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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A Life of Progressive Politics and All That Jazz
Photo by Carol Rosegg “Cafe Society Swing,” a new musical that opened in New York on December 21, has so many good parts it’s a shame they don’t fit together. The play tells the story of Barney Josephson, the son of Latvian Jewish immigrants who scrapped together a few thousand bucks and, in 1938, opened…
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Jew or No Jew: Christmas Song Edition
Rudolph the blue-nosed reindeer? // by Lior Zaltzman Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, The Ronettes, Nat King Cole — their voices fill the air come Christmastime, injecting some holiday warmth into our Grinch-sized winter hearts. But as you’ve probably heard, behind (almost) every merry and bright hit, there’s a Jewish writer.. Can you tell which of your…
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It Was an Un-Orthodox Year
Photo copyright George Baier Books by and about Jews who leave Orthodoxy have been around for years now — centuries, really — but in 2014 they reached a critical mass. With new memoirs by Leah Vincent and Deborah Feldman, an academic study by Lynn Davidman, and scores of essays, articles, films, profiles and trend pieces,…
The Latest
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The Year the Met Met Klinghoffer
Photo copyright Ken Howard/Met Opera In the end, Marilyn Klinghoffer’s voice resonated most clearly in the controversial production of Alice Goodman and John Adams’s ‘The Death of Klinghoffer’ at the Met. There were, of course, the protests accusing the opera’s creators of, at worst, anti-Semitism, and at best, naiveté. And there were the counter-protesters who…
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When Jesus Crashes the Hanukkah Party
(JTA) — Sure, his birthday usually falls around the same time as Hanukkah, but Jesus and the Jewish holiday generally don’t mix. This year, however, two Jesus-Hanukkah juxtapositions have been getting a lot of social media attention. First, there’s Bud Williams, the Springfield, Mass., city counselor who said “Jesus is the reason for the season” —…
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#Pluslight Spreads the Hanukkah Cheer
Day three #ShareTheLights #PlusLight #Hannukkah pic.twitter.com/X6R1Fow3IM — Nicky N. (@NickyNeiman) December 19, 2014 With all of the candles, the menorahs and the doughnuts, Hanukkah is a naturally photogenic holiday. But now artist Tobi Kahn is putting party snapshots to a higher purpose than just showing your friends how many latkes you’re about to eat. Together…
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The Best 5 Jewish Art Exhibits of 2014
1. “Dani Gal: As From Afar,” The Jewish Museum In its United States premiere, Dani Gal’s short video installation addresses the relationship between a Jewish Holocaust survivor/ Nazi hunter and Hitler’s chief architect/armaments minister. This fictionalized story draws from real-life conversations found in letters between the two men. The show compels the viewer to choose…
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Beit Hatfutsot Celebrates Double Chai
T’was the first night of Hanukkah as 250 guests gathered at The Pierre to celebrate the candle-lighting and relish the welcome by Daniel Pincus the new, young president of American Friends of Beit Hatfutsot/The Museum of The Jewish People. Pincus, whose family roots include Germany, Chile, Latvia, Lithuania, U.S. and Israel” said that though the…
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POEM: ‘Ghazal: The Minimum Wage, 2014’
Having dinner before the president’s state of the union address My beloved produces a rant on the topic of raising the minimum wage He fumes as he has fumed on more than one occasion it would be fucking good for the economy, raising the minimum wage only he does not use this language. We are…
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Jewish Stars Turn Out for ‘Colbert’ Finale
(Reuters) — Stephen Colbert filed his final “Colbert Report” on Thursday, bidding farewell to his popular cable television show with the help of scores of celebrities who crowded onto the stage for a rousing sendoff to the tune of “We’ll Meet Again.” Colbert, 50, ended his show’s nine-year run on the cable channel Comedy Central…
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5 Israeli Artworks You Should Have Seen in 2014
1. Omer Fast, The Casting Omer Fast’s video installation “The Casting” questions the reality and fiction embedded in storytelling by recording an actor who plays the role of an American soldier in Iraq, and a casting for the role of the aforementioned soldier. Even with its abrupt, fragmented scenes that parallel the short attention span…
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