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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‘5 Cameras’ Filmmaker Struggles To Get Funding
Israeli documentary filmmaker Guy Davidi is struggling to raise enough money to finish his new film. A crowd-funding campaign that will end this weekend is still short of its goal. Davidi’s “5 Broken Cameras,” which he co-created with Emad Burnat, was an Oscar nominee and won an Emmy. But he’s having trouble raising the last…
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POEM: ‘Zohar’
In the Shining Book it says Moses existed before he existed at first above in the spirit world and then among us like a light * child of the Blessed Holy One who is a man of war and child of the Blessed Holy One the glamorous moon divine mother and lover, that had to…
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Books AIDS Crisis Through a Comics Lens
Joyce Brabner/Mark Zingarelli “Joyce Brabner, best known as Harvey Pekar’s widow and collaborator, has released a graphic novel about early efforts in a New York gay community to fight the AIDS epidemic.” So began a recent Cleveland Plain-Dealer review of “Second Avenue Caper” (Hill & Wang, $22), a deeply moving and bitingly funny new graphic…
The Latest
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‘Notorious R.B.G.’ Meets Real Life R.B.G.
In a weird life imitates art moment, Shana Knizhnik, creator of the viral “Notorious R.B.G.” Tumblr, met with Ruth Bader Ginsburg yesterday. Here’s what the Supreme Court justice, who recently underwent heart surgery, had to say to her many, many fans: Me: How are you feeling? It’s amazing you’re back at work so quickly. RBG:…
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Joan Rivers Remembers Jewish Groups in Will
Getty Images Comedian Joan Rivers’ will left money to several charitable organizations to which she was connected. Among the Jewish organizations which received bequests were the Jewish Guild for the Blind, Jewish Home and Hospital Foundation, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. The amount received by each organization is unknown, since they will…
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8 Biblical Movies To Watch Instead of ‘Exodus’
It isn’t as though the Lord said, “Go out and make motion pictures of my stories.” And yet, that seems to be what’s happening. Both the Old and New Testaments have provided source material for dozens upon dozens of films, some better — and some more controversial — than others. Here are 8 of the…
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Scott Walker Needs To Learn How To Say ‘Mazel Tov’
Getty Images And the winner of best Hebrew flub 2014 is… Republican Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. The 2016 presidential hopeful better brush up on his Hebrew. In a letter to a constituent leaked online, Walker seemingly confuses “Mazel Tov” with “Molotov.” Per New York Magazine: One Wisconsin Now dug up an undated letter that Walker…
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Don’t Be Ben Edelman. Be Nice to Your Chinese Food Restaurant.
Forget tinsel, trees and twinkly lights. For Jews, Christmas holds the promise of massive amounts of Chinese food. Which is why, with the 25th just around the corner, one would think that it would be wise to be extra-nice to your local purveyor of magical soup dumplings and General Tso. Ben Edelman disagrees. After ordering…
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8 May-December Movies To Make You Re-Think Romance
May-December relationships are a staple not just of the new “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks” (read our interview with director Arthur Allen Seidelman here but of many classic movies as well. The recent passing of Mike Nichols has brought one of the best to the fore. Here are 8 that will change how you…
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Even Joe Biden Can’t Screw This Up
Vice President Joe Biden will assist in the lighting this year of the Hanukkah menorah on the ellipse in front of the White House. Biden’s participation on Dec. 16, the first night of the holiday, marks the 35th anniversary of the first lighting of the “National Menorah,” an event sponsored by American Friends of Lubavitch,…
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Never Too Old to Dance
The banging you hear in the background? That’s the drumbeat for an Oscar nomination for Gena Rowlands. Rowlands stars in “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks,” a movie about the impact an elderly south Florida widow and a much younger gay dance instructor have on each other’s lives. Rowlands plays Lilly Harrison, the former wife…
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In Case You Missed It
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Antisemitism Decoded The far-right is saying Jews don’t serve in the military — they’re wrong
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News Why isn’t a pro-Israel lobbying group considered a foreign agent?
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Yiddish ווידעאָ: אַ חסיד פֿאָרט קיין איראַן צו געפֿינען אסתּר המלכּהס קבֿרVIDEO: Hasidic Jew goes to Iran to find Queen Esther’s tomb
אַבֿרהם שוואַרץ איז געפאָרן אַהין מיט דרײַ חדשים צוריק, נישט וויסנדיק אַז אין גיכן וועט צווישן איראַן און ישׂראל אויסברעכן אַ מלחמה.
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