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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Waiting on Tables, and for a Break
Photo: Ken Jacques The tiny Triad nightclub in the Upper West Side of Manhattan was filled by a crowd sufficiently large to give a fire marshal palpitations. That was probably due to the fact that the night’s attraction, Brad Zimmerman, grew up across the Hudson, just a hop, skip and $14 George Washington Bridge toll…
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg Collects ‘Notorious RBG’ T-Shirts
Ruth Bader Ginsburg knows she’s badass. She’s got the t-shirts to prove it. At an event held at the 92nd Street Y on Sunday night, the Supreme Court justice explained that she has “quite a large supply” of t-shirts showing her face and the slogan “Notorious RBG,” referencing rapper Biggie Smalls, also known as The…
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You Can Tweet That Woman, Monica Lewinsky
You can now tweet with that woman. Monica Lewinsky, self proclaimed “social activist. public speaker. contributor to vanity fair. knitter of things without sleeves,” has joined Twitter. With two tweets under her belt, the woman whose blue dress almost brought down a president already has over 8,000 followers and a verified account. Her first tweet,…
The Latest
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How a Midlife Crisis Turned Into Jewish Cabaret
Daniel Cainer’s “Jewish Chronicles,” currently at the Soho Playhouse in New York, is a delightful cabaret act filled with Yiddishkeit and Yiddish-cute. Cainer is a British Jew who grew up in an observant household, but, inexplicably, was sent to a Church of England School. (Ironically, he notes, the school later became a synagogue, proving “God…
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POEM: ‘Backseat Mama’
my son consigns me to a knife-less table-setting he explains: “mama doesn’t get a knife, she sat in the backseat” — in the car — it’s true: my husband at the wheel, his mother, visiting from revolution-ravaged Ukraine at his side I’m the only one small enough (even post-birth) to fit between two carseats surprisingly…
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POEM: ‘Gaza’
Scrawny goats limp on heaps of rubble, the sea — under weights of sorrow. Nowhere to go, she says, escaping the bombs with her wounded child. And the child guarded by ten silent angels who weep.
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This Halloween, Your Kid Can Be a World War II Evacuee
Are you conflicted about what Halloween costume to buy your kids? Are you torn between the bumble bee, Frozen’s Elsa and Spiderman costumes? Have no fear, maybe you can dress them in something with a little more history, like a World War II child evacuee. Sold on Amazon and UK’s eBay sites, the costumes feature…
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Sukkahs for the Homeless
At Sukkot, as we build or assemble and decorate our temporary shelters in the backyard, we might complain about the chilly weather or having hammered our thumbs or the rising cost of etrogim. One Toronto organization is using the opportunity to draw community attention to a much more serious problem: homelessness. Kehilla, a community organization…
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Filming the Wives of Bali
Courtesy of Elemental Productions Filmmaker Robert Lemelson’s “Bitter Honey” is a documentary about polygamy and violence towards women in Bali, Indonesia. Lemelson filmed three families — three husbands, 17 wives and 20 children — over a seven-year period. Many were tricked into being co-wives and are psychologically manipulated and physically abused by their unfaithful and…
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Appeal of Conscience Honors GM’s Mary Barra, Disney CEO and President of Mexico
The 2014 Appeal of Conscience Gala at the Waldorf-Astoria boasted more than 1000 guests and included a large contingent of exquisitely gowned women. Honored were Mexico’s president Enrique Pena Nieto Walt Disney Co. Chairman and CEO Robert Iger and General Motors CEO Mary Barra. Cardinal Theodor M. Dolanoffered a prayer and Secretary of the Holy…
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When Rabbi Freundel Did ‘Da Ali G Show’
(JTA) — Back in 2003, long before Rabbi Barry Freundel’s arrest on voyeurism charges, and long before Sacha Baron Cohen was a household name, the rabbi appeared on Baron Cohen’s “Da Ali G Show.” The rabbi was one of three religious leaders (plus an atheist) who agreed to appear on a panel, apparently unaware that…
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