Renee Ghert-Zand
By Renee Ghert-Zand
-
The Schmooze Matisyahu Promotes Summer Tour With ‘Mustache Madness’
As if Hasidic reggae singer Matisyahu’s bizarre “Miracle” (Hanukkah Song) video from this past winter wasn’t weird enough, he has now put out an equally bizarre one to promote his upcoming summer tour. True, this new video thankfully has no nightmarish scenes featuring a toga-wearing Hellenists, Santa Clauses, Nutcracker soldiers or fighting hockey players in…
-
The Schmooze For Women in Ultra-Orthodox Williamsburg, No Cell Phones in Public
First it was an “out of sight-out of mind” approach as Haredi Jews in Israel relegated women to the back of the bus and restricted them to walking on only one side of the street in certain Jerusalem neighborhoods. Now, the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Williamsburg, Brooklyn appear to prefer that women be seen, but not…
-
Books Q&A: Canadian Jewish Book Award Winner Alison Pick
For Canadian author and poet Alison Pick, it was her personal journey of discovering and reclaiming her Jewish identity that led to her greatest professional success. The 35-year-old recently won the 2010 Canadian Jewish Book Award for fiction, being presented May 30 in Toronto, for her historical novel, “Far to Go,” about a Czechoslovakian Jewish…
-
Life Teaching Haredi Women To Succeed in Business
Batya Kenanie Bram, a former Israeli government spokeswoman, said she was looking for a new challenge. The working mother of three wanted to do something that she thought would have more direct social impact. Drawing on her natural business acumen and her formal academic training — she has a master’s degree in political science and…
-
The Schmooze Monday Music: Sadder but Wiser in Berlin
Photo by Kenneth Locke Orit Shimoni is a singer-songwriter in perpetual motion, with little slowing her down as she travels from city to city, gig to gig. But it was a 2008 first-time visit to Berlin that gave her uncharacteristic pause. She had gone to the German capital to check out the music scene, where,…
-
Food Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh: ‘Good’ Food Hits Plates at Jewish Camp
Some are doing it to answer the first lady’s call to fight childhood obesity. Others are doing it as a way of answering the Jewish call of shmirat haguf, or taking care of one’s body. Either way, Jewish summer camps of all sorts throughout the country are increasingly focusing on healthy eating and helping kids…
-
Life Reaching Out to Our Muslim Sisters
On the heels of America’s most-wanted terrorist being eliminated in Pakistan by U.S. Special Forces, the woman who was once dubbed by the media as “Osama Bin Laden’s Worst Nightmare” made a statement that I found haunting. Islamic reformer Irshad Manji made the scary point in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that President…
-
The Schmooze Second Ave. Deli Vs. Heart Attack Grill: Who Owns the Triple Bypass?
Who can tell the difference between a “Triple Bypass Burger” and a “Triple Bypass Sandwich?” Everyone can, according to the owners of the legendary 2nd Avenue Deli. But an Arizona restaurant seems to think that it has a lock on artery-clogging fare—or at least on the terms used to describe it. Deli owner Jeremy Lebewohl…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion Israel is becoming a pariah state. Here’s what American Jews must do.
- 2
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 3
Opinion We must face reality — the Gaza war is now a war of annihilation
- 4
Culture On the northwest side of Chicago, my old Jewish neighborhood may soon live on in infamy
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion A doctor in the midst of the Boulder attack: ‘This did not come out of vacuum’
-
Opinion I teach Jewish history in Boulder. Is my community taking the wrong lessons from Sunday’s attack?
-
Fast Forward Far right capitalizes on Boulder attack to spread anti-Muslim, anti-Arab hate
-
Opinion Being Jewish in America today feels like walking multiple tightropes at once
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
