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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Javier Bardem Apologizes For Anti-Israel Letter
Javier Bardem has joined his wife Penelope Cruz in saying “Oops.” Bardem, Cruz and Pedro Almodovar were the three most famous Spanish celebs who signed a letter earlier this week calling Israeli operations in Gaza “genocide” against the Palestinians. But as many an NFL referee has said, on further review, Bardem changed his mind. Yes,…
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POEM: ‘All This Suffering’
Translated by Rachel Tzvia Back All this suffering all the sorrow all this suffering and sorrow in vain all the fear-clenched mothers their eyes disheveled all this sane madness in vain in vain the fathers, all these fathers hiding their hearts pretending in vain all this blood-crazy land in vain, in vain the young faces…
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POEM: ‘Under the Olive Tree’
Translated by Rachel Tzvia Back The light of the olive in this tree is thick and dark — lost blood flows in it. When I sat under its leaves time killed itself in the tree’s shade. Through all the afternoon hours a figure on the hill watched me, her face covered in a veil —…
The Latest
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Jewish Harry Potter Raises Galleons For Gaza War
Happy birthday to the Boy Who Lived! July 31 marks the day that Harry Potter — and his creator, J.K. Rowling — first entered the world. Harry is a loyal Gryffindorian, a matchless wizard, a native Parseltongue speaker, and…a Jew? Jewish Israelis have claimed the wizard wonder boy and his legacy on the “Jewish Harry…
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Joan Rivers Has Advice for Israel: Nose Jobs
Getty Images Joan Rivers is trading in her “Fashion Police” badge for some international relations credentials. The comedian, who just last week was seen passionately defending Israel to a TMZ reporter, is at it again. In an interview with Israel’s Channel 10 on Wednesday, Rivers had some words of advice for Israel’s PR team. “We…
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Comedian Irwin Corey Celebrates Star-Studded Centennial
Photo: Jon Kalish I suppose that if a man lives to be 100, he has the right to recite a limerick about farting at his birthday party, even if it’s inside a synagogue. Which is exactly what happened Tuesday night when Irwin Corey was greeted by scores of well-wishers at the Actor’s Temple in Manhattan….
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Penelope Cruz Just Wants Peace in Gaza
Getty Images Penelope Cruz didn’t exactly say “I didn’t know what the heck I was doing,” but she did issue a clarification to an open letter — written by husband Javier Bardem — which she signed along with nearly 100 Spanish actors and filmmakers. The original letter called for an end to “the genocide perpetrated by…
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Mystical Gardening and Digital Art
Growing up in central New Jersey in the early 1950s, Allen Hirsh knew virtually nothing about Judaism as a religion. “My family was rather typical of the community: extremely left-wing labor Zionists,” he said of his parents, who spoke Yiddish at least half of the time in the house. Hirsh’s father, a chicken farmer-turned-landscaper, went…
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Disney’s Aladdin and Jasmine Re-Cast as Hamas
aleXsandro Palombo Well, this is a whole new world. A new series called “Stop Hamas Terrorism: Once Upon a time the children in Palestine” by artist aleXsandro Palombo re-casts Aladdin and Princess Jasmine as members of Hamas. That sound you hear? That’s your childhood going up in smoke. Per an introduction posted to Palombo’s blog:…
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Israel Embassy Tweets Image of Jihadist Mona Lisa
Twitter/Newsweek Israel’s embassy in Dublin has deleted a series of tweets showing iconic works of art, including the Mona Lisa, dressed as Jihadists. All images were captioned: “Israel is the last frontier of the free world.” The images, captioned “Israel is the last frontier of the free world,” were sent from the embassy’s official Twitter…
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Andi Dorfman Is Really Over ‘Bachelorette’ Runner-Up
Getty Images Unless you’ve been offline all day, or, you know, have a life beyond the dramatic ups and down of reality television, you may have heard that Andi Dorfman, a.k.a. the Jewish Bachelorette, has made her decision. The lucky man comes in the form of Josh Murray, a failed baseball player from Atlanta. So…
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In Case You Missed It
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Opinion Here’s why Orthodox Jews are loyal to Trump — even if they don’t love him
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Culture Do Jews believe in the afterlife?
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Culture For Europe’s Jews, owning grand homes symbolized not just wealth, but equality
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Fast Forward A Holocaust exhibit — and Jewish staffer — are involved in a controversy over the National Archives
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