observes. Though Re/Pair offers an uneven account of history, it succeeds as a meaningful contribution to a vital conversation, capturing at least some of the difficult groundwork needed for a more constructive future.
