The Schmooze

Reunion With Father’s 300-Year-Old Violin

(JTA) — With all the recent news in Germany about the search for heirs to art taken during the Nazi era, a recent announcement about a 300-year-old violin caught my eye. A Nuremberg-based foundation for music students was hoping to find descendants of Felix Hildesheimer of Speyer — a musical instrument dealer who bought the…

POEM: Medievaluation Rag

Miss Israel Pays Surprise Visit to Sixers Practice

It may have been raining outside, but the Philadelphia 76ers were in for a bright surprise. Our favorite Miss Israel, Yityish “Titi” Aynaw, dropped in on their practice this week during her tour of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. The first woman of Ethiopian descent to win the competition in Israel is touring America…

James Franco Defends Shia LeBeouf in the New York Times

(JTA) — James Franco has added yet another couple of lines to his epic resume. It seems the film actor, soap opera star, professor, muralist, and selfie-master is now also a New York Times contributer and defender of erratic celebrities—in this case actor Shia LeBeouf. In an OP-ED piece titled “Why Actors Act Out,” Franco analyzes…

Growing Up Jewish in Rock’s Golden Age

At age 19, Graham Gouldman scored his first U.K. top-10 hit with “For Your Love,” the ageless tune first recorded by the Yardbirds. He went on to write smash songs for the likes of Herman’s Hermits, Jeff Beck, and the Hollies before forming the band 10cc — a hit factory in itself — in 1972….

Putting Tuvia Tenenbom in Context

Racheli Ibenboim chats with writer Tuvia Tenenbom./Photo by Isi Tenenbaum For those who haven’t read much of the work of Tuvia Tenenbom, his most recent column has understandably raised some eyebrows and not a few tempers. Asking a Haredi politician, or any public figure, about her personal life (and her wedding night) would seem to…

The Benefits of ‘Kindsight’

For his first gig as photographer in Hollywood in 1990, Robert Zuckerman took pictures on the set of “Sunset Beat,” the pilot of a short-lived TV-series. It featured policemen who went undercover as bikers and Zuckerman still remembers one of the long-haired, leather-clad actors, who was barely known at that time: His name was George…

‘South Park’ Game Lets You Play a Jew

The long-awaited “South Park” game has a little surprise for members of the tribe: you can play one. A video preview of the game’s opening sequence, released on Friday, outlines the basic storyline. You, the player, are a new kid in the quiet little mountain town of South Park, Colorado. Your first quest? Make friends….