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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The Ink-Stained Men Behind the Superhero Masks
There is little argument regarding the fact that Superman, Captain America, and The Green Lama are comic book heroes. But if you thought muscle-bound, caped-crusaders who wear their underpants on the outside are the only heroes of the genre, you’d be flat out wrong. If you delve into Drew Friedman’s brilliant new book, “Heroes of…
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POEM: ‘Paste-Up’
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POEM: ‘Soldiers, Israel, 2014’
For Dina Dewy petals on his uniform, a psalm inscribed beneath roots of an anemone. “Every soldier is a flower” you say, grown with a morning shower of affection, pulsing gently, petals quiver at the thought of killing.
The Latest
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Mysticism, Heresy and Multimedia Art
Ira Eduardovna, ‘A Thousand Years’ (video still), 2014. In the Talmudic legend called “Four Entered the Orchard,” a quartet of wise men who explore Jewish mysticism meet severe ends: One dies, one loses his mind, and one forsakes Jewish tenets altogether. Only one leaves intact. Here’s hoping that the artists in “Pardes,” a new exhibition…
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Hoops Star Sorry for Holocaust Memorial Selfie
Danny Green poses for selfie at Holocaust Memorial in Berlin/Facebook San Antonio Spurs star Danny Green went to the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, where his team was playing an exhibition game. Nothing wrong with that. He took a selfie amid the stark granite reminders of the millions who died in the Shoah. Nothing really wrong…
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‘Blowin’ in the Wind?’ With a 13-Pound Book, Not So Much
Be careful, because the latest Bob Dylan book may break your coffee table. A comprehensive collection of Dylan’s lyrics, entitled “The Lyrics: Since 1962,” will be published by Simon & Schuster on October 28. It will consist of about 1,000 pages and weigh thirteen and a half pounds. Only 3,000 copies will be printed in…
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Three Wheels and a Sukkah
(JTA) — The holiday of Sukkot commands Jews to live in “booths” — commemorating the temporary dwellings their ancestors inhabited while wandering the desert for 40 years. Though many Manhattan apartments measure only slightly larger than those original booths, unless the apartment roof is retrofitted with twigs from Central Park, it doesn’t quite qualify as…
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Why Judd Hirsch Almost Turned Down ‘Taxi’
Judd Hirsch has packed a lot of success into his 79 years on the planet. He is of course known as Alex Rieger, cabbie extraordinaire in the long-running television sitcom “Taxi.” The role earned him four Emmy nominations and two wins. He’s also starred in a number of other successful series, including “Dear John” and,…
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JLaw Calls Nude Pics ‘Sex Crime’
Jennifer Lawrence at the Paris Fashion Week/Getty Images Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, one of dozens of actresses, models and celebrities whose intimate images have been posted online, spoke about the photo hacking scandal for the first time on Tuesday, saying it is a crime and sexual violation. In an interview with Vanity Fair magazine, Lawrence,…
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Growing Up in Jazz Age Chicago
On Bittersweet Place By Ronna Wineberg Relegation Books, 270 pages, $13.95 As Ronna Wineberg’s novel “On Bittersweet Place” opens, the Czernitski family is escaping Russia. Revolution is in the air, and the family fears religious persecution. In the prologue, set in 1922, Lena, the young narrator of the book, spells out the fears she associates…
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Sarah Silverman Mocks Hasids in Post-Yom Kippur ‘SNL’
Sarah Silverman, the sharp-tongued Jewish comic, did not wait long after the end of Yom Kippur to start sinning again. Appearing on Saturday Night Live, just hours after the holiest of Jewish holidays, Yom Kippur (also known as the Day of Atonement), was over, she cracked her first joke at the expense of the ultra-Orthodox…
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Opinion Trump’s NYC rally was a morally disgusting glimpse of the MAGA future
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Fast Forward ‘I will never set foot there again’: Jewish Dems boycott Hymie’s deli in Philly after Trump ad
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Opinion I’m a U.S. Navy veteran. Here’s why I’m protesting Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally
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Fast Forward Every time Donald Trump has invoked Hitler and the Nazis
In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish אַ מחיה, די אייראָפּעיִשע גאַסן־נעמען! I love European street names!
אין וואַרשע הייסן גאַסן נאָך חיות, מאַטעריאַלן, מלאָכות, אַפֿילו נאָכן וועטער.
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Fast Forward Is Elissa Slotkin’s Senate bid in trouble?
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Fast Forward Chicago Jews deride mayor’s statement on shooting of Orthodox man
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Art Two new statues in D.C. honor white nationalists — well, sort of
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