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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Orange is the New Black, Purim Edition
To celebrate the release of the new Netflix series ‘Rambam is the new Rashi,’ thousands of Hasids took to the streets of Los Angeles.
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Painting Pictures of India’s Jews
Last month, while researching an article for The Forward about Indian Jewish cuisine, I spent the afternoon in Montclair, New Jersey with Siona Benjamin. A home cook who grew up in Mumbai’s Jewish community, Benjamin demonstrated how to prepare a traditional Shabbat coconut curry and a sweet rice and coconut dish called malida that Indian…
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Meet the Jewish Bachelorette: Andi Dorfman
If you haven’t been watching the latest season of “The Bachelor,” you’ve probably never heard of Andi Dorfman. That’s about to change. The Jewish assistant district attorney from Atlanta has just been named the next Bachelorette, People Magazine reports. Am I dreaming?!? Insanely grateful, happy and most of all ready to find love!!! #cloudnine —…
The Latest
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Nora Ephron’s Advice Helped Lena Dunham Nab Jack Antonoff
When you want good advice, you go to the experts. And really, who could dish out dating advice better than Nora Ephron? In Glamour magazine’s April edition, which she covers, Lena Dunham talks about the words of wisdom that changed her dating life, courtesy of the beloved creator of “When Harry Met Sally.” “You can’t…
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Rabbi Shmuley Boteach to Honor Sean Penn
(JTA) — Who needs another Oscar when you’re about to be crowned the 2014 Champion of Jewish Justice? Not to put words in his mouth or anything, but we’ll bet that was what two-time Academy Award winner Sean Penn was saying to his girlfriend Charlize Theron as soon as they stopped “making out like crazy“ at…
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Books How Jews Became ‘White’ On Broadway
Even if you’re not a theater nerd, Warren Hoffman’s “The Great White Way” (Rutgers University Press) makes a fascinating read. The book’s subtitle, “Race and the Broadway Musical,” only hints at its breadth, and the depth of Hoffman’s laser-sharp analysis of an all-American art form. Billed as “the first book to reveal the racial politics,…
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3 Love Stories From Jewish Home’s ‘Over 80’ Gala
The March 5 inaugural Jewish Home Lifecare “Eight Over Eighty: Celebrating Eight Remarkable Lives” Gala honored octogenarians who proved that life can be a hoot at any age. In an filmed interview, Klara and Larry Silverstein, president and CEO Silverstein Properties, Inc, revisited their meeting-to-marriage saga. In 1951, Larry got a job at a camp…
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‘Girls’ Goes Biblical on SNL
“Son of God,” “Noah,” and now “Girls” — 2014 is the year of the Bible movie. Lena Dunham nailed her ‘Saturday Night Live’ hosting debut with a parody of her hit HBO series, proving that the travails and tribulations of the average twentish-year-old woman are as old as time itself. “Girls: The Bible Movie” trades in…
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Books Reinventing Israel in Argentina
Every year, of the 75,000 young Israelis who complete their military service, it is estimated that around one third leave everything behind to go backpacking. The nomadic ramble through Southeast Asia and South America in that indeterminate period between youth and adulthood is hardly unique to Israel, but it takes on its own characteristics at…
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A Jew at Buckingham Palace
(JTA) — They are trained to uphold the strictest protocol, which includes standing motionless and expressionless at attention outside Buckingham Palace in London. But that training was no match for an American Jewish tourist who made a Royal Guard soldier crack up, and then captured it on film. The video documenting the man identified as…
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Jewish Outreach Celebrates ‘Shabbat Across America’
“Our parents prayed for a ‘melting pot’ but instead, we have gotten a ‘meltdown,’” Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald, executive director of National Jewish Outreach Program, told the guests at its “Generation to Generation Dinner” at the Grand Hyatt. While touting NJOP’s March 7th “Shabbat Across America” (now in its 18th year) at 450 locations, Rabbi Buchwald…
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Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
In Case You Missed It
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Opinion Ireland’s prime minister gave condolences for Hitler’s death — here’s why that’s a contemporary problem
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Fast Forward The fires in Israel are under control — but debate is raging over their cause
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Fast Forward Argentina declassifies more than 1,800 files on Nazi escape via ‘rat-lines’ to South America
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Fast Forward Betar USA founder banned from World Zionist Congress over feud with Israeli firebrand Shai Davidai
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