The Schmooze lies at the intersection of high and low culture. Here, the latest developments and trends in Jewish art, books, dance, film, music, media, television and theater are all assimilated into one handy pop culture blog.
The Schmooze
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READ: The Jewciest Parts of Natalie Portman and Jonathan Safran Foer’s Epic Emails
Actress Natalie Portman and author Jonathan Safran Foer go way back (they have been friends for 15 years to be precise) and so do their emails. The New York Times recently published parts of their recent electronic correspondence, after a technological glitch caused earlier messages to be deleted. The emails are even more intriguing considering…
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9 French Jewish Songs to Celebrate Bastille Day
Happy Bastille Day, les amis! Let’s face it, the most recent stories describing the French Jewish experience have been disturbing. Between a January attack in Marseilles that led the leader of the city’s Jewish community to recommend Jews avoid wearing kippahs in public, reports that the leader of the devastating November attacks in Paris also…
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Jewish Authors On Longlist for First Novel Award
Some soon-to-be-familiar Jewish names cropped up on the Center for Fiction’s Longlist for its 2016 First Novel Prize, announced on Tuesday. The $10,000 prize, whose previous recipients include Junot Díaz for “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” and Marisha Pessl for “Special Topics in Calamity Physics,” is awarded to a book published between January…
The Latest
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Scott Disick Visits Israel, Finds ‘Hashem is Everywhere’
A year ago, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian West were the talk of Israel when they baptized their daughter, North, in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Today, Scott Disick, Kourtney Kardashian’s Jewish ex-boyfriend, was the one looking for a religious experience in the city. The “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” star…
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‘Hamilton’ Star Phillipa Soo and USA Network Founder Kay Koplovitz Honored at ‘Elly Awards’
More than 500 guests filled The Plaza’s ballroom for the Women’s Forum of New York’s 6th Annual Elly Awards emceed by Paula Zahn and honoring “Hamilton” star Phillipa Soo,Kay Koplovitz, founder of USA Networks, and [just resigned] 43rd Treasurer of the United States Rosie Rios. Koplovitz— [who had been nominated by President Clinton as the…
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WATCH: Hasidic Hitmaker Covers Justin Bieber Smash — in Yiddish
Last November, Israeli Hasidic singer Chaim Shlomo Mayesz’s Yiddish music video of his newly released album Bas Kol went viral, garnering more than 400,000 hits. The video, which was shot at his brother’s Hasidic wedding in Borough Park, featured Mayesz rapping to the tune of Fifth Harmony’s hip hop track “Worth It”. The song and…
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Does Lena Dunham Think Bad Cafeteria Sushi is Cultural Appropriation?
Lena Dunham basically just said that bad international cuisine in college cafeterias amounts to cultural appropriation. If that sounds like the beginning of an Onion article, no it’s not. In an interview with Food & Wine magazine, the “Girls” writer and star supported students from Oberlin College, her alma mater, for denouncing bad cafeteria food…
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Wife of Tampa Bay Buccaneers Star Brent Grimes Unleashes Epic Anti-Semitic Twitter Rant
Sometimes you can really put your foot in your mouth on Twitter. Miko Grimes, the outspoken wife of Tampa Bay Buccaneers star cornerback Brent Grimes, got into some hot water on Twitter after she used anti-Semitic language to critique the Jewish owners of her husband’s former team, the Miami Dolphins. The rant may not have…
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Metrograph’s Owners Name Their Top Ten Films
Metrograph, a cinema on Ludlow Street that opened in February, hopes to bring back the Hollywood Golden Era of moviegoing. It’s founders grew up going to the independent arthouses, some of which are now closed. We asked them to list their top ten favorite movies and they came up with some classics. JACOB PERLIN Perlin…
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Drake Posts Powerful Open Letter Following Police Shooting
Drake took to Instagram on Wednesday to post a heartfelt message in the wake of Alton Sterling’s death. Sterling was fatally shot by a Baton Rouge, Louisiana police officer on July 5 outside the convenience store where he sold CDs. Less than 48 hours later, 32-year-old Philando Castile was shot and killed by a police…
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Nava Barak Champions Elem — Israel’s Youth In Distress Lifeline
“I joined ELEM/Youth in Distress twenty years ago” its president Nava Barak—Israel’s former First Lady—told an intimate gathering at the East Side home of Judy Fein following her appearance at the ELEM Gala. “Twenty years ago I met a group of young people at an ELEM hostel [in Israel] who told me their stories of…
Most Popular
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Opinion I’m a Jew of color. Ta-Nehisi Coates can’t apply US lessons to Israel.
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Culture Columbus may have had Jewish heritage — that doesn’t mean he was Jewish
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Opinion The most antisemitic university president you’ve never heard of
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Culture Why Doug Emhoff shared his bar mitzvah with a guy named Scott
In Case You Missed It
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Looking Forward Sinwar, Sukkot and what Netanyahu needs to do now
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Culture Why we should listen to Ta-Nehisi Coates even if we may disagree with him
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Sports The Jewish NBA players to watch as the 2024-2025 season tips off
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Fast Forward Will Sinwar’s death end the Gaza war? The US hopes so, but Hamas and Netanyahu say they’ll keep fighting.
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