Michael Kaminer
By Michael Kaminer
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The Schmooze Friday Film: Jews and Their Opinions
Courtesy of Snitow-Kaufman Productions “Between Two Worlds” doesn’t unfold like a traditional documentary. Instead, Deborah Kaufman and Alan Snitow’s earnest exploration of Jewish identity uses loosely connected sequences to illuminate tensions between post-Holocaust protectionism and post-Diaspora leftism. For a people who still occupy an uncertain footing in the world, does dissent equal betrayal? Who is…
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The Schmooze Estee Lauder’s Synagogue Gets a Facelift
Estee Lauder and her parents once worshiped at Congregation Tifereth Israel in Corona, Queens — the borough’s oldest synagogue. So it’s about time that the century-old wooden shul is getting a makeover. The landmarked building, “a rare survivor of the earliest vernacular synagogues in the borough” according to Crain’s NY Business, will undergo a major…
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The Schmooze Meet Clifford Scheiner, Orthodox Doctor and Leading Porn Collector
It’s not surprising that Dr. Clifford Scheiner, a self-proclaimed Orthodox Jew and student of Talmud and Torah, poses in today’s New York Daily News holding a book. What might raise eyebrows is that the tome in question is the illustrated biography of ‘70s porn star Vanessa Del Rio. Scheiner, according to the News, “has one…
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The Schmooze Long Island Pharmacy Murderer’s Jewish Connection
With the arrest of a Long Island couple in this week’s horrific Medford pharmacy murders, an unfortunate Jewish connection has emerged. Former Army private David Laffer, 33, was taken into custody yesterday in connection with the quadruple slayings at Haven Drugs on Sunday. His “pill-popping” wife, Melinda Brady, was also taken away in handcuffs, according…
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The Schmooze Friday Film: Of Victimhood, Girl Groups and Marlene Dietrich
More a filmed performance piece than a conventional movie, Amit Epstein’s “The Stockholm Syndrome Trilogy” — which had its North American premiere last month at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival — mashes up interpretive dance, ‘80s pop, Marlene Dietrich, and same-sex lust into a sometimes-successful fantasia on Jewish victimhood. The titular condition, of course, manifests…
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The Schmooze Jewish Cop Transferred After Busting Prosecutor for DWI
The NYPD transferred Officer Elliott Zinstein from the Bronx to Greenpoint, Brooklyn because the neighborhood supposedly needed more Jewish cops, according to today’s NY Daily News. But there are a couple of reasons why Zinstein — an Orthodox Jew — wasn’t buying the explanation. For one thing, the Jewish population is much higher in the…
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The Schmooze Village Voice Turns Spotlight on Jewish-Staffed Adult Home
A 4,500-word story in this week’s Village Voice tells the tale of Solange Lambert and Cosmo Salerno, coupled residents of Brooklyn “adult home” Surf Manor who are fighting to move into a state-subsidized apartment. But the story carries a heavily Jewish subtext. “As with most other adult homes in the city, Surf Manor’s operator, Robert…
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The Schmooze Listening in Portland to the Voice of Bugs Bunny
He was a Portland Jew who dropped out of high school to find fame and fortune in New York. And while he never became a household name, his alter egos — Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Pepé Le Pew, and Barney Rubble, among hundreds of others — became part of pop culture lore. Now,…
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