NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It was an unlikely encounter between a neo-Nazi and a woman who represented everything he thought he hated.
The result was completely unexpected.
What the woman, who was Jewish, chose to do with that moment may offer a lesson for us all.
I heard about this unlikely encounter when I recently sat down to listen to members of Nashville’s Jewish community about their experiences in dealing with antisemitism.
“So many people,” I observed, “have just never really gotten to know a Jewish person.”
"That's right, and we're not that big of a deal,” said Miriam Leibowitz, drawing hearty laughter from the group.
For the people I met for this conversation, antisemitism has sometimes manifested itself in the strangest of ways.
"An MTSU professor told me that another professor asked him to show him his horns — because he was Jewish,” said former Metro Council member Fabian Bedne.
“And he's like, what? ‘Yeah, show me your horns.’"
Current Metro Council member Jacob Kupin had a similar story.
"I went to Belmont University as one of only a handful of Jewish students and had all sorts of comments and things shared. ‘Do you have horns’ or, you know, ‘do you really control the weather?’ Right? Serious questions."
For a 17-year-old high school senior in the group, one of her experiences came when another student suggested that she knew another Jewish girl's vote in a school election was not up for grabs.
"She's like, 'I know you're voting for her 'cause she's Jewish.’ It's like, OK?"
"As if all Jewish people think alike?" I asked.
“Yeah. It's the dual loyalty trope. It's my school election. You know, there's no dual loyalty there."
One woman, however, had a vastly different confrontation with hate.
Melissa Alvarez was in Nashville’s downtown entertainment district in July 2024 when she came across members of the neo-Nazi Goyim Defense League (GDL) as they were spouting their antisemitic tropes to anyone who would listen.
"I was down there, and we had some girls from Israel that were staying with us,” Alvarez recalled. “I was with a friend, and we had our kids down there – and it was just a day that I was just done with it."
Video from the GDL livestream shows when Alvarez first got into the middle of the group's protest as they tried to recruit followers with their flyers.
"I'm curious, what Jew hurt you guys?" she asked group leader Jon Minadeo.
"No, no, no,” he responded.
Alvarez was concerned by how many people were willing to listen to the group’s antisemitic propaganda.
"I watched people say, 'Well, what are you talking about? Where did you get this idea?' And they're able to pull them in."
The more she listened to their hateful rhetoric about Jews, the angrier she got.
"I was just not in the mood, right?" Alvarez remembered.
In another moment captured on the GDL livestream, Alvarez was surrounded by a group of neo-Nazis, along with another man who appeared to be engaging with the group.
"Guys, I am 4-foot, 11,” she told them. “I am standing around a bunch of white men—and I'm a threat?"
As a result of this encounter, she began talking and texting for months with a GDL member from California.
She said that he eventually told her she was the first Jew he had ever met.
"He's just learning stuff off of the internet and being reinforced constantly along with people,” Alvarez recounted.
“So, he has these wild misconceptions about what Judaism looks like, what Jews are. It was actually a positive conversation that came out of it."
I had to ask.
"Is he still a member of GDL?"
"No, he's not."
The man did not return NewsChannel 5’s calls to get his side of the story.
But Alvarez said she believes that it was a matter of getting him to finally see a Jewish person as a fellow human being.
It was a thought that occurred to her when she attended the trial of Ryan McCann, the Canadian GDL member who was recently convicted for his assault of a young Jewish man.
"I just wonder how it would've turned out if this person would've just made a Jewish friend from the get-go, had somebody just been like, ‘where did this belief come from?’ and had that conversation."
One of the women who was part of our conversation marveled at Alvarez’s example.
"That's so beautiful,” Ayelet Berger told Alvarez, “And also for your children – to build an example, right, for your children and the children who were with you."
Alvarez responded, "Well, my children think I'm nuts."
Again, the group laughed.
For others, it was an idea that resonated.
"With dealing with hate, you could always find a way to kind your way into somebody's heart,” said Brad Krock. “You can always sit down – if somebody's willing to have the conversation, even if it takes months and years."
Metro Council member Sheri Weiner said that is why she is so active in the community.
“It's deliberate because I believe that if people don't know me and don't get to know me, they don't know what a Jewish person is,” she explained.
“I'm not gonna step back. I'm not gonna be quiet. I'm gonna join forces and voices with my friends, with my family, with my community – and we're gonna speak out and we're gonna let people know that we are just like they are."
One person, however, was more skeptical about the notion that the objects of the hate need to be the ones to fix it.
"There's a certain point at which it stops being our problem,” said Eitan Snyder. “Like, we can't be the ones to deliver. We can't be the ones to be the nice Jews who have you over for Shabbat dinner. Like, we've got our own stuff to do."
Still, in their reaction to the hate they have encountered, the rabbi in this group saw signs of hope.
"I feel actually very proud of listening to the people around this table, because if you pay attention, we are people that refuse to hate in return,” Rabbi Joshua Kullock said.
"That's what I think should be the way to go."
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Do you have information that would help me with my investigation? Send me your tips: phil.williams@newschannel5.com
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