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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POEM: ‘Letter to God’
You say because I’m always about to die, I am truly alive. My shadow stretches over fallen branches, my skin smiles under fingers of light, grass smiles along the path You say is mine. When You look at me, you see a child. When I look at You, I see a woman under a tree,…
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Chelsea Handler To Host Netflix Talk Show
After waving bye-bye to “Chelsea Lately” and signing a new deal, Chelsea Handler is moving on to Netflix. In partnership with her production company, Borderline Amazing, Handler will star in four docu-comedies, premiere a stand-up special based on her tour, “Uganda be Kidding Me” and a launch brand spanking new talk show — all on Netflix….
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Books From One Soccer Writer to Another
There are two Jonathan Wilsons writing about soccer in a knowledgeable way. One is Jonathan Wilson from the Guardian, arguably the foremost journalistic expert on tactics in the modern game, the other is Jonathan Wilson, the Tufts University Fletcher Professor of Rhetoric and Debate, who covered the 1994 World Cup for The New Yorker and…
The Latest
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What Does Your Favorite Jewish Food Say About You?
Dreaming of a bagel and schmear/stroll combo? Or are you more of a curl-up-in-your-PJs with a bowl of a matzo ball soup kind of person? Read on to discover if your noshing has a deeper meaning: 1) Bagel You’re a classic and everybody loves you. Be careful that you don’t let it go to your…
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Hero in Print, Villain at Home
Few of us ever face a moral decision with life or death consequences, or that threatens to influence, however feebly, the course of history. This may be one reason why the moral calculations of men and women who lived during the rise of the Third Reich and the Second World War prove so durable as…
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Raunchy Comic ‘Stole’ Gig From Dad
(JTA) — Those taken aback by the sexually charged comedy routine of kippah-wearing 12-year-old Josh Orlian on “America’s Got Talent” now have one more reason to be surprised: He took some of the material from his dad. Josh appeared on “America’s Got Talent” Tuesday night, wowing the judges with racy jokes. In one bit, Orlian said…
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Idina Menzel is Recording a Christmas Album
Jewish Broadway performer Idina Menzel, the voice of Elsa in Disney’s animated film “Frozen,” is recording a Christmas album. “I know I’m Jewish,” she said Wednesday night during a performance at Radio City Music Hall, “but a lot of famous Jewish people have written Christmas songs, so I’m going to try and have a lot…
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Books Jewish Roots of the ‘Beautiful Game’
British Jews have never accounted for more than 1% of the population. And their contribution to soccer has always been obscured. But, in his well-researched and compellingly-written history, “Does Your Rabbi Know You’re Here?: The History of Football’s Forgotten Tribe,” Anthony Clavane explains the outsize contribution of British Jews to British soccer and their pivotal…
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Inside Dr. Ruth’s 86th Birthday Bash
When is a swan not a swan? The question raises mental images of Correggio’s 1531 painting of a nude woman with a swan on her lap, his elongated neck between her naked breasts or William Butler Yeats’ poem “Leda and the Swan.” But for the answer you need to go to Dr. Ruth Westheimer’s latest…
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Authors Jonathan Safran Foer and Nicole Krauss Split
Getty Images The Jewish literary couple that was too good to be true is no longer. Jonathan Safran Foer and Nicole Krauss have legally separated, The New York Post’s Page Six reports. But according to their rep, the couple actually “split amicably about a year ago.” Foer, author of “Everything is Illuminated” and “Extremely Loud…
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The 12-Year-Old Orthodox Comedian Who Shocked Howard Stern
It’s not every day that you see Howard Stern’s face register shock. But that’s exactly what happened when Josh Orlian, a 12-year-old Modern Orthodox Jew from White Plains, New York, took the stage for his stand-up comedy debut on last night’s episode of “America’s Got Talent.” The segment started pretty predictably: Jewish mom and dad…
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Fast Forward Unarmed man who tackled Bondi Beach Hanukkah attacker identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed
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Fast Forward Father and son suspects in Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack identified as Sajid and Naveed Akram by law enforcement
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